The Acceleration Movement

(Author's Note: If you're a new subscriber to this monthly newsletter, I just want you to know this month's edition is a little unusual. Normally I take some intangible aspect of business such as leadership, innovation, quality, teamwork, strategy, and so on, and then I attempt to make it more tangible by offering specific, practical advice. In this edition, I want to do something different. I want to share with you a larger vision or dream or picture of success or whatever you want to call it that I have beyond just accelerating desired business outcomes. Hope it's of value to you.)

I was doing a book signing event at the Borders at Ronald Reagan National Airport for my new book, ACCELERATE, when a customer asked me, "What does the word accelerate mean to you?" I said, "It means achieving desired results faster and in a sustainable manner." We talked for awhile, I signed a copy for him, and he walked away.

The Concept of Acceleration Permeates All Aspects of Life

As I watched him leave, it dawned on me that this was the exact same answer I gave 12 years ago when I was a high school teacher and a parent of a student asked me what I was trying to teach in my math classroom. Back then I said, "My goal is for students to learn how to think so they can achieve better results both now and in the future after they leave high school. It's not enough just to memorize something for the test tomorrow. We're only successful in the classroom if your child learns a way of thinking that can be replicated effectively in the future."

A few hours went by, and then it struck me that I gave this same answer 20 years ago when I was a college head soccer coach. I was recruiting a high school soccer player, and his father asked me for the goals of the soccer program. I said, "Soccer is just a medium. It's just a small part of the overall college experience. My intention is that your son will develop his goal setting and goal achievement skills while he's a member of this team. I also hope that he will enhance his ability to be an effective part of a larger team, whether he's a starter or a sub that rarely gets in. If those things happen, then he will be able to take those things with him later in life. If this was just about soccer, then it wouldn't be a very useful experience because the soccer part will be over with very soon."

A week after the book signing I realized that there are people in all walks of life and at all age levels and in all parts of the world who are both steadily improving their performance in sustainable ways and who are helping others learn how to achieve better results faster and in ways that they can replicate throughout their lives.

Not everyone mind you, but I'll bet there are representatives of this concept of acceleration in every conceivable walk of life. Then it struck me that applying this concept of acceleration could have an enormously positive affect on education, medicine, government programs, technology, entertainment, fashion, transportation, and every other aspect of life. In truth, it already does because that's the story of human evolution.

Lessons from Other Movements

That's when I realized that this concept of acceleration can be a movement, not just a series of isolated events. Think of the civil rights movement. There were people working to improve civil rights before December 1955, but Rosa Parks sparked a movement that a large number of people consciously joined and embraced. Martin Luther King, Jr. became A voice of the civil rights movement, but not THE voice. The movement has been carried on through the voices and actions of millions of people. The countless unknown people who organized individual sit-ins at restaurants throughout the south also performed an integral part of that movement, but almost no one knows their names. My goal is not to become THE voice of the acceleration movement, but rather A voice. And I hope you will become A voice in this movement as well.

Today there seems to be volunteerism and philanthropy movements that are gaining momentum. The Time magazine cover story on volunteerism and service on September 10, 2007 called The Case For National Service highlighted the wide array of volunteer efforts being conducted throughout the U.S. Bill Clinton's new book, Giving, reinforces the momentum behind volunteering. All of the attention being given lately to Bill Gates and Warren Buffett and a host of other super wealthy individuals and their donating of huge sums of money has set the stage for the rest of us on how philanthropy can make a difference.

How Do You Join The Acceleration Movement?

This is purely a personal choice. You don't sign up for anything, there are no registration forms to fill out, you won't be given a certificate or a decoder ring, and your name won't be listed in your local newspaper. In all likelihood you will be the only one who knows you've joined the movement. However, there is tremendous intrinsic value in joining this movement because you will know that your life mattered in a profound way, and that is a tremendous reward in and of itself. Having said that here are the three steps necessary to join the acceleration movement:

1. Study Acceleration Exemplars

   Exemplars. I love that word. To me, an exemplar is a person who embodies a concept.

   An acceleration exemplar is a person who embodies
   the concept of constantly improving his or her performance
   and helping others to learn how to constantly improve their performances.

   Look around at the various groups of people you're part of. Who are the people who seem to consistently get better and better and better at their particular area of focus? Engage those folks in a relaxed conversation. Simply ask, "How do you always get better at what you do?" Listen closely to their advice. These people don't need to be doing the same type of work you're doing for you to learn from them. Look for the practical insights they have to offer, and write them down. Those practical pieces of advice will come in handy as you strive to accelerate your own results and help other people learn how to be accelerators.

