New Year’s Evolutions

It’s a new calendar year which often means as a leader you are kicking off a new performance and financial period. This is a perfect time to make commitments to yourself and to your team on how you will deliver your 2025 goals together. (And for those mid-way through a performance year, it’s always a good time to review where you are and what you need to be in place to close out your performance year successfully).

The New Year is also a time people like to make resolutions to be ‘better’, whatever that may mean! The tradition of New Year’s resolutions dates back thousands of years and they are seen across multiple cultures and religions. They symbolise hope, renewal and the human desire to strive for self-improvement. It’s a hard thing to measure but studies (and I’m sure personal experience for many) show that very few people keep their resolutions beyond 30 days and I imagine this is largely due to them being unrealistic in the first place and not well planned out. Just like any goal set without robust challenge and planning!

On a personal and social level I am seeing all sorts of content around how to be fitter, healthier, kinder in 2025. While this is well-intended it also feels like an unrealistic list of things to achieve on top of an already full to-do list! And when you add to this more data being served to you than ever before, through wearables and apps tracking your every action, it can feel an overwhelming way to start a new year.

However, I think we can learn and benefit from the practice of setting resolutions if we think more in terms of evolution. I personally like the Ancient Roman tradition of New Year’s resolutions where they made promises of good conduct and self-improvement to the two-faced god, Janus. Janus symbolised reflection and forward thinking with one face looking to the past and the other to the future.

So, what actions can you take as a leader kicking off a new year? From a personal and individual perspective, return to those end of year reflections (see December 2024 blog!). Go back to those questions you asked yourself and determine what you need to put in place to continue the things that accelerate you and stop those things that hold you back. Have you personally got the right support in place to be successful and to be the best leader you can be for your team? This may include your immediate office, coaching, advisors and a clear, supported development plan.

And maybe one more look over that schedule. Are you truly focused on what’s most important? Are you giving yourself enough reflection, thinking and planning time? Have you put in place planned breaks to recharge? Are all those trips necessary? What are the crunch times so you can prepare in advance?

Once clear on your personal priorities and goals, it’s time to kick-off the new year with your team. I always like bring a team together at the start of the year, to build connection, energy and commitment to strategy. Use this time to bring clarity on what you expect of your team in terms of both the business goals they should strive to achieve and how you expect them to do this. What culture, behaviours and values do you want to see from your team and how will you hold them and yourself to account for this?

Clarity is kindness - the clearer you can be on your expectations, the easier it is for your team to prioritise what’s most important. This clarity should be partnered with inspiration. The famous quote from Maya Angelou highlights how important this is.

“I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

― Maya Angelou

People may indeed forget what you said or did but they won’t forget the impact you had as their leader on how they engaged, motivated and valued they feel. We will return to this quote at key moments across the year but as you kick-off a new year, inspiring your team on your organisation’s purpose, goals and, most importantly, their role in contributing towards these, will be what excites and motivates them to deliver for you.

It’s a great time to bring in some outside inspiration. Depending on your industry it may work to bring in an external speaker to share a broader perspective on what’s forecast for 2025. It’s particularly important for your senior leaders to keep one eye looking ‘up and out’ at what’s happening geopolitically, macro-economically and in the broader industry. An internal speaker can also have a huge impact. A business stakeholder or partner can help bring to life how your team’s contribution will enable their strategy and success, for example. This has multiple benefits including building connection between teams, helping your team connect their contribution to the broader strategy, learning more about what other teams do and helping your team feel valued.

This inspiration is important for your whole organisation, at all levels. It’s also important to meet with your direct leadership team and use this time together to make shared commitments. These should include how you will work together and support each other to deliver what’s most important and also how you will work through conflict, how you will care for each other and how you will individually and collectively maintain your energy across the year. These commitments are something you can return to throughout the year when checking in with your team and in holding yourselves accountable equally for what and how goals are delivered.

So rather than New Year’s resolutions, I suggest New Year’s evolutions, or revolutions if you are feeling bold! Take what you learned from the previous year, continue those behaviours and ways of working that accelerate you, stop what held you back. Commit to new practices and ways of working that will enrich and enhance the performance and wellbeing of yourself and your team. Inspire your people through connection to purpose, your personal passion and helping them understand how important their contribution is. Remember that clarity is kindness and role-modelling reflection, focus, ambition and care will set you and your team up for success and fulfilment in 2025.

Happy New Year!

For deeper discussion on how to set yourself and your team up for success in 2025, through creating the conditions needed to inspire, engage and deliver leadership impact please contact me at katie@the-evolve-community.com