Don’t Aim for the Wrong Bull’s-Eye

With the world’s biggest sporting event among us, I would like to take you back to the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens.

American air rifle shooter, Matt Emmons, was competing in the three-position event in which participants shoot multiple shots from 50 meters away in varying positions­­—stomach, knees and feet. Emmons stood on his feet for his last shot of the competition. Leading by three points, his last shot only needed to come close to the bull’s-eye to guarantee him the gold medal. He took a deep breath and fired. Bull’s-eye! 

However, Emmons did not win the gold medal. As a matter of fact, he finished in eighth place that day. Even though his aim was perfect and he delivered superior performance, his last shot was a crossfire—hitting the target in the wrong lane. He focused on the wrong target and it cost him the gold medal.

A lot of times, people and organizations that are truly talented and genuinely dedicated find themselves frustrated because they do not get the desired results. In many instances, this is because they have the wrong focus.

In our professional lives, for example, we could be focused on developing a certain skill in order to reach the next level. Even if we work hard at developing that skill and have great success, if we weren’t focused on the skill that is really needed for the next level, we may find ourselves disappointed. An organization could be spending its resources on improving its current product lines, but it could find out that revenues are stagnant because it should have instead focused on developing new products or services.

Therefore, defining the correct focus is of paramount importance to our success and the success of our organizations. With that in mind, I will leave you with three tips to help you pick the right bull’s-eye before you pull the trigger.

• Set aside enough time. Be quick, but don’t hurry. While being paralyzed by fear or complacency is never the right option in today’s fast-changing environment, hurried decisions often lead to focusing on the wrong things. You must act quickly, but taking the appropriate amount of time to choose the right focus first, can save lots of time and frustration in the end.

• Have a windshield view. When choosing the right focus, we must look at and think about what’s ahead. While we can learn important lessons from the past, we will spend the rest of our lives in the future. Therefore, the right focus should be found there.

• Seek feedback. Ask for input and engage in discussions to help you narrow in on the right focus. Engage your mentor(s) in discussion to explore what skill set you should focus on developing. Ask employees for feedback to understand what should be the focus when improving the culture. Feedback is of utmost importance when trying to avoid heading in the wrong direction. Seek feedback routinely and refocus when necessary.