Why Your Goal Setting Retreats Failed Before

Welcome to "What and How" season. Many of us have it on our calendar to venture off-site to retreat or advance and plot out with our teams the answer to the question...

"What do we want to do next year?"

...and many of us, year after year, don't reach that One Goal we wrote at the top of the page. Why?

Well, that's exactly the missing ingredient. Why? Why are we even doing this in the first place? They could work anywhere, why here, on this team? Without that essential filter, of course every idea sounds like the right plan, and group think can quickly take over the conversation. It's relatively easy now, you can just ask ChatGPT or Google Gemini, to find "How do I..." and it will come back with something that sounds right. The question is, does it feel right? Does it feel connected to why you even started this in the first place?

I had significant windshield time this week. Driving from Chicago to Toledo and back, I threw on an audiobook I hadn't visited in a while: Simon Sinek's classic "Start With Why".

So while listening, I had to pause the book, and let my thoughts run their course, and then come back to listening. As I got through Chapter 3, I started to get excited about what I was doing professionally again.

Like, what's the point of Mike's Notes, and running a MAPS coaching business, and being involved in KW Next Gen, and being so involved in the KW MCA Facebook Group, and saying "yes" to so many things, and being a regional MCA for new region... I'll tell you why: It's to empower the next individual.

One message, one conversation, one relationship can be that spark that leads to the breakthrough for that person to reach their potential. People have shared, openly, what has worked with them. When I connect the dots back, it's because enough people shared something that unlocked a next step for me. And if I can be the one to provide that resource for the next person? oh that feeling is why I do what I do. That's why any of this exists. I share my notes, because you might find the one line/topic you need to spark the next step. I share what's worked for me, because it just might work for you, or someone you know. I share what I find, because to keep it a secret, is not only selfish, but disempowers everyone around me. Very few of what I share is my idea, I'm good with that. Y'all are really smart.

That's why I do what I do. Finding ways to provide the resources the people in my life need to reach their potential. So that, when they are ready for it, they can go for it, and get there on a proven path.

If you have a copy of the book, I strongly suggest you have your team read Chapter 3 of "Start With Why" the week or day before you go into goal setting. Then, open your off-site with an open-ended discussion on what they read/heard in that Chapter.

That one subtle change could be the inflection point you are looking for in today's market. You may find a re-ignited passion for the just cause behind your business. Just like me on Interstate 90 passing through South Bend, IN.