In today’s world, we all have plenty on our plates. Between meetings, phone calls, email and project work, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed.

And customers have a lot on their plates too. They are dealing with changes as well. That’s why it’s more important than ever for leaders to empower their organizations to act, and change – for the benefit of the customer – without overwhelming their respective workforces.

How do we start this? Well, I believe it begins with leaders inspiring their teams – every day – to see how the work they do connects to the customer … how their work helps defeat the competition. The Lean work I described in previous blogs is one way to directly connect our work to the customer.

This winning with action approach also helps defeat two enemies: time and perfection.

We can get a lot done by choosing to take action more quickly, through empowerment and transparency. What if it’s not perfect? That’s OK – it won’t be! As an organization, you can deal with it. But the important part is choosing to move forward … momentum! Not waiting, not expecting perfection.

There is a huge opportunity NOW to engage customers and each other to learn about pain points – to understand the problems we are trying to solve. And, most importantly, it’s about finding ways to help fix them. Root out time and perfection – these are enemies that prevent your teams from acting.

This mindset requires a willingness to guide – no, push – your organization transformatively. My friend and former colleague Dan Schultz often said: “If we are to have sins as a leadership group, I want them to be sins of action, not inaction.” This doesn’t mean recklessness. This doesn’t mean carelessness. It does mean … a sense of urgency.

Inaction is the fruit of time and perfection. And it will be the undoing of organizations who fail to attack this 21st century enemy.

Want a good book to read on this subject? Outside In: The Power of Putting Customers at the Center of Your Business points to these enemies in different areas of organizations. Yes, time and perfection have left their fingerprints all over many organizations. Those fingerprints are the evidence of problems, inefficiency, and an overall lack of value creation.

How do you defeat time and perfection? Courage. Courage to stop doing things you’ve always done that no longer matter – to prune them away. And courage to act. When you move forward, even if things aren’t perfect, individuals and teams will flourish.