Today I want to talk to you about, “Running the Point,” which is a philosophy of mine. The full statement is, “Run the Point (take action) from where you are, with what you have.” More specifically I want to talk to you about a way to keep Running the Point.
As you and I both know sometimes it’s really not about us not taking action, but finding ourselves waiting on someone else to approve, review or do something else in order for us to keep our momentum going. We’ll talk about follow-up systems in another episode, but I want to talk about setting up the frame for your action when it involves someone else.
So lets say you have to write something and need to get the approval of your manager or boss to keep it moving. Let’s say you have a deadline that is on the horizon. One thing you can do when you submit your piece of writing for approval is add a “I’m gonna keep it moving with or without you line at the end.” It would sound something like this:
“[Insert the approver’s name here], I know you have been really busy lately so if I don’t hear back from you by next Thursday I’ll go ahead and have Joan act as a 2nd set of eyes for me and then send out the document. If you have any questions or want to do something different, reach out to me before Thursday.”
The statement above will give you room to make an executive decision and keep things moving. The person whose approval you need will have to respond or live with the decision you have made. If they choose the latter and don’t like the outcome they will learn to get back to you in a timely matter. Bam!
Remember, you don’t have to leave your job to leave a mark, but you do have to Run the Point (take action) from where you are, with what you have. Signing out, your ambassador, Mike Ambassador Bruny.
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