Happy New Financial Year! The first half of the calendar year is complete. Yes, 180 days done! Winter solstice is past us now and before we know it we’ll be heading into spring (please hurry, it’s so cold in Melbourne!). Time seems to fly by so fast which is why it’s so critical in today’s business environment to stay focused and have clarity on what you’re aiming to achieve and why it’s important. Otherwise you can get swept away with the seemingly rapid pace of time and wonder what you have achieved rather than being in control of what you are doing.
At this critical point in the year, it’s a great time to be assessing if the plans and actions you have been executing to date are the right ones to get you to where you want to go. It helps to check in with three important things that impact on business success and take the time to make the effort to reflect on your first half of the year in an effort to gain clarity on what you’re doing well, what you can leverage and what needs to change.
Here are three headlines to check in with:
Results
- Where are you year to date results (YTD) sitting?
- If you’re behind, how do you close the gap and what is impacting performance?
- If you’re ahead, how do you leverage?
- Do your plans need to evolve, bend or change?
- Are your plans still relevant?
Culture
- Is your culture supporting your team? Is it inclusive, collaborative, and engaging?
- How is each individual operating? Who needs support? Who needs rewarding?
- Is your team getting stuck in busy?
- Are you letting any individuals get away with poor behaviours that are impacting on performance or culture?
- Do your team know how they are performing at an individual level and are you having the conversations you need and should be having with them?
You
- How has your attitude been? What impact are you making?
- Have you been operating in line with your values and priorities?
- Have you been curious, listening to and observing what is happening around you?
- Are you the best version of you that you can be and are you equipped to sustain the pace and demands of the next 6 months?
- Have you been predominantly reactive or proactive?
Savvy leaders will understand why ‘You’ are included as part of the top three for reflection. How you operate, how you ‘are’ as a leader will have a direct impact, on not only your performance, but the overall business and your team. It’s critical you are a leading example of what you expect and that you are fuelling yourself to enable yourself to do this.
As I shared in my blog for the end of 90 days, based on the response to these questions you can then move to another simple but powerful exercise to set yourself up for even better outcomes. Simply called ‘stop, start, change and continue’, this activity can, and will if you put the time in, assist you in navigating your way through the frantic pace of business with clarity on the key things that will make the biggest difference to your results.
I strongly encourage you to make the time to do this reflection at this critical point in the year, regardless of whether you operate to a calendar year, financial or if this is your last quarter. The value is in the reflection and the clarity it gives you. Do a Stop/Start/Change/Continue exercise for each headline. It’s super powerful whether you are a team of one or a team of fifty. If you do have a team get them involved, use as much collective intelligence as you can and set yourself up for a super last half of the year. As Denis Waitley said “The results you achieve will be in direct proportion to the efforts you apply”.
Take time out and make the effort.