What NaNoWriMo can teach us about momentum
And how the creation of momentum can set leaders apart from the herd
It is easy to get sucked into the minutia of daily tasks and the priorities of other people instead of having the confidence to focus on the strategic priorities we know will have the largest impact. These priorities are typically the most ambiguous and difficult to achieve, and often do not result in tangible work product, such as developing relationships with staff, peers, and directors, or enhancing opportunities for your team or the organization. One of the most critical tools in achieving results, regardless of whether they are tangible or intangible, is the creation and sustainment of momentum in your organization.
As an example of creating and sustaining momentum, next week marks the beginning of NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month. On November 1 at 12:01 a.m., aspiring and established writers will set out on a mission of writing 50,000 words toward a novel or other work within 30 days. One such writer will be yours truly, as I attempt to take what I’ve learned in the workplace about momentum and delivery, and apply it to writing the novel that I’ve been “thinking about” for several years now. (Another tip for momentum, make a public announcement of your intentions to help you stay accountable to them!)
Nanowhat?
NaNoWriMo is an annual event (which started in 1999 and spawned several additional high focus writing periods throughout the year) that helps writers create great habits, build momentum in their writing, and has provided the springboard for a number of breakout novels including The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory, Wool by Hugh Howley, Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell, and Water for Elephants by Sarah Gruen.
Speaking of elephants….
Momentum Rule #1: Need to eat an elephant? Get out your spoon.
Desmond Tutu once said, “there is only one way to eat an elephant: a bite at a time.”
What does NaNoWriMo (“Nano”) really teach us all, even if we aren’t writers? If you don’t “take a bite” frequently, of whatever the goal is, the deadlines get more cumbersome, and the bites of the elephant get bigger until they get so large they choke you.
For example, if you write every day for 30 days, Nano requires 1,667 words per day. Miss a day, and it jumps to 1,724 per day for the remaining 29 days. Miss five days, and it jumps to 2,000 words a day. Miss 10 days, and it jumps to 2,500 words per day. Miss fifteen, and now it’s 3,333 words per day. To put this in context, in his most productive years, Stephen King famously wrote 2,000 words per day…and he is famous for volume and his daily commitment to output. Other writers produce much less, which shows just how much impact these small incremental jumps of a couple of hundred words can cause.
So, how does this apply to the workplace?
If you have a long-term goal and you aren’t regularly thinking about it, touching it, and working toward it, it will likely not be completed…and certainly not as effectively as it could have been. This is where momentum lives.
For example, if you want to effectively manage a change so that employees embrace it six months from now, consider the steps it will take to get there…the conversations that will need to happen to create buy-in, the information that naysayers will need, the expectation-setting related to the how and why of the change, the communication of a value proposition for the organization. Start now with small manageable actions that address these steps and allow everyone to get comfortable with the new approach and in six months, you will have created a foundation for the long-term success and sustainability of the change.
Momentum Rule #2: Use milestones and evaluate progress to keep momentum going.
Momentum in business is created by identifying the necessary milestones to meet a goal, achieving the milestones, and capitalizing on the context surrounding the effort.
Taking the earlier example above a step further, if you are planning a large-scale change in your organization, it is going to take a lot of communication and relationship strategy. What are the steps you need to support the critical points of communication, the development of the strategy, the creation of messaging, the systems and policies that need to be created, and the responses to potential concerns? Things like testing messages for viability, creating draft and final presentations, defining requirements for the systems to keep it running smoothly, and drafting policies…these are the “milestones” that, if planned for in broad strokes and regularly revisited, will keep momentum and the necessary attention on your desired outcome.
The level of detail or frequency is really up to you. Continuing with the Nano example, while I may focus on a daily word count goal, many writers choose to focus on a weekly goal of 12,500 words or a bi-weekly goal of 25,000 words as they are less likely to get disillusioned due to the progress of any single day. There is no wrong duration to use, just choose one that works for you and the team.
Momentum Rule #3: The creation of momentum drives positive results in employee morale and engagement.
As I’ve covered here before, time management and project management are critical success factors for any organization (and well beyond operations). Many leaders think they are great time managers, but then delude themselves with things like “I work better under pressure,” or “my schedule is too unpredictable.” It is excuses like these that are the enemy of creating sustained momentum, and growing employee morale and engagement.
As for project management, a lot of leaders hear project management and think of cumbersome gantt charts, detailed documentation, and full time project managers. None of these could be further from the truth.
