Constant Course Corrections

Posted in Best Practices, Executive Insights

Remember when you were first learning to drive? Your mentor probably told you to place your hands at 10 and 2, and hold the steering wheel steady. But if you hold it completely still, eventually, you’ll veer off the road.

Ahh, this is so true in life.

How many times do we say to ourselves, “Everything is all right; it’s all good. Now, if we can just keep things ‘as is,’ we’ll be fine.”

But things never stay exactly as is. It takes constant course corrections to keep moving forward in an intentional manner. And we’re never too old to keep learning.

For more than 20 years, we’ve attended Spring Conference for PRSA Counselors Academy, the annual professional development event that has taught us more than any other single resource. We learn and share our best secrets with our peers from around the country. And each year, we hear that small, continuous changes are the key to keeping moving forward. Part of that change includes how we look at our business.

For example, all months aren’t created equal. In 2012, February (even with the leap day) has only 21 workdays, while August has 23. That’s a 10 percent difference, but at Morningstar Communications, we’ve never accounted for this before. Duh. This is what I call a B.F.O. (Blinding Flash of the Obvious). It’s time for us to make a course correction on our expectations, now factoring in how many workdays there are in each month. This is just one pearl we learned at Spring Conference this year.

I’ve led agencies for decades (wow, that makes me sound old – but if you call me a FOSSIL, I’ll take that as a compliment because fossils are Fabulous, Often-Sought, Still Inspiring Leaders!) and I’m always learning new things.

But some things don’t change, including our foundation employee philosophy:

Hire excellent people. Empower them. Be there when they need help. Otherwise, stay out of their way and sing their praises.

That’s been our approach at Morningstar Communications, and that core philosophy doesn’t change. But how we apply our philosophies is constantly evolving.

Singers know they need to push increasingly more air to maintain the same sound. Athletes know as the competition wears on, it takes more effort to get the same results. And all business leaders understand that the more things change, the more things stay the same.

Small changes lead to big results. As Dori from “Finding Nemo” told herself frequently, “Just keep swimming.” I’d add – we all need to look up from time-to-time to recalibrate our position – and make the appropriate small corrections that keep us on the pathway for success.

“Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.” Will Rogers