What is Intentional gets done

What is Intentional gets done

Through my travels I coach people on actions and best practices to help move them and their organization to the next level. In many instances, on my next visit, none of the action items have been completed and therefore there has been no visible performance improvements. When I ask why the action items have not been done, I normally get something along the line of "we got busy". Life happens and at a rapid pace everyday; if we are not careful those things we intended to do get lost in the hustle and bustle. This rule doesn't just apply to the business world, but to everything in our lives; our marriage, raising kids, losing weight/getting healthy, our education, etc.

As the definition states, being intentional is an action that is done deliberately, consciously and on purpose. If we do not make something a priority and make a conscientious effort, then life will happen and it won't get done. I need to lose a few pounds (okay, maybe more than a few), I can wake up everyday and say I need to lose weight, but just stating the obvious will not make it happen. I can intentionally step on the scale everyday to see if my thoughts have helped me shed those pounds. Until I become intentional about what I eat and exercising regularly, nothing will change except the calendar. Being intentional requires a deliberate action to take place in order to achieve the goal.

I believe that having a regular date night with your spouse is important to a healthy marriage. My wife and I have been in those seasons in our life where date nights just did not happen. It was not until we put them on the calendar and made plans to off-load the kids at grandma's house, did those date nights start to happen (we still don't have enough of them). Being intentional requires some planning and conscientious actions to make it happen.

Nissan's Super Bowl commercial featured the story of a busy dad with the song "Cat's In the Cradle" by Harry Chapin. In the song, and the commercial, the dad was too busy with work to spend quality time with his son. If we are not intentional about the time we spend with or kids, just like in the song ('he learned to walk when I was away') and the commercial, we will look up and our kids will be grown and have their own busy lives that prevent quality time. One of my favorite things to do is build LEGO with my 7 year old (talk about therapeutic; I can build stuff, break stuff and build it back again). I try to be intentional about getting in the floor with him and digging through the bricks. I know that it is something that he will look back on and hopefully be intentional with his son, to stop and play. Being intentional with our kids requires us to "clock-out" at work and "clock-in" at home.

At work we are faced with a multitude of things to do everyday; there are the daily fires that we must put out, the sales that must get done, the employee issues and the unexpected. If we are not intentional about our efforts to improve or "fix" something, everyday stuff will get in the way. So many times we let "we were busy" get in the way of completing things that we know would make life, business or our health better. In today's world being busy is associated with getting things done, when many times it is just the world spinning around us. Be intentional and listen next time you ask someone what they have been doing; you will hear "I have been busy" more times than you can count. Being intentional means that we don't let life get in the way of the important things.

It is time to jump off the busy train and start being intentional about those things that are important to your business, your health and your relationships. What do you need to be intentional about today? Are you letting life get in the way or are you being intentional?

Manager, Leader or Coach, who are you?

Are you a manager, leader or coach? Maybe a combination of all of the above? There are differences and I wanted to take a moment to highlight the differences. First let's look at the definitions:

Manage -to take charge or care of; to dominate or influence; to handle, direct, govern, or control in action or use


Lead - to go before or with to show the way; to influence or induce; to guide in direction, course, action, opinion, etc.


Coach - a person who trains an athlete or a team of athletes; to give instruction or advice to in the capacity of a coach; instruct

Each of these have very different meanings but they are used interchangeably on a regular basis. Why are these words used so loosely in the "management" roles of business. I believe that there is a lack of understanding of the meaning of each and that some use them as buzz words. 

It is my belief that you manage things not people. The definition itself contains words like dominate, control, influence and govern. If I were to give your employees this list of words to describe you would they agree? I don't think any of us want to be known as someone who dominates, controls and governs our employees, so why do we call ourselves managers? That's is just what the title has always been. Break out of the mold, just because it has always been that way doesn't mean we must continue it. If that were the case we would all be traveling to work in a horse drawn carriage.

Leaders as the definition explains are there to go before or show the way, to guide and to influence or induce. I love the word leader as it reminds us all that we are supposed to be setting the example (to go before) and let's our employees know that we are in this together. A leader is not someone who points down the path and states "Go that way". By definition you would then be a manager because you are giving directions.

Coaches are people who train, give instruction or advice to their employees. I have heard the definition for coach explained as taking people where they want to go. I think this is a good definition but I would change it from "...where they want to go" to "...where they CAN go". As a coach it is my job to get the best out of my athlete or employee. I don't want to take them just to the place they think they can go to, but to their full potential. We all have preconceived notions about how far we can go mentally, physically and emotionally; but we have all been pushed beyond those boundaries at some point in our life. I know I have and I KNOW my wife has; my wife can't get a shot without passing out, but she gave birth to our second boy the all natural way. No medicines to dull the pain at all; now if she would of had a choice I know she would have opted for the drugs! She was pushed beyond her preconceived parameters of pain and what she thought she could deal with.


So who do you want to be? I feel that we need to have all of the traits: manager, leader and coach. There are times when we are going to have to manage things, we need to go before and show our people where we want to go and we need to coach our employees to take them to where they can go.


In my next post I will focus on coaching and what I feel is important in the coaching role. 


If you have feedback, please don't hesitate to critique my post. I can not get better if I don't get feedback. Please let me know if there is a topic you would like to hear about.