Year in Review: How Well Did You Do?

For many this week at work is slower than normal. It is that time to look back and reflect back on the accomplishments and areas of improvement for last year. Many times I looked back and was extremely proud of my team’s accomplishments. The list was long and significant. There were a few times that I wondered what happened, we really struggled to get it done.  There is one area that should get more attention than it typically does, strengthening the team. With the year in review data, you have the greatest gift of the good and bad. You can look back at why success happened or why success did not happen. As the leader you are only as good as the people around you.

When I look back at some of the key areas that helped strengthen my teams they were:

• Communication. The most successful teams were those that communicated well with each other. Not afraid to ask each other for help. How do you cultivate improved communication among the team? It starts with you. How well do you communicate with the team. Do you make sure that every member of the team understands what the expectations are? Do you reward excellent examples of team communicate to help foster more examples?
• Delegation. I found that sometimes it is better to delegate than to take on everything. Having “go to” people that you are coaching to step up and take on some of the work, really helps. Not everything can be done by one person or two. You have to develop your team to be able to count on everyone. As the leader, giving up some control is difficult, but the rewards to strengthening your team are huge. Trust them, develop shared expectations and let them go!
• Accountability. This starts with you as the leader. You must hold yourself account for your actions and the actions of the team. Then you can hold the team members accountable. Celebrate success! Insure to work on improvement plans when the outcome is not as expected.
• Problem Solving. Not everything is going to get perfect or according to plan. Having the ability to adjust and problem solve quickly keeps everyone on schedule. Make sure that you spend time developing each member on the team to react quickly to unexpected problems. Giving each member the confidence to make decisions at the lowest level helps.

It is always easy to look back at some of the unsuccessful results and point out where weakness are.. If the team is performing well, there still is room for improvements. Looking at success takes more time to understand what really went well. It is time well spent, as the information there is easier to build on.

Happy New Year!

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