Preventing ‘Shiny Object’ Syndrome

What is Your Team Chasing?

Leaders everywhere, especially entrepreneurs, often suffer from Shiny Object Syndrome, or often referred to as chasing squirrels and butterflies.

All you have to do is think of a Golden Retriever puppy that is eagerly chasing after a ball in the park and then…  butterfly! … and off he goes chasing the new distraction.

Lack of Time or Focus?

Well, the same thing happens to leaders and team members everywhere. I see it every day. When I sit with CEO’s and Executives that I coach, I will often bring up the action plan that was agreed to in the previous month and, sure enough, in many cases, I get excuses about how ‘time’ got away on them. It wasn’t time. It was lack of focus on priorities and shiny objects filled the space we call time.

How can you stop the parade of squirrels and butterflies?

Keep it Simple

Simple.  Keep your plan simple.  I am a huge proponent of three’s.

1. Three Core Values. Makes it easy to catch people living the values.
2. Three Key Strategies. The Franklin Covey Institute discovered after exhaustive research that organizations with more than three strategies, executed successfully 17% of the time. Those with three strategies, executed successfully 84% of the time.
3. Three Key Objectives for each Strategy. Makes it easy to assign accountability and measure results.
4. Three Month or Quarterly ‘High Impact Tactics’ (HIT’s). Some folks call these ‘Rocks’ which are the key things we as a team or organization are going to focus on and deliver in the quarter that contribute towards the objectives, strategies and vision.
5. Three Week Governance. Review the plan (Strategies, Objectives and HIT’s) every three weeks to ensure focus and identify Shiny Objects that people may be chasing.

When a squirrel does run by – and they will – you as the leader can re-focus an individual or the team on the plan that you all agreed to. If the squirrel is persistent, you can take a moment to see if it can be mapped to a strategy or not. If it does, great! Develop a plan to integrate it into the strategic plan. If it doesn’t, let it go.

Robert Murray is a Vancouver, BC based Business Strategy Consultant, #1 Best Selling Author, International Keynote Speaker, and TEC Top Speaker of the Year for 2018. For further advice, insight and inspiration on how to unlock your inner leader, follow Robert on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.