Ready, Willing and Able

“Ability is what you're capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it”. Lou Holtz

To be successful, we need to be ready willing and able.  It’s back to that three legged stool concept that suggests that if one leg is not in proportion or is absent we can’t be stable or solid in our performance.

In our self-reflection as well as in our leadership of others we need to be able to accurately assess which of these is working well for us and which of these might be in short supply.

So, let’s talk about each:

"Action springs not from thought, but from a readiness for responsibility". G. M. Trevelyan

Ready. In order to be ready we need to have an open mind and a focus that allows us to dedicate our attention and our effort in a particular direction.

Risk aversion, fear and self-esteem issues can erode our sense of confidence and can make us less ready. A reluctance to assume ownership and accountability can impede our readiness as well.  Sometimes a reluctance to embrace change or grief surrounding the loss of a previous circumstance can stand in the way when we need to move forward.  

"Where the willingness is great, the difficulties cannot be great."  Niccolo Machiavelli

Willingness is really the lynch pin.  No amount of readiness or ableness will make up for a lack of willingness.  On the other hand, when we are truly willing, our engagement increases ten-fold. Unwillingness is sometimes invisible until roadblocks are encountered.  It is then that our true commitment becomes evident .

In a recent article on Inc.com 8 Ways to Think for Extraordinary Results by Peter Economy @Bizzwriter Peter describes what I would call Willingness, in this way.

“To achieve extraordinary results, you have to be comfortable in your own skin, which includes self-acceptance, self-awareness, confidence, trust in oneself, ownership, accountability, integrity, wholeness, and balance”.

Ableness.  To be able is to be capable and qualified.  It means you have the skills and experience. You know what a successful outcome would look like and you know how to get there.  Frankly, our ableness is the easiest of the three to measure and we can usually fix a deficit here with some instruction, some practice or some time.

A key priority for any successful leader is to bring the best out in their team members.  To inspire and require positive results that can be replicated consistently.  The problem for many leaders is their inability to identify what’s missing in the first place.  Or in other words, which leg of the stool may be out of balance.  So they recommend training solutions or bring a disciplinary response when an employee is floundering.  What if your recommendation rests on a failed assumption? It easy to move to quickly ahead, attempting to solve the wrong problem. For example, assume someone truly has an ableness issue and does not know how to complete most of his/her work.  Will a verbal warning or a slap on the wrist help?  Of course not! And yet, that’s what many of us do.  How about an employee who lacks motivation?  No amount of training will fix that.

So, let’s talk about what works best and when.

How do we inspire readiness? 

• Share information
• Allow team members to participate in change initiatives
• Encourage team members to reflect on their strengths and capabilities
• Highlight transferable skills and teach them to leverage the experiences they have
• Encourage team members to teach one another and share best practices 

How do we inspire willingness?

• Reward & praise often
• Discuss bigger picture outcomes & the  value of individual contributions
• Create healthy team competition
• Allow team members to volunteer for things they are interested in

How do we inspire ableness?

• Provide training to all team members routinely
• Offer mentoring
• Coordinate shadowing opportunities
• Teach methodical thinking and problem solving
• Increased your follow-up while encouraging them to stay self-sufficient

Staying present and asking the right questions is the best way to identify the challenges your staff may be facing.  Abraham Maslow once said  “I suppose it is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail.”  

Remember, you have many tools at your disposal when it comes to inspiring excellence in yourself and others.

image credit: business2community.com