Can you believe it? We have journeyed through 26 steps together. By now, you have hopefully created a 2012 Plan that inspires you and have sent your draft plan to your Board of Advisors for their feedback. And, with your completion of the previous step (Step 26), you should now have Magnificent Milestones created for each of your SMART Goals.
You are poised for a great year. But, being poised is not enough. I want you to have a great year. And, I believe there is one remaining factor that will determine just how successful you will be in 2012. That one factor is the quality of your Support Team. Winners surround themselves with All Stars.
No matter how great your Support Team was in 2011, I want to challenge you to dramatically upgrade your team. In my experience, success is a team effort. Successful people, in all walks of life, make it a point to surround themselves with people who can speed their success (and make sure that people who will slow their success are kept at a distance).
Now before I share some thoughts with you on what you might consider adding to your team, I want to deal with the number one objection I hear to the notion of putting in place an All Star team. I wish that I had a dollar for every time someone tells me that it is fine for me to talk All Star team but “Dave, I don’t have the money to put in place the right team.”
Well pardone’ my French, but “excuses, excuses.” Yes, I invest a lot of money in retaining certain members of my team. But, some of the most valuable members of my team cost me no out-of-pocket dollars. My MasterMind partners cost me no out-of-pocket dollars. And, my mentees, from whom I learn so much, cost me no out-of-pocket dollars.
Truth is that where this is a will to have an All Star team, there is a way. Second truth is most people would rather not have an All Star Support Team because they really don’t want the accountability that comes when one surrounds themselves with winners. Yes, ACCOUNTABILITY. Winners like to be around other winners. So, unless you are prepared to bring you’re A game consistently, you may indeed have difficulty recruiting and keeping in place an All Star Support Team.
If you are committed to implementing the 2012 Plan that you spent valuable time developing, then you need to get very serious about putting in place an All Star Support Team. And, if you are planning on having materially better results in 2012, then your team had better be materially better that that you had in 2011.
Now is a good time to ask yourself “Are you the kind of person whom other high performers would love to be around?” If you really are, then you can attract an All Star Support Team. If you are not, you need to fix YOU, right now. Decide to become the kind of person that others want on their team. Make the commitment right now!
So what does an All Star Support team look like? Well, for every person it will likely be different. For me, just as an example, my team includes a Board of Advisors, tthree different MasterMind Groups, two coaches, a busload of mentees, and a half dozen guides in areas of my life where I need guidance (for example, I have a blogging guide). I also have a “crackerjack” group of vendors, most of whom, have been with me for many years. (For example, my Ace web designer has worked with me for more than ten years. My admin assistant has likewise worked with me for over a decade.) And, I am blessed to have an incredibly supportive wife and an awesome life guide.
You are probably wondering if I have stepped up my team for 2012. Absolutely! As great as my team was in 2011, I have done some serious reconfiguring to make sure that I have a team that will help me step it up even higher this year.
You deserve a Support Team that is every bit as good as mine….or even a better one.
So, your task for today is to create a page(s) that you will add to your final plan that lists all the members of your All Star Support Team and their respective roles.
I would love to see you have some kind of supporting team member to help you with each of your SMART goals. It might be a mentor, or it might be a coach. It may be a vendor. It could be a guide (someone whose information you follow regularly). It could be a MasterMind Group dedicated to the subject area of one of your SMART Goals. Or, it could be a “just do it buddy,” someone with whom you will mutually provide support for a specific goal.
If you are missing a support, list on your page as TBD (“To Be Determined”). At minimum today, create a vision for your All Star Support Team, even if you are not able to put it in place today.
In our next step, I will share with you how you can then back-up your Support Team with an additional level of support.
The finish line is getting real, real close. Finish strong and finish in style.
When you have completed Step 27, you can access Step 28 here.
Please note: If you have arrived at this step first, it is not too late for you to join other high performers who are collaborating to follow the bite size steps that are unveiled here every day. Get started here.
This blog post was written by Dave Carpenter. Dave is a prolific author, inspiring speaker, and well-known consultant to professional service firms. Besides writing regularly for this blog, Dave’s writing can be seen in leading business and personal development publications. Dave is also the leader of the Accelerate Success mentoring program where he mentors high performers in a unique program designed to do great things for the favorite charity of each participant. If you are (1) a high performer who believes you still have untapped potential, and (2) passionate about a favorite charity, you may want to learn more about this powerful program. You can also follow Dave on Twitter, on Facebook, and/or on Google+.
