Will Be Done By Sunrise!

It's 5:30 am, my husband and I are preparing to take a walk in Mbabane. It's still dark and quiet in the neighborhood; then, a childhood memory flashes in my head. Back in my village, subsistence farmers lived by this mantra, "the early bird catches the worm." I could hear my mum cheerfully shouting, "wake up, children, let's go to the field. By the time the sun rises, we will be done with today’s target.”

I remember us jumping out of our bed and getting ready with the target on the mind. With a positive attitude, each of us would get on with our respective roles. We had an exceptional experience because we always finished our work before sunrise. The team leader (mum) never shifted goalposts, so we came to appreciate the whole idea of beating the sun.

As we focus on our goals in the year 2020, I suggest we try the 'I will be done by sunrise' attitude. Someone emphasizing on the value of time said goals without deadlines are dreams. Most new year messages focus on individuals, but as leaders, we should be able to spread the energy to our teams-we are talking about a positive work ethic.

One way to harness your team’s energy is to ask three simple questions:

• What are your top two personal goals this year?

• What could the team do differently this year?

• What could make our team experience better this year?

Answers to these questions enable a leader to influence both at a personal and team level. The reality is that sometimes goals and targets are presented to organizations. As in the story above, we never set the target, and yet we were always fulfilled beating them before sunrise. We developed a strong work ethic:

• Our roles were meaningful and we identified with the process and results.

• We developed self-organization, which resulted in high productivity.

• Teamwork was the modus operandi; we were determined to beat the target with consistent quality work.

I will end this short article with a quote by Vern McLellan, "What the new year brings to you depend a great deal on what you bring to the new year." One of the prominent roles in leadership is the ability to keep your team focused on beating sunrise-be the cheerleader.