AS we approach the close of the year which was demanding, businesses continue to test the resilience, adaptability and creativity of executive leaders.
Shifting consumer behaviours and evolving business dynamics requires us not to execute, but to lead with intentionality.
The festive season offers more than just a pause; it’s a strategic opportunity.
A moment to reflect deeply, reset intelligently and align decisively for a stronger fiscal year ahead.
Reflect: Extract value from the year’s lessons.
This is a structured process where the top management and heads of department convene a strategic meeting to do an evaluation on how the organisation performed.
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The reflection process involves reviewing the past year’s significant achievements and crafting strategies on how to build on the success.
The process also involves identifying recurring positive and negative patterns of outcomes of situations.
Engaging in this process aids management in understanding the underlying issues and conceiving ways to solve them.
After a critical evaluation process the management can draw lessons for example in setting goals which are achievable, simple, time-bound and relevant and align with strategic vision.
It is essential that after the evaluation process is completed a decision is made on how to apply lessons learned.
What decisions this year created the greatest leverage for the business.
How well did we align resources with most critical priorities?
The main objective of this approach is to determine if the organisation’s investments of financial, human capital and technological resources had been efficiently used to achieve strategic goals.
The management can rely on strong indicators of alignment to the strategic plans which are: Were resources used efficiently? Were critical projects under-resourced or appropriately resourced and how were less important projects resourced?
The management can then devise plans to make sure that major projects are completed on time, within budget and deliver the expected strategic value.
Leadership behaviours are critical in shaping the organisation’s culture and building a high-performing team.
During the reflection process the leadership has to be honest and judge itself honestly.
The management has to adopt a flexible style of leadership in managing different types of workers.
There are behaviours which strengthen organisational culture that incorporate open and transparent communication, ensuring that everyone understands the vision and mission of the organisation.
Motivational factors such as rewarding and acknowledging both small and big achievements play a key role in boosting the morale of the team members creating a sense of purpose and satisfaction.
Also upskilling and reskilling helps management when delegating responsibility, providing opportunities for growth.
Consequently this builds their confidence and makes them feel like they are part of the organisation.
While behaviours which weaken culture include poor communication, micromanaging, which is usually perceived negatively by workers as it reflects that management, lacks trust in their skills.
Sadly, such behaviour stifles creativity and impacts on productivity and leads to frustration.
Failing to apply policies and rewards consistently leads to resentment.
And focusing on tasks and processes while failing to inspire and connect with employees makes managers seem disconnected.
Reset: Re-establishing direction with courage and discipline.
Resetting is about course correction and recognising where the business must pivot to stay relevant and competitive.
The reset moment demands courage: to stop what is no longer delivering value.
Focus: To refine priorities down to what truly moves the business.
Discipline: To eliminate the noise, side projects and diluted efforts.
Realign: Rebuilding unity, purpose and execution across teams.
Alignment is the fuel that drives execution. Without alignment; strategies fail, teams drift and resources are wasted.
Key pillars of alignment are:
OGSM discipline is an approach that ensures alignment, responsibility and continuous monitoring of the team members from top level management to the shop floor employee.
This strategic planning and execution framework is used by high performing organisations.
It is designed to turn a broad, often abstract vision into clear and actionable outcomes that teams can execute with
precision.
Cross functional clarity: Management has to use an effective communication strategy to clearly communicate to team-members from different silos the organisational goal to make them understand and align to it.
Clear alignment across functions ensures that everyone in the organisation is working from the same expectations.
When we reflect, we learn.
When we reset, we refocus.
When we realign, we accelerate.
The year ahead will reward leaders and organisations who are clear eyed about their lessons, bold about their priorities and united in their execution.
The biggest opportunity for leaders is to enter the New Year with clarity, collective strength and discipline.