Chapter 11 Moving Toward Mastery 175
My goal in this chapter is to help you move toward mastery of bridg- ing the gap between knowledge and action. I’ll cover intention, what gets in the way of acting on that intention, how to work through those barri- ers, and how to develop disciplined practice so that you can continually increase your use of skills and your effectiveness.
Sounds a little woo-woo, right? Bear with me. I think you’ll see just how valuable this notion of shifting intentions can be.
There is a tendency to focus on tools and techniques as we try to get better in any endeavor, whether it’s music, sports, graphic arts, or leader- ship. But skills alone don’t create mastery. I’ve worked with musicians who can play fast and high and yet it’s hard to find the music within that flurry of sound. Clearly, we need to have skills, but that’s not where it should start. It starts with clear intention.
1. Clarify Your Intention
If I could follow you around and ask you what your intention is at vari- ous moments as you lead a major change, you might be surprised at your responses. Getting past the fact that most of us don’t think a lot about our intention before we act, you might say, “Well, my goal was to . . .”
Goals and intentions are different. A goal is what we want to accom- plish. Intention is the way in which we want to meet that goal. So, for example, let’s say my goal is to get a project completed on time and within budget. Then you ask, “So, Rick, what’s your intention?” And I draw a blank. That lack of knowing my intention could mark the difference between success and failure.
If my goal is to bring this project in on time and within budget, there are many ways in which I could intend to get that accomplished. For exam- ple, my intention might be . . .