Are you in pursuit of excellence for yourself, your team, your organization? For many, this is a journey. But there are places to sprint along the way.

One of those places is in setting a clear and compelling direction. 

What does excellence mean for your organization? Your team? For your leadership approach? Where are you headed, and why does it matter to those you serve? How will you know if you are getting there, or whether you have taken a detour (or even a backslide)?

Leaders in high-performing organizations set a distinctive and inspiring direction that leads the organization toward excellence. This should be a place where you and your leadership team sprint. Setting this direction can be done exceptionally well in days, not weeks or months, with the right questions guiding the work. 

Some have already defined excellence for themselves and their organizations. If I asked your senior leadership team about where you are headed, would I hear similar things? What if I asked your managers? Your frontline staff? Your Board?

Creating (or refining) your precise direction should be a sprint. An elaborated description of the excellence you aspire to for your organization, your team, and yourself as a leader.

What follows this sprint is essential, and should be done pervasively in the weeks and months that follow. How do you communicate this direction to those around you (whether that comes in the form of a new mission, vision, goals, or combination of these)? How do you ensure that all in the organization (currently and in the future) know and understand it, and what it means to them and their work in the organization?

These cannot become just words on a wall or piece of paper. 

How do you then use this defined strategic direction in every aspect of how you lead, as an individual leader and as a collective leadership team? This is where the true impact, focus, and momentum materialize. This articulated direction, grounded in excellence, should guide decisions and resource allocation, and form the basis for accountability. 

Setting your clear and compelling direction is a sprint. Using it everywhere in your work as a leader and leadership team, that is critical at every step along your path to excellence.