Back to Work – It’s time for transition. Moving from one thing to the next, one mode to another. Often we look forward to the change – until we get there and find ourselves caught in a “middle,” between what we have grown accustomed to and what we wanted to experience.

The beginning of anything takes momentum.

This fall, as you move forward with your organization’s goals for the new business year, it’s all about momentum.

Start Your Engines

If you have been a reader of mine, you already know about my love of Formula 1 racing.  The thrill of the speed, the dexterity, the strategy – I can feel the engine vibrating as I write. I started thinking about how they get those engines going at top speed to take them from full stop- to incredible speed and finally to the finish line.

September is like that in many organizations. People have focused on the sunshine, family trips, gardening, DIY projects around the home, BBQ’s, and sharing a cool drink with neighbors on the deck in the backyard.

Now, the days after the Labor Day weekend we are expected to get going – make something happen – generate business, or dive into our organizational goals.

How do we move from one mindset to the next?

Let’s take a lesson from the roaring Formula 1 engine.

Heat the Engine

Although you may think while watching the race that the driver turns the key and off they go – it doesn’t start that way. First, we need to warm up the engine – before we ever turn it on.

Before anything moves – it’s time to start thinking, talking, reading, watching, and listening to the right material that will get the engine ready to ignite.  What could you do with your team in the early part of September – to get them dreaming about work again?

Heating the Oil

While the engine is getting warmed up (by what the technicians flood into the system) – and still before it’s ever turned ON for the race, other technicians are heating the engine oil.

I liken the engine oil to the goals themselves and the information we have about those goals.

The first few weeks of the season can be well spent by sharpening our tools with research and exploration. What is working and what isn’t? Who else is seeing success and how are they doing it? Are the organizational goals we are going to run after – worthy to be achieved? Do we have our facts right?

Lubricate the Engine

No one has turned the engine on yet!  Now we need to put the right oil into the system – that oil we have purposely refined, and let it prepare the way for the fast pace with which we intend to perform.

You might do that at work with your team by bringing people together to share what they have discovered about the facts, the research, the methods, etc.  Brainstorming. Mind-mapping. Use team communication tools to disseminate the right “oil” around the engine of your team – and then, finally, they are ready to be fired up.

Ladies and Gentleman

Start Your Engines!