When you first learned to ride a bicycle or drive a car, you might have noticed that it was difficult to keep a straight course. That's because new drivers tend to be tense and limit their focus, paying too much attention on the physical vehicle surrounding them. As you looked around, the rest of your body turned the same way, steering the bike or car off of its straight course. The more you looked, the more scattered your traveling became because you kept veering this way and that.

This is one of the big problems as you learn to lead — going astray, that is, and not wobbly peddling. In the riding and driving example, the answer would be to relax and keep your eyes on your goal. For leaders, you must focus on something other than just the immediate tasks. You have to remember the goal.

Put Goals Into Context

Goals can't be arbitrary. They have to relate to the principles that the group holds important. Indeed, if goals don't relate to principles, they are more or less arbitrary. When things are arbitrary, there's no meaning to them, and without the potential for meaning, there is no chance to motivate someone. People won't care about the goals because there is no particular reason to care.

Leaders must frame big goals in relationship to important principles. Also, goals don't float around as independent entities. Each goal rests on other smaller goals, and any goal may support higher goals. Therefore, each goal must be put into the overall context of the goals of the group.

Put Tasks into Context

When you are trying to accomplish something, it's altogether too easy to develop a myopic view of the world. You and your team have your heads down and are working hard to make progress. That's admirable, but it puts you back into the aforementioned driver's seat with a learner's permit.

A goal makes a poor reference point if you never refer to it, and by itself it is meaningless. To head somewhere and not get lost, you have to know where you are, find the right direction, and measure how far you've gone. Then you can double-check your destination, check your new location, correct any deviation, and again head that wagon train out.

All along the way, you need to keep oriented toward your destination and track your progress. To keep focused on your team's goal, you must take stock of where you are and check your progress. In other words, don't just look at the progress of all your smaller goals. Make sure you show the project's overall advancement.

When you are trying to motivate your team, you must always keep in mind the bigger goals. Don't just talk about a task that needs doing. Mention how that task fits into the accomplishment of the goal. Relate everything, no matter how small, back to the larger picture of what the team is trying to accomplish.