As we scream into the end of another year (how did that happen?), a lot of you will be starting to reflect on what you've achieved this year. And what a year it has been! Disruptions due to Covid have once again put a dampener on the great support the tourism industry was receiving from the domestic market, and there had been a little turned on at the end of the tunnel with the opening of the Trans-Tasman bubble.
But that joy and hope was short-lived as we were plunged into lockdown once again. And our biggest city locked out of any tourism for the past three months. Plans have been disrupted and your goals no doubt compromised by things happening around you that are completely out of your control.
But it's important to keep going. With vaccination rates climbing, it's hopefully only a matter of time before we're welcoming our international friends and family back to NZ and with summer on our doorstep, our domestic family will be moving around the country too.
When you think about the goals you set for yourself, what helps you most - focusing on the end game or incremental progress?
In The Motivation Myth, Jeff Haden argues that it's the latter. This is called the 1% advantage, a tactic originally from Sir Dave Brailsford, a British cycling coach.
Brailsford wanted government funding. He claimed he could build Britain's first ever Tour De France winner in just four years by focusing on 'marginal gains'. He would create a world-class cyclist by improving each individual skill by just 1%.
Think about this for your business. What would that mean for you?
Identify 1% opportunities
Isolate a bunch of things you think you could marginally improve. Ask yourself:
What's a 1% difference you can make in your relationship with your team?
How can you improve a current project or task by 1%?
How could you improve your NPS Score by 1%?
What's something you could do to improve your customer engagement score by 1%?
Before you know it, your small improvements will make massive progress for you. By continuously looking for that 1% improvement, you'll see improvements over time and build a culture within your team to look for ways to do things better. And this doesn't equate to working longer/harder either. Do you know what an additional 1% market share would equate to in revenue for your business?
Here's a couple of suggestions to start developing your competitive edge, 1% at a time.
Appreciate More
Give a team member a compliment on a job well done, like: "Your sales pitch was well-
structured. It helped us sell more photos today."
Acknowledging 1% of sometihng you may otherwise overlook can be a great way to
show your team you care about the details.
Ask for Help
Find tasks that you may otherwise push to next week, and seek out support from the
wider team. For example: can a team member sit in on a call with a key agent and take
notes for you?
Asking for help will make your team feel trusted by you and achieve those marginal
gains you'd struggle with on your own.
So as you can see, it's great to have big goals for the long-term - we talk about that a lot here at Destinate and encourage it - but even the most ambitious things you want to achieve will take time. That's one of the reasons our Strategy workshops run you through the small tasks that you need to do each month/quarter to get to those big results.
If you design your days around incremental success, you'll be making marginal but meaningful improvements.
Let me know what 1% you'll be starting with in your business.