   Study well-known accelerators. You don't need to admire everything about them for you to learn from them. I don't at all admire that Bill Belichik cheated recently in an NFL game, but I definitely have learned from him the importance of focusing on details and preparation. I don't admire Walt Disney's overly micromanagement style of dealing with his employees, but I've learned tons from studying him about clarifying a desired outcome and creating a future that doesn't exist right now. I'm really not interested in being a television host, but I've learned a great deal from Oprah Winfrey on a host of different topics including branding, leveraging your strengths, and staying with work that you have a passion for.

2. Be an Acceleration Exemplar

   Even though I've written two books and well over 150 articles on acceleration, the act of becoming an accelerator can be reduced to three simple steps.

   At the beginning of each day identify what level of performance you want to deliver in each area of your life. Just write down or think about how you want to perform in each of your life's roles and with each individual or group you interact with.

   At the end of each day, ask yourself these Bar Raising Questions:

   1. What were my goals for today?
   2. What did I actually achieve today?
   3. What did I do to try to achieve my goals?
   4. What worked well?
   5. What did not work well?
   6. What lessons did I learn?
   7. What will I do tomorrow to make tomorrow more effective than today?

   Take your answers to the last question, and implement those ideas.

   Do that every day for the rest of your life and I absolutely guarantee that you will be an acceleration exemplar.

3. Develop Acceleration Exemplars

   Ok, this is the one where you build a legacy. It's not enough to just be an accelerator. The real key to joining the acceleration movement is to develop accelerators. I have a particular soft spot in my heart for people between the ages of 13 and 30 because those were the years I struggled the most. I was searching, not accelerating, in terms of my growth as a person. I didn't know what I didn't know. Look around you in every aspect of your life. Is there someone you can connect with who wants to accelerate, but doesn't know where to start? Maybe your own children, or people in your community, or people you work with, or people in a religious organization, or people you volunteer with, or your spouse, or whomever you can think of.

   Here are some suggestions on helping another person become an accelerator:

   1. Don't tell the person what to do.

      Instead engage the person in a conversation by asking open-ended questions.

      Ask, "What is one important goal that you want to make progress toward improving? What are your strengths and your passions? In other words, what is it that you are particularly good at and what is it that gets you excited when you do it? How can you use those strengths and passions to improve that desired outcome? What three things can you do that would have the greatest positive impact on improving those outcomes? What do you need to stop doing or spend less time doing so you have the time and energy to do those things you think would matter the most toward improving that outcome?"

      Ask these questions in a calm and conversational manner, not in a machine gun rat-tat-tat-tat mode. Pause a lot and just listen. Let the person think and respond in his or her own way. Offer a very few insights, and only after the other person has shared his or her ideas. Offer everything in the format of suggestions, never in a format of what the person should do.

   2. Meet with the person multiple times.

      If you really care about this person's success, meet with him or her multiple times. Show genuine interest in how things are going. Be supportive. If the person has made zero progress, say, "That happens a lot. It's ok. Jump on the train when you're ready, and go for it." Or you could say, "Why do you think you haven't started yet?" And then just listen. Developing accelerators is an art. It's a fragile process. Be patient.

   3. Remember that outcomes are merely indicators.

      Finally, help the person understand that all outcomes are merely indicators of what is working well and what is not working well for that particular situation. If a person wants to earn an "A" or make $200,000 and he or she comes up short, that merely indicates that the person needs to make some adjustments. By asking the person questions on what he or she has learned and what adjustments will be made in the future, you are helping the person to develop the skill of acceleration, of constantly raising the bar.

   The Acceleration Movement is Sustainable

   Obviously the acceleration movement is an idealistic concept, but I also believe wholeheartedly that it's a realistic concept. There's nothing I've described above that is supernatural or cosmic. It's simply the application of practical ideas. As you become an accelerator and develop other accelerators some of those people will in turn develop other accelerators. And that's the engine behind the accelerator movement.

   Thanks for letting me share with you one of my biggest life-long dreams.

   If you send me stories about people whom you've witnessed who demonstrate the acceleration movement, I will publish those stories in my January 2008 edition of this e-newsletter.

   Book Recommendations:

   Gifted Hands and Think Big by Dr. Ben Carson

   Dr. Carson's story is so unique and extraordinary that it's hard to describe in a few sentences. He was raised in a ghetto in Detroit and went on to become a renowned neurosurgeon at Johns Hopkins University. He is both an accelerator and a developer of accelerators. He is another voice in the acceleration movement. These two books are inspirational and practical.

   Republishing Articles

   Each month my e-newsletter gets republished in approximately 20 blogs, on-line publications, and internal publications for businesses, universities, and not-for-profit organizations. If you would like to republish all or part of my monthly articles, please send me an e-mail at dan@thecoughlincompany.com with "Republishing Article" in the subject heading. I will send you the article in a word document. All I ask is that you include my name as the author of the article and a short paragraph at the end of the article about me with a link to my website.

   Take care and have a great month!

   Dan Coughlin

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