In fact, project management techniques can guarantee momentum and successful completion even when the practice is scaled back to just the essentials. And these “tricks of the trade” can be used for every type of work, like the goal of reducing outside consulting spend, improving the reputation of the organization, developing a new product, elevating a group of high potential leaders in the organization, or even redesigning an accounting system.
Simply consider the steps required, define them in a way that you can clearly say “yes that’s finished” or “this isn’t done yet,” and map them into a schedule. The schedule doesn’t have to be down to the date, but can be as simple as progress made during a certain period. Revisit the schedule often, and if others are involved, think of a simple way to communicate progress to date, next steps, and potential obstacles to ensure everyone stays accountable to their part. This could be a simple status report, dashboard, stand up meeting, or just a group email.
Everyone wants to be part of a winning team. By setting expectations in a framework and ensuring that each member of the team understands their role and the critical task and behavioral milestones needed to achieve a goal, there is a clear line of sight for every contributor. Couple this with a clear respect for everyone’s time and a commitment to avoid unnecessary fire drills, and you have a recipe for talent retention and creating a community like no other.
Momentum Rule #4: Momentum allows you to get things done without drowning others in your wake.
There is a huge difference between creating consistent, ongoing momentum to deliver at a large scale for extended periods, as opposed to the Herculean efforts required to get something done after you’ve procrastinated or not paid any attention to the checkpoints along the way. The latter is not sustainable in the long haul, and ensures that your 11th hour efforts will keep you doing the tasks of the job instead of leading the organization toward greater value. And remember what we’ve covered here before, “If you don’t let go of your old job, you’ll find yourself back in it sooner than you think.”
Now is the time to look deeply at yourself, and be honest.
When you have several people that you need to review a document, do you work with them in advance on their capacity and schedule, establish when they can expect it, and then meet that deadline? Or do you stay silent about any expectations and then dump it on them at the last minute and expect a fast turnaround, blaming them for any delays in final delivery if they are unable to meet that expectation?
When you have a project or deliverable, do you ask for assumptions and reasonable estimates to complete the work before assigning a deadline? And do you ask your team how they would like to keep you up to date on progress, what interim feedback they might need to avoid unnecessary rework, and how they would prefer to receive that feedback? Or do you just create an arbitrary deadline, then let the result languish in your mailbox for weeks before you offer any feedback at all?
Are you that person that does not follow the Amazon “two pizza” rule, and who allows meetings to drone on with no agenda, no clear way forward, no way to understand the progress of the team, and no focus on creating or maintaining momentum for the group?
Are you that person who receives something on Monday, and then forgets about it for a while, finally assigning it to someone on your team on Friday with a due date of Monday? How do you think that makes them feel? Empowered? Valued? Likely, it makes them feel like they are not in control of their own career, and that their time (including weekend downtime) is not valued. And after a few times of seeing the forwarded email thread with a date days earlier, they will start looking for a leader that creates momentum through empowering the team and setting a vision that is sustainable without last minute drama, and who enables flexibility to address the surprises and obstacles without flipping the canoe.
These are just a few simple examples of the types of behaviors that fray on a team, “swamp the boat” you are all rowing in, and reduce the quality and dependability of your results. With each small failure, you risk the larger organizational momentum that you’ve built.
Momentum Rule #5: Momentum creates the space to manage by influence.
If I were going to pick one thing that determines leadership potential and success more than any other, it is the ability to lead by influence. Those with a talent for leadership that does not rely on authority are the people that can advocate for a project, engage a multi-functional team, inspire those individuals to follow and align with the group, and contribute actively to the results. If you are always “on fire” or not approaching your strategic goals in a way that permits thoughtful reflection and regular progress, you are not using momentum to enhance your leadership by influence. By creating a practice of revisiting your high priority initiatives frequently, even just to reflect on progress to date, how you want the effort to be viewed, or to capture any changes in context, you allow those initiatives to stay top of mind. This top of mind status enables confidence, allows you to message effectively on the fly, and ensures that you can capitalize on unexpected opportunities to communicate and grow buy-in.
“My theory on momentum is that the best way to produce it is through small, hard-fought victories that lead to bigger battles and bigger wins. Winning builds momentum.” Shaun King, activist, athlete, and writer.
And in case you were wondering, the length of this article barely surpasses the daily word count required for NaNoWriMo. Wish me luck with my own momentum! If my posts for the next few weeks are shorter, you know why.
TRICKS AND TREATS OF THE TRADE: HALLOWEEN EDITION
For those of you who secretly struggle with translating large and disparate workloads into actionable chunks, here are a few of my favorite tricks and treats of the trade.
