Workplace Reach, How Far Can You Stretch?
How far is your workplace reach? Are you navigating stretch goals or really just cruising within your comfort zone? What does your boss, the investors, or your valued customers expect?
Have you ever received motivational advice?
Shoot for the Moon.
Reach for the Stars.
Buck the odds.
Does it work?
In marketing efforts, a common perception is that more is better. More email messages, more website options, more visitors, and more sales. It only seems logical that having a great reach will yield greater results.
It’s popular for news casting television show hosts to write a book. They may mention their book once or twice on the air. Viewers are in the millions of people. Likely, it becomes a best seller. The numbers are in their favor.
Not everything always works with large numbers though. Large numbers can be a distraction.
Mailing a postcard to every household in your county might seem like a good idea. However, if its swimming trunks in Alaska the response might not be favorable.
Going hunting on a one-hundred-acre game preserve probably increases your odds. Going hunting on the open range of two-thousand acres, not so much.
Your reach often determines your results, yet more reach isn’t always better.
Workplace Reach
It’s a good idea to have stretch goals. Going big or going home seems somewhat inspiring in certain situations.
What would you sooner do? Cast a wide net into the ocean or use a hand-held minnow net in a 5-gallon aquarium?
There is a parallel to this for your success. It may be metaphorical, but it applies.
Focusing on specific items you know will please the boss may be a much better strategy when compared with doing a whole lot of things and counting on the idea that your boss might like at least one of them.
It’s true for customers too. You can add ten options to your product, yet that doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll sell more. Add the one feature that is many agree is missing and it’s a big hit.
Your ability to stretch matters. Your ability to focus on the one thing that matters the most will probably yield better results.
Don’t waste your time or get caught up in more is better.
Often better, is better.
-DEG
Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSPTM), and culture expert. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.
