“Is my business moving in the right direction? Am I setting the right goals? — these are the questions entrepreneurs ask at different stages of developing their own business. One of the tools that will help make the company’s progress systemic can be OKR (Objectives and Key Results, “Goals and Key Results”) - a goal setting system developed by Intel.
Its key difference from others is flexibility. Many companies plan their work a year in advance, and this, as a rule, ends with the plan being hopelessly outdated. OKR follows an agile ideology in which goals and results are regularly reviewed. This usually happens once a quarter, but many companies adapt the system to their own needs and additionally implement weekly and annual OKRs.
The system owes its popularity to former Intel employee and venture investor John Doerr. Today this method is used in many well-known IT companies, including Google How Google sets goals: OKRs, LinkedIn The Management Framework that Propelled LinkedIn to a $20 Billion Company, Twitter What Twitter's CEO Learned from Google and others.
To start working on OKRs, you need:
- Start preparing employees 3–4 months before the transition to a new planning system to make it easier. Hold meetings, webinars, recommend suitable literature and try to implement OKR at the level of corporate culture.
- Formulate goals.
- Define results.
- Monitor implementation and adjust goals.
Definition of the concept and classification
Nowadays, ambition is seen as a strong need to act, to go towards a goal, to success, to strive for prosperity. When wondering what ambition is, you need to understand that there is no single definition. However, they all have the same meaning - to get what you want in any available way.
An ambitious person is a person who has no doubts about achieving success; there is confidence that he will be able to easily cope with any task. Such a person does not know the words “impossible”, “I can’t”, “it won’t work out”. He confidently says that he is capable of achieving any goal. The only difference is how much effort he will need to achieve the result. There are also the following definitions of an ambitious person:
- an individual for whom his superiority is not so important as his ability to prove to everyone that he can achieve a lot;
- a person who sets goals and successfully achieves them;
- an individual who can make a certain amount of self-sacrifice in order to prove to everyone that he can achieve what he wants;
- a successful, strong-willed person who achieves a lot in life is an accomplished person.
People around them see arrogance and selfishness in the character of ambitious people. However, these qualities are more typical of individuals with high ambitions.
Some people admire the ambition of others, especially their desire to achieve their goals and overcome all obstacles. People try to be like them, develop ambitions, and strengthen them. However, there are also individuals who do not consider ambitious individuals to be normal people, do not strive to be such people, and are confident that they can achieve considerable heights if they perform their standard functions.
A person who has good ambitions is very energetic, sets goals for himself, and gives himself motivation for further development. Changes in the life of such a person occur quite often, because he is very active.
I bring to your attention examples of ambitions:
- a girl from a village comes to the metropolis in order to break out of her backwoods and achieve great heights;
- a guy who entered acting, strives to become a famous actor;
- a girl who has set herself the goal of seducing a rich guy does everything in order to get him.
Ambitions include:
- destructive and healthy;
- imperial and political;
- adequate and overestimated;
- careerist and champion.
There are big and small ambitions:
- major goals and plans - situations when a person sets very high standards for himself, for example, dreams of becoming the director of the company in which he currently works as a courier;
- small ones are mainly formed due to low self-esteem - a person does not see his merits and deliberately underestimates his status. For example, a situation where an individual is an excellent specialist, they want to give him a promotion, but he refuses, as he considers himself unworthy of the new position.
Every person has some level of ambition, some don’t show it at all, some have it too high. It all depends on the specific abilities and capabilities of the individual.
- Low ambitions. Such individuals very rarely manage to achieve good results and be successful. As a rule, these are shy, modest, insecure people. They have practically no desire to achieve anything, to strive for something. Such a person will rejoice in what he has. Difficulties that arise along his way will be frustrating, and he will try to avoid them.
- Adequate. Synonyms for such ambition are ambition and arrogance. Such a person strives for heights, however, sets goals that are quite achievable. This individual is able to adequately assess his capabilities. When such a person completes a given task, he does not stop there, sets new goals for himself, and tries to conquer them. Having healthy ambitions in a person contributes to self-improvement. These individuals are interesting conversationalists, it is pleasant to communicate with them, they are good listeners, listen to what others say, and do not impose themselves. A person with this level of ambition will prove to himself the validity of his image, but will not demonstrate himself by pointing out his own superiority.
- Elevated. Such a person is overly self-confident, often exaggerates his capabilities, does not know how to adequately assess his own abilities, rarely completes assigned tasks, and often does not finish what he starts. When something doesn't work out, he blames others or external factors, but not himself. In the team, such people are not taken seriously; they are not assigned important tasks. Unhealthy self-esteem of these personalities pushes people away; it causes problems with communication and loneliness.
