First is the mission and objectives. The second is people, with a focus on the environmental factors needed for optimum performance. The third one is having the mindset for continuous improvement.
Begin by understanding who you are seeking to serve. Prioritise what they are looking to achieve and the critical success factors to win their hearts. Establish where you are now and where you want to be and work backwards to put an executable plan in place to get there. If it’s a bridge too far, be smart about what’s possible.
Next, break down in detail what it takes for your people to fulfil this promise. Create an environment that does just that by focusing on the process and getting back to basics. How would they need to work? What skills do they need? Which tools must be in place, and so on. Be clear about performance expectations, and support people to reach their peak. Be direct, but compassionate, with feedback and work for the benefit of the business with contagious enthusiasm.
Forget about perfection; focus on progression, and compound the results. Each weakness is not a threat, but an opportunity to strengthen, and create marginal gains. Rapidly, you’ll see they begin to accumulate. You won’t get it right first time or every time. You’ll miss some targets. But the whole point is that this is continuous improvement—to learn as you go.
Imagine the progress you will make when you’re inching forwards everyday.