Excercise of the Week - Your goals and vision as a leader

This is an exercise for two people. One will explore their most important goals and vision in becoming a leader with the help of a guide.

First identify the area of your life where you want to be a leader.

What are the five most important goals you want to achieve?

These goals should be a mixture of long term goals (10 years or more in the future), medium term goals (5-10 years) and short-term goals (next 5 years).

Now take each goal in turn: 

• How you will know you are achieving these goals?
• What are the main signposts you will want to see, hear or feel that will tell you that you are on course for these goals?
• How far away does each goal seem to be?
• Does that distance affect how motivated you feel about the goals?
• Are you satisfied for the moment with your goal list?
• Where do these goals complement each other and where might they clash?
• What do they suggest about the sort of person you are?
• What do they suggest about the shape of your life at the moment?
• Do you feel that you are moving forward towards what you want at the moment?

You will need certain capabilities to achieve these goals

• What capabilities will you need to develop to achieve these goals?
• What is the greatest external obstacle you are likely to face in becoming a leader?
• What is the greatest internal weakness you will have to overcome in becoming a leader?

A vision is a combination of your direction as set by your goals, and your most important values. It will be greater than anything you could accomplish on your own.

It will be inclusive rather than exclusive: it will unite people, not restrict them.

Think about the area where you want to be a leader.

What great things do you want to accomplish that would bring your goals and values together?

If you had unlimited money, what problem would you try to solve?

If you retire or leave this area, what will you have wanted to achieve?

What would it be like to look back knowing you had achieved these things?