“What obstacles await me?”
It doesn’t matter whether you want to open a car repair service, sell flowers or build houses. No matter what business you start, you will inevitably encounter obstacles along the way. It’s good if you imagine in advance what problems you might have. This will help you avoid them or deal with them quickly.
Of course, no one can foresee everything. When you encounter an obstacle, think about why it happened. It is possible that there are flaws in your work that you do not notice. Try to find a weak point and direct all your efforts to correct the situation.
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If you don't see problem areas yourself, invite your team to help identify them. Exchange of ideas, joint problem solving - all this contributes to the unity of the work team.
Characteristic manifestations
If a person is ambitious, ambition will manifest itself in various areas of his life.
- Career. In order for a person to have the opportunity to move up the career ladder, he needs integrity. For ambitious individuals, their financial situation and high social status are very important, which is what they strive for.
- Professional activity. Even if a person in his professional activity does not have the opportunity to move up in his career, ambition will still be useful to him. After all, he will want to be a good specialist, will improve his skills, engage in self-development, deepen his interest in a certain area, and develop in it.
- Marriage. Ambition is not a positive trait for family relationships. The problem is that ambitious individuals can overwhelm their partner with their countless aspirations. In order for the ambitions of one spouse not to interfere with the life of the other, it is necessary to learn to control them.
- Children. Parents often make a mistake when they try to realize their ambitions in their children. And everything must be done to ensure that the child develops a desire to achieve goals that are interesting to him, to persistently pursue victory. Only in such a situation will he be able to grow up strong, self-sufficient and independent.
There are a number of advantages of ambition:
- the need to achieve great success;
- self-development;
- assistance in achieving the goal;
- motivation that allows you to overcome all the difficulties that arise along the way.
“Am I motivated enough?”
Sometimes there will be bad days in your life. You will feel like you are literally giving up. The best way out in such a situation is to find motivation for yourself in order to continue working towards your goal.
Imagine that you have already achieved success, that all your dreams have come true. This picture will be a powerful incentive for you to get back into work.
How to develop ambition
- Learn to give an objective assessment of your abilities and actions. To do this, you need to try to look at yourself from the outside, think about the topics “what are you like,” “can you change?”
- Understand your desires, clearly formulate them, think through acceptable ways to help implement your plans.
- Be completely confident in yourself and your abilities, do not be afraid of mistakes, realize that they are given to us for experience, draw conclusions from them.
- Set priorities, do it right, set only achievable goals. When results are obtained from them, set even higher standards for yourself that were previously beyond your means, and try to achieve them.
- Learn to respond adequately to mistakes, admit them, listen to what others say, and do not be offended by their criticism.
How to communicate with an ambitious person
Sometimes among your acquaintances you may find a person with high ambitions and with whom it is quite difficult to communicate. If you still want to maintain contact with him, you need to follow certain tips to help improve your relationship.
- When you are with such a friend, do not mention the success of other people.
- Don’t talk about your achievements, try not to remember them when an ambitious person is nearby.
- Point out to your friend his uniqueness, beauty and genius.
- If you know that this person has some awards for his victories, ask to demonstrate them.
“What have I achieved today?”
Make it a habit to ask yourself this question at the end of each work day. Each of your achievements, no matter how small, will be a great incentive to continue moving forward. Do this analysis every day and you will see how beneficial it will be to your productivity.
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Try to take at least one step every day that brings you closer to your goal. If you realize that you didn’t succeed today, turn your disappointment into an incentive. The next day you will be able to take on work with renewed energy.
When ambitions are too high
If a person notices that his ambitions have gotten the better of him, he needs to learn to suppress them.
- You realized that you have inflated ambitions, let them be inside you.
- Take more time to think, meditate, acknowledge your own emotions and feelings.
- Love yourself. Then you will be less likely to look for love in someone, and you will stop controlling everyone.
- Decide what is of great value to you, understand that you don’t need to argue with someone about anything, realize your tasks and goals.
Now you know what ambition means and who an ambitious person is. As you can see, with a normal level of ambition, a person achieves considerable heights, however, inflated ambitions interfere with normal life activities and affect relationships with other people.
“Am I helping others?”
The success of your business depends not only on you, but also on your employees. Set aside regular time to help them develop their skills. Do not refuse to listen to them if they want to discuss their tasks with you or make some suggestions. Celebrate progress, this will be a great motivation for your employees.
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