Over the years I have observed that many companies struggle with overwhelm and lack of focus because they aren’t defining their Needle Movers and focusing on them. We all need help identifying the key activities to focus on right now that move the needle—those activities that move your business from zero to ten miles per hour, or from ten to fifty miles per hour, from fifty to one hundred miles per hour. Distilling your business to it’s core activities is key here. Maybe to move your business forward you need to generate more sales leads, convert more sales, or implement team training.
At any given time, everyone on your team should focus on and report on their own Needle Movers. I encourage you to distill your Needle Movers to only three for each team member, because each of these three activities will have subactivities beneath them, and three key priorities are the ideal number to focus on.
I have recently started to use the term “Needle Mover” as opposed to “goal.” Goals are binary—you achieve them and feel great, or you don’t and feel lousy. You won’t always achieve the exact result you want. This doesn’t mean you have failed! A result is a result, and it will move your business forward. A Needle Mover is a given result that will have a significant impact on the success of your business. Once you determine your Needle Movers, create and follow a plan to achieve them, you’ll see weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual results.
For each Needle Mover I recommend you set a Minimum, Target and Mind Blower . The Target is what you want, the Minimum is the worst case you are willing to accept, and the Mind Blower is just that.
Note your annual Needle Movers will be supported by your monthly and quarterly ones. As you start to drill down on your Needle Movers, you’ll see how to distribute the work over the coming months and across your various us team members.
