Ambition has therefore become a descriptor that spans that difficult behavioural space between what constitutes good and bad management. So when does ambition become greed? If you are wondering whether your personal desires are verging on greed then ask yourself the following questions to find out.
Think of something you want to achieve at the moment.
1. What is it you want? State your outcome as specifically as you can and write it down. Check that your outcome is stated in the positive. You can define a multiple outcome by using the word AND. Never use the word BUT as this immediately starts to put conditions on achievement that may provide excuses for underachievement or failure.
2. Now ask yourself what would be a better outcome than this? Restate your outcome as necessary.
3. Is the achievement of this outcome within your control? It does not mean that an outcome outside of your control is an unrealistic goal rather that you recognise that you will require help in achieving it. So what do you need to achieve it?
4. When and where do you want this outcome? The more specific you can be the more real and compelling you will make your outcome.
5. What will the achievement of this outcome do for you? Imagine yourself having achieved this outcome. Where are you and what are you doing now? How do you feel having achieved your outcome?
6. How will achieving this outcome benefit you? What new opportunities now open up for you?
7. What might stop you achieving this outcome?
Why have you not already achieved it? You may find that there are very compelling reasons as to why you actually don’t want to achieve this outcome – achieving it may mean you loose some things currently present in your life that want to keep.
8. How will you know when you have achieved this outcome? What evidence will you use to let you know that you have achieved/are achieving this outcome?
9. How will achieving this affect other areas of your life?
10. Is this outcome acceptable to you and to other people?
The last two questions in the above process – to create a well-formed outcome – are the steps that can often be missed out in the enthusiasm to get started. These are important as they are the qualifiers that will cause us to become aware of how our actions will impact others and hence avoid being misjudged as selfish or greedy.
In business or in life in general it’s unlikely that any major outcome can be achieved independently. Asking yourself the questions listed above ensure that your outcomes are ‘well formed’ and will prevent you from getting too far down the planning process before considering others. We can often spend far too long ‘dreaming’ about the things we think we want before doing a reality check. In these cases ‘letting go of the dream’ can be difficult and can cause unnecessary conflict with others; either through thoughtless action or less the desirable inaction by wanting to avoid conflict entirely. So ambition only becomes associated with greed when goals are set and plans implemented with no regard for others.
Managers may avoid involving others in their plans because they find the thought of this too overwhelming. But it should be remembered that whilst the advantages of success can counter unpopularity failure can be a very lonely path to tread.
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