Take Stock Before the Next Step

It's here. That weird week where everyone feels a mental shift towards the new year, a desire to rest in the moments of the holiday and drag those on versus cranking anything crazy out, and the inherent need to goal set on what's to come- all while keeping the train on the tracks in your organization.

The shift is real. Our minds are craving the time to prepare for something that is simply a calendar change but for some reason, feels so much bigger. So what do we do about it?

Embrace it. All of it.

Your organization most likely did some hard things this year, had some failures this year, and did some pretty cool stuff this year.

TAKE THE TIME TO BOLDLY REVIEW

Making time to reflect personally can be difficult enough. As a leader, doing that for your whole organization, can seem insurmountable, but without it, potentially disastrous. If you give your team balanced and clear feedback, that same attention is required on a global scale for the whole org.

Why we reflect:

1. Corrections and Failures. if you want your team to not make costly mistakes twice, document learnings and reference them. Where did a product or process not align with vision? What launch made no sense? Where did culture shift? Looking back can help you turn that pain into purpose!

2. Celebration. You didn't make it this far without drive, grit and a desire for excellence. That being said, that can make finding the win a bit of a struggle, even if you hide it well. Give yourself and the team some stinking credit! Also, visit why these wins happened and what you should be leveraging more.

3. Clarity. In the past year, out of the FOUR CHURCHES and THREE COMPANIES that I worked with in distress, CLARITY was in the top two pain point items for each one. Everyone around you needs clarity, and you and your leadership team forget that no one knows what decisions are made behind closed doors (or in your own mind for that matter) until you tell them!

Reflect to gain clarity and SHARE IT!

DO SOMETHING WITH IT

Don't dwell on it. Use it.

Phil 3:13-14

No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.

With a look back, you're able to craft a plan for the following:

• Building GRATITUDE and RESILIENCE with the team. While including yourself, you have to teach and model these items through using pain and wins to teach your team to keep going. Chances are, they are not wired with the same level of grit and drive as top leadership, so model it for them using quantifiable examples.

• VISION realignment. Each decision, hardship and launch can shift us a little off course. Take the data collected and ask yourself, what fit and what didn't. Use the information to map out a DATA-BACKED vision cast for the team. In especially extenuating years, this may even mean a redefined public campaign on identity for congregants and clients. Chances are, people felt it but couldn't define it, so you get the opportunity to lead them by exposing it, erradicating it, and moving forward!

• STRENGTHENED decision making. Breakdown the whys of everything you uncover and find ways to mitigate pain points in decisions (a weak leader, a missing quality control, etc) and course correct for decisions ahead.

SHARE IT AND COMMUNICATE IT

If you're reading this and pulling the "Ain't nobody got time for that," you are more than welcome to feel that way. My encouragement to you is, until time is made to take 30,000 foot views of your organizational progress, this will continue. If it is already burning, what's the harm in the flames getting a little higher while you regroup and go in with fully fire retardant plan?

Finish and begin again stronger, faster, better! Use this work to springboard the year ahead. Gather your leadership team and action plan. Communicate it to every stakeholder, and stick to the plan. Put benchmarks on the calendar and repeat.

God, give us the boldness to reflect, the discernment to diagnose and the tenacity to use it for growth and your glory. Thank you for the teachings of this past year, and Your will be done in the year to come.

-Amen