As a business owner, manager, executive – a LEADER – are you excited for 2019?
Do you have a vision of what you and your Team will accomplish this year? Or you don’t know how and where to start?
Here are 5 steps that can help you get going.
Don’t throw 2018 out the door just yet ...
New Year is on, out with the old! – you might be all to happy to do that.
I am like that, a forward-thinking person that likes to move on from past to the future as soon as possible.
But, hold on, someone wise once told me that there are benefits to taking some time for reflection and learning from the past.
Let’s do that first then.
I guess, no one really enjoys making the same mistakes over and over.
New mistakes are great! It means we are trying new things, being innovative and curious.
Whereas, making the same mistakes many times gets quite boring, frustrating and only reinforces Einstein’s definition of insanity.
Therefore if you have not done that yet, I highly recommend sitting down with your Team and your Boss (if you have one) and asking a few questions:
- What worked great last year?
- What did not turn out that well?
- What should we be doing more off to be even more successful?
- What should we be doing less off or stop doing all together to avoid making the same mistakes?
Once you have those answers, you are armed with wisdom to enter the gates of 2019.
So how about meaningful goals for 2019?
After reflection, second would be goal setting. We all love it, don’t we?
To set meaningful goals, remind yourself first of your mission and values.
Does your organization or department have them? If yes, awesome! You can keep reading.
If not, look out for my next week’s post that will try to convince you why you should. For now, please see below for a quick sneak
For
“The mission announces exactly where you are going and the values describe the behaviors that will get you there.”
Jack Welch, “Winning”
Setting the goals for your Team that are directly tied to your mission and values can bring extreme focus to the business, help it to stay authentic and with that competitive.
People, myself included, look for purpose in their lives. Meaning is what makes us happy.
Having goals that are meaningful, tied to a vision, and realistic will give your Tem a sense of accomplishment when you reach them.
And once that happens, it’s time to CELEBRATE!
“Plans are nothing; planning is everything.” – Dwight D. Eisenhower
We all know that when hell breaks lose, plans are nothing but pretty looking paper.
However, planning IS EVERYTHING and that is what you should do next.
It’s during the process of planning that we can prioritize. In today’s day and age most organizations have more to do than they can chew on.
New opportunities and urgent matters are pouring through the doors with the speed of light.
But as the old saying goes: if everything is important, nothing is.
Picking top 1, max. 3 priorities for the month, quarter or whatever planning cycle you chose to dare into, will bring further focus to your Team.
Planning time is what helps you determine what those priorities are.
During this time, you should also break them down to small attainable steps (ex. weekly goals and priorities).
As a result, you will protect your people from feeling overwhelmed by the sheer amount of work that needs to get done.
Time for Leader’s self-care time
Now what about you? Have you thought about taking time for self-care?
I know you are laughing inside thinking what is she saying?
Who has time for that? There are so many important things to get done…
How could I possibly spare even 15 mins of “unproductive” time?
I am
Let’s learn from the aviation industry then …
You know, the putting of the oxygen mask on you before you help anyone else.
Yeah, exactly … we are no good as leaders to anyone if we are running around like a headless chicken, half burned out and only putting out fires.
Sometimes we need to step back, look at our business from the eagle’s perspective, reflect and recalibrate if needed.
To be able to do that we need time to clear our minds, rest and re-charge.
Why?
Because our Teams rely on us to lead them through adventures to the safety of success not rocks of destruction.
If it’s not scheduled, it will not happen
Last but not least – how do I make all of this happen?
Well, put it on
Take charge of your time (or at least most of it) and don’t let urgent get mixed with important all the time.
Make it a priority, to take time now, this week, to schedule all important recurring events and keep them as sacred as possible.
Then ensure you keep scheduling and planning each week ahead of time.
Yes, it takes discipline, organization skills, and drive; but that is why we are leaders, aren’t we?
So what do I need to schedule, you ask? Here are a few ideas:
- Monthly/ quarterly strategic meetings
- Weekly tactical meetings with your Team
- Daily/Weekly/ Bi-weekly project progress meetings – if you have any running
- Regular One-on-One meetings with your direct reports
- Daily breaks for you to ensure you have time to breathe and clear your mind
- Time to reflect and be an eagle
- Your top priorities for each week
In case you are not sure what to do in those meetings, look out for my posts in the coming weeks.
To summarize, leading a Team and organization to success is not easy but having a vision and a plan supporting its execution helps with taking action and getting there.
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