Drive is a word that I hear a lot in our company. I think it is important that we have a shared understanding of what I mean when I refer to drive and what we all should be thinking about when we talk about driving improvements in our performance as a company.
An employee’s ability to drive to and succeed at reaching goals or targets is directly correlated with career success. Your ability to achieve results for the company (hit goals and targets) could be measured in terms of your level of “drive” and knowing when to turn it up! This is especially true for supervisors and managers, who have the responsibility of motivating crews and teams to meet specific goals and deliverables. But whether we as an individual manage just our own work or supervise or manage a project or people, we can all drive our work to improve performance.
Let’s start by exploring what “drive” means to me in terms of executing work.
You know that I like to begin with a dictionary definition so we can get aligned on a shared concept. Consulting the Cambridge Dictionary online, the word “drive” has many definitions.
I found a particular definition as a noun and another where drive is used as a verb that most closely match the meaning of “drive” that I have in mind when I talk about driving improvement in our performance as a company. The noun definition reads – a planned effort to achieve or encourage something. The verb definition reads – to cause something to progress, develop, or grow stronger. Combining these two definitions best aligns with what I think about when I talk about driving performance.
Therefore, for our purposes (even if it breaks some rules from English class), let’s simplify the definition of drive as “a planned effort to cause something to progress.” Another way to describe it is:to make it happen!
I have bolded the word “planned” in that definition for a reason. As you’ve likely noticed in past blogs, the word “plan” comes up a lot. I like to have a plan on how I’m going to do something. A plan provides direction on how I will achieve a goal, whether it’s a personal or a professional goal. So, when I am talking with you about how you are driving to improve performance, whether it is on the deckplates, in an OPIP meeting, in a schedule meeting and so on, one major element I’m on the lookout for is a plan. Have you made a plan that will achieve your goal? How well developed is that plan? Having a well-developed plan with steps, deliverables and target dates is important.
Let’s look at some of the other words in our working definition: “a planned effort to cause something to progress.” This time I have bolded “effort” and “progress.” These words mean we are trying to push something forward – make an improvement or a positive change. We are trying to move the needle! In physics, to make an object move, there has to be an exertion of energy. The energy of an engine allows you to “drive” a car, the energy of kicking a ball “drives” it down the field. In business, drive is the energy you put into executing your plan to make it succeed. So if we go back to the deckplate conversation or to the meeting where we are discussing improving performance in your area, are you demonstrating the energy that indicates your drive? A plan plus the energy to execute it – to make it happen – is the other major element I am looking to see in our conversations or presentations.
We all have energy to do things. It’s how we move through each day. We usually use the word drive in our personal life to refer to things we are passionate about doing. It is easy to get up the energy to drive something we like to do. Driving change in an organization is a bit different, and can be harder, but the rewards can be tremendous.
We have all heard the phrase “drive to succeed” when referring to an athlete or actor. These individuals are passionate about performing well in their chosen career and drive themselves to do the hard things, whether practicing more (athlete) or taking bit parts (actor), to execute the steps of their plan to do bigger and better things.
We have careers too, and driving for success in our careers as shipbuilders means improving our performance as a business. Winning in our jobs involves meeting or beating our individual goals or targets collectively as a company. When each of us meets our targets, that success adds up! This is a key part of our Strategy 2026.
It takes energy to drive your work and projects effectively, but the benefits are worth it! It’s also one of those activities that gets easier over time as you practice driving your business. Now you know what I mean when I talk about driving performance improvement to win. Do you have a plan? Are you executing it with energy? Then you have the drive to help us win as a company. I can’t wait to see it!
Time to win and see you at Best Ever!
See you on the deckplates!
Safely Execute High-Quality Work