Your Potion for Growth
The recipe:
A dash of Arch-Angel Support
A smidgen of Unicorn Grace
A dollop of the Universe‘s Magic
A splash of Your Intuition
A pile of Consistent Action
The Energy of a Dragon’s Fiery Heart
All of the Passion You’ve Got
Mix and create your strategy.
The best strategy succeeds when all pieces are present.
Spiritual entrepreneurs often say that strategy is restrictive and stifles creativity.
However, a well-created strategy is like a roadmap with guideposts. The map and guideposts keep you moving toward your objective while making it easy to make creative decisions.
When creative ideas come to you while focusing on your strategy, take a few minutes to write them down. Then ask yourself:
Does the new idea support the outcome of your strategy?
If not, put that fantastic idea on the shelf - you can return to it once you’ve implemented the current strategy. Imagine how wonderful it will feel to reexamine the idea when you have the time and space to implement it without disrupting your team.
Think about it like adding the wrong ingredient to a potion: Instead of getting that protection spell you wanted, you release a basilisk intent on destroying your home. No new idea is worth that level of destruction.
If the idea does support the outcome (be honest - no twisting your idea or outcome into a pretzel just so you can play with your new idea 😉), you have more questions to ask yourself and your team:
Do you have team members with available time, or can other projects be set aside to work on the new idea?
Do you have the free cash flow to support the idea’s creation?
Will implementing the new idea impact the strategy’s timeline?
If it pushes your timeline out, does that come with negative consequences?
Can you mitigate those consequences or accept the negative outcome?
If Yes to both, go for it!
If you don’t have a positive response to all of the above questions, shelve that idea and return to it once your existing strategy has been implemented.
Don’t just presume you know the answers to these questions. Work with your project manager, team leader, and accountant to get an unbiased view of what implementing the new idea will require and the availability of human resources.
Then, give their recommendations appropriate weight. Too often, business leaders decide they know better than their experts. If your intuition is screaming at you to implement the new idea, but your team is telling you it’s impossible, listen to your team.
The last thing you want to do is throw your team into chaos by implementing your new idea. I promise you that even if they say, “Sure, we’ll figure out how to make it work,” the missed deadlines, mistakes, and rework are not worth it.
This is where you get to embrace your creativity. There may be ways to implement the idea that doesn’t drastically impact your team. It will require you to invest money, and will probably still lengthen your strategy's timeline. But … you can do it.
This is also the perfect time to get honest with your ego and intuition. Check-in with your higher self to determine if your intuition or your ego encouraging you to move on to the new idea.
Your ego may so desperately want to prove that strategy doesn’t work that you’re sabotaging the outcome.
Your ego may so desperately want to disrupt the strategy that it’s taking over your intuition. I’ve seen this happen. The results are not good. Too often, the team is not strong enough to say you’re making a mistake.
What can you do? Listen to your team. If they’re asking you to back off so they can successfully implement your original strategy, allow them to succeed. Your idea will be waiting when the resources are available.
You are the leader, but that doesn’t mean you’re always right. It means you listen to your team, remain flexible, and do what is best for the business. That creates a powerful Potion for Growth. It means you listen to your team, remain flexible, and do what is best for the business. That creates a powerful Potion for Growth.