Warren Buffet and the “2 List” Strategy
One of the many legends about Warren Buffet is a conversation that he had with his pilot. Buffett asked the pilot to write down his top 25 career goals. When the pilot was finished, Buffet told him to circle the top 5. The pilot, thinking his mentor had helped him prioritize his goals, decided to focus on those top 5, but did not let go of the other 20. According to Buffett, “Everything you didn’t circle just became your Avoid-At-All-Cost list. No matter what, these things get no attention from you until you’ve succeeded with your top 5.”
And this is how momentum is born, with a focus on the most critical areas of success. The other “keep the lights on” operational activities will happen as needed, but if you focus there at the cost of the bigger growth picture, you stay exactly where you are. Find someone that these items create an opportunity for, and let them run with it.
Momentum in Visual Form: The Bullet Journal
One of the best ways to keep momentum in the forefront of your thoughts is to have a tool that you use for long-term planning that includes a view beyond today, or even the next week. For me, the best solution is the low-tech bullet journal. I could devote an entire blog just to the bullet journal, but there are already a lot of great ones out there. And don’t let the artistic, Pinterist worthy spreads scare you. A bullet journal is just as effective when it is utilitarian, or even downright ugly like mine tend to be.
Here’s how I start: with detailed daily dated “three month” calendars (this is based on knowing that my journal will be full in about three months and most business focuses on quarter by quarter results). On this detailed calendar at the front of the book, I list all critical milestones, meetings, and dates, often color coded by subject. I constantly refer back to it to check myself on how I am progressing against various deadlines and events.
Then, on the next few pages, I show one year of monthly calendars (not numbered to the day, just listing the month) to keep up with critical dates over the next year, and sometimes an additional year or two of notation locations if I know that there are deadlines or long-term dates that I need to keep top of mind that do not happen annually. That’s the front portion planning, and when you move to a new book, some will need to be transferred. The good news is, this gives you a chance to consider your goals, revise where needed, and reflect on your momentum.
At the back, starting on the last page of the book, I create an index, and write it backward, page by page, like Manga. That way, I don’t need to know how long it has to be in the end, and I haven’t reserved a bunch of pages that go unused. In the index, I include the topics that I know I will be touching in the three month period right off the bat, and because I started at the back with the index, if there are a lot more that come up and need to be added to the index, there is plenty of room as the index will slowly work toward the earlier pages. When the index collides with the daily pages, you are ready to move to a new bullet journal.
As for individual pages, each month I make a focus list of critical goals (though I rarely succeed in naming only 5, I do tend to focus on just a few main categories that I want to stay focused on). I mark these lists with washi tape edging so that they are easy to refer to - plus it’s pretty and makes me feel crafty. Each week, I do a mini list of the items I need to accomplish to keep momentum on my monthly and larger goals.
And then, the rest is fluid. Maybe it is notes for a meeting, an outline for a piece, a draft of key messages for a pitch, a vent about a co-worker, a drawing of my cats, song lyrics in case TayTay ever calls me for an older lady’s perspective on life, a mini-task list for a busy day, or even a grocery list. There are no rules when it comes to bullet journal content.
However, with these disparate pages, the key to a bullet journal is the index, and the most critical part of the index is numbering each page you use. When those critical subjects occur within the pages, you can note the page numbers in the index and refer back later. I even digitally scan my indexes so that they are searchable when the journal is full, so that if I need to go back and find something, it’s easy to locate. And as a checkpoint for momentum, if you have noted something prominently in the index, and you find that there are no pages referenced to date, you know you aren’t touching it enough! And if you don’t like my “subject based” index, check out these alternative index examples.
What are my favorite notebooks for bullet journals? As an office supply addict, I am always trying out new organizing tools and petting paper in stores like it is a cat. However, my favorite journal is not the ever popular Moleskin or Leuchtturm. It is a unique product from Cognitive Surplus (CS, if you are reading this, sponsorship for my addiction is welcome). My favorite is a hardbound “Hypothesis” style, 7” x 9” size, with grid lines on one side and standard ruled lines on the opposite page, with thick bond paper that ink doesn’t show through and that does not smear for lefties. Prior to discovering this one, my earlier versions used Circa from Levenger notebooks, which does offer more flexibility in the placement of pages, but they weren’t great for keeping as reference and made page numbering for an index a nightmare. If you don’t want to spend money on a fancy journal, a bullet journal is just as effective in a regular “old school” spiral notebook!