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Today's analogy is particularly suitable for use in
closing out the current year or ringing in the new: for meaningful
retrospection of accomplishments and challenges of the past, and for
toasting new opportunities.
Consider the value of mountains and mountaintops as a metaphor for communicating
plans for the coming year, or retrospection on the lessons and
achievements of the year now closing. How hard it is to gain perspective
— to establish one's bearings and see one's place in the overall scheme
of things — when one is crawling through the jungles of day-to-day
challenges in the workplace! The end of each year naturally brings us all
to some measure of retrospection. It is in fact this conscious or
subconscious looking back over the disappointments and victories of the
closing year that propels many people to create New Year's resolutions:
the determination to do things differently, to learn from the mistakes of
the past.
While this happens naturally on a personal level,
business leaders and managers may overlook the value of using this season
as an opportunity to instill vision in the ranks; to provide an objective
view of the big picture beyond the parts that they or their teams
individually play in that big picture. Give yourself, and any others
working with you toward your goal, an opportunity to check the progress
and to assess the road ahead. This is critical to maintaining momentum.
Why not make that assessment as a team at the end of the calendar year?
The daily grind is already being given a respite, due to holidays and
vacations. For many companies, this is also the end of a fiscal year,
forcing the company books to a halt and realignment for the coming fiscal
year. With employees already mentally in states of transition, you now
have a prime opportunity to generate vision for the next year. How?
Employ the analogy of a mountain.
Let's break down the word picture. The mountain is
formed by all the accomplishments and lessons learned. They add up to
growth. For the analogy, that growth is the creation of the mountain. The
top of the mountain then is the mile marker — the major evaluation point:
the end of the year. If your great task is clearly a work in progress,
without any end in sight, modify the analogy of the mountaintop to be a
mile marker nonetheless — perhaps a lesser of several peaks leading
toward the top. The mountaintop should not be viewed as the end of the
road: the achievement of your great goal. Things happen linearly in this
world: if you hike to the top of a mountain, you still have to hike back
down. So view the mountaintop or current subpeak as the viewpoint of what
has been carried out so far. Here is an example of how this analogy could
be used as a toast to the closing year in a business setting:
"The end of each year, like standing at the top
of a mountain, is an opportunity for us to catch our breath, to revel in
the accomplishments and experiences of the past year — the stuff that
brought us to this vista — the stuff that built this mountain. As you
know, the trail leading up to this point has often been hard, sometimes
even painful. But what a grand challenge! Look around you now, at your
colleagues, at what we have accomplished together. And, while we have
this breather — this chance to not only see where we've come, but where
we are going — let's take advantage of this clearing in the woods: this
far-reaching vista. This is our chance to look around and check our
target. From here, we can look ahead and see; are we still on course? How
much further do we have to go? What obstacles remain, standing between us
and our goal? Then, newly refreshed for the new year, we can return to
our course with vision and zeal. Be proud. We’ve come far. And I look
forward to continuing the journey with you.”
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Mountains
and mountaintops make useful analogies for many other situations,
including:
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The
importance of mile markers in any sizable task.
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The
significance of an approaching challenge;
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The value
of "mountaintop" experiences — the exhilaration of things
learned while on a retreat;
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The
importance of leaving the mountaintop and returning to the journey, in
order to apply the lessons of the mountaintop experiences (which have
little value without practical application).
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