I love Audrey Hepburn’s words in that 1964 classic movie – My Fair Lady: words, words, words. She is sick of words and the lack of action that they are not conveying. Business can also fit this pattern. Sometimes, we speak and offer words, great ideas are brought forth and then no action is followed through with.
There is risk in action, something may go wrong or unexpectedly have unintended consequences. Many companies discourage action unintentionally by creating a punishment mentality for the consequences that follow. Let’s say I take an action, follow the best guidance and lay out a plan, get permission, build a team and then – OH NO – it flops! But, the key here is that action was taken. Now, we have more information before and we can find out why this plan didn’t work. Perhaps the solution is a simple tweaking of a process, a new team player that needs to be added, etc…
Action requires a bit of courage, but needs to be encouraged. If you have a team that is well placed, appropriately trained and developed for their task, they can accomplish great things. Before that takes place, it is your task to find inspiration, to set them up for success as much as possible. Then, when the team is ready, purpose and plan in place, set them up to do more than just speak. How difficult for your team to work and plan, then be poised on taking action only to have them realize that it was really only words and not action. If you aren’t sure, start with something small, and put the plan into place. When that first action has started, evaluate and then build on it to something bigger.
Imagine what can occur when you take action, and not have Audrey’s music ringing in your head.
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