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The Importance of Transitions

“It is when we are in transition that we are most completely alive.”
— William Bridges

This quote from William Bridges emphasizes the importance of transitions in our personal and professional lives. While some transitions can be challenging to prepare for, they can also give us energy, motivation, and inspiration. How we react during a change is critical to our success as leaders. We must focus on our leadership traits and how we react in different situations, primarily how we handle stress and unpredictability.

It’s essential to listen first, act consistently, and communicate transparently.

Here are some tips to keep in mind during a transition:

  • FOCUS on the next best step you can make and act on it.
  • THINK about the consequences of what you say and how you say it – before opening your mouth.
  • LISTEN to your team, ask questions, and be curious.
  • USE facts to back up your perceptions.
  • INVEST in what will put you in a better position to improve productivity.
  • CREATE a one-page document that includes your vision, values, strategy pillars, and targets – this will help you remain focused on what is critical to the triple bottom line and not get sidetracked.
  • FOCUS on what you are good at and what you can get results on that no one else can – delegate everything else, and don’t get stuck in the minutia.

Remember to be conscious of your time management, the talent you are surrounded by, and your operating rhythm to ensure you spend time on what matters most. Conduct a weekly review and preview of your priorities to stay on track and focus time quarterly on organizational operational and strategic issues.

Transitions can be challenging but can also be opportunities for growth and success. Embrace the change, focus on what you can control, and lead with clarity and purpose.

“Change is inevitable. Growth is optional.”
— John C. Maxwell

If you have any questions or want to learn more on the powerful benefits of executive coaching to elevate your success, please contact us or reach out directly to jenny@jennyreilly.com and book a complimentary 30-minute strategy session.

 

 

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Tactics to Help You in Periods of Professional Transitions

Do you find yourself answering “YES” to any of the questions below?

  • Are you making or thinking about a career transition this year?
  • Are you in the process of turning your business, department, or team around?
  • Have you recently been promoted and struggling to determine what to focus on first?
  • Are you considering a move into a different area of the business or a geographical move in your job?
  • Are you in the position where you now lead some of your former peers?

Your professional life is made up of one transition after another. All professional transitions provides you with the ability to shine, falter or fail. Shine, and you will advance. Falter, and you may lose the credibility and trust of your colleagues. Fail, and you may not recover if you don’t have the right attitude or outlook to learn from your mistakes and move forward.

‘What got you here won’t get you there.’
~ Marshall Goldsmith

 Steps to Help During Professional Transitions

  1. Determine what you need to learn – fast. How does the company, unit or team operate? Who has influence and why? What internal and external alliances can help support you in your role?
  2. Identify your ‘A’ priorities. Along with A priorities, integrate changes that need to be made in the structure and processes to increase efficiency, productivity and the triple bottom line.
  3. Outline your vision, goals and strategic intent in the position. Be communicative and transparent.
  4. Build your team. If you are taking over leading a team, evaluate your people. Determine if they are in the right seat, need development or are not a good fit.
  5. Focus on early wins. Identify the most pressing weaknesses and make the necessary changes to turn those around. This will help you build credibility in your position.

‘ You only know what you know.’
~ Loretta Swit

If you have any questions about professional transitions or want to learn more on the powerful benefits of executive coaching to elevate your success, please contact us or reach out directly to jenny@jennyreilly.com and book a complimentary 30-minute strategy session.

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2022 Review & 2023 Preview

It’s time to review your past year and set your professional and personal goals and intentions for 2023.

2022 Review

Reflect on 2022 and answer the following four questions:

  1. What worked well for you professionally and personally in 2022?
  2. What did not work and why?
  3. What were your most significant time wasters this year?
  4. What did you enjoy doing most in 2022?

“We do not learn from experience, we learn from reflecting on experience.”
— John Dewey

2023 Preview

Now the fun part, projecting ahead and defining what you want to focus on professionally and personally in the next year.

Annually, I set between seven and ten professional and personal goals.

Professional and personal goals

 

To start, I look at the buckets that are important to me professionally and personally and go about listing the focus for the upcoming year:

For example:

PEOPLE – is everyone in my consultancy in the right seat? They must get it, want it and have the capacity to do it. I then look at how I hire, onboard, train, review, engage and recognize individuals.

CLIENTS – are our clients satisfied with our work? Check-in on client satisfaction, and determine what we can do better to serve client needs.

DATA – what metrics am I using to measure my consultancy. Focusing on my scoreboard of 3-5 core high level numbers form my business that are essential for continuity and scalability.

PROCESSES – review core processes and determine if they remain simple, scalable, efficient, and profitable to the bottom line. Determine if any new processes are required and ensure they are executed uniformly.

FINANCES – review current cash position, pricing model, areas that can be tightened up and financial reporting model for improvements.

Action Plan

After you have determined the areas on which you would like to focus your professional and personal goals in 2023, it is time to write them into a S.M.A.R.T.E.R. statement.

 

Goal Planning

The last step to ensure action on each of the identified goals is to write the first three tasks that you will complete under each goal. This will give you the momentum to move forward and help you work on your goal through to completion.

Action Plan 2023

 

 

If you need executive support to create a production action plan for 2023, please contact us, or reach out directly to jenny@jennyreilly.com and book a complimentary 30-minute strategy session.

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YEAR END BUDGETING 2022

2022 in Review

As the year approaches a wrap, it’s time to highlight your achievements and position yourself for 2023. Review and report on topics like your organization’s accomplishments, value creation, budgets, financial ratios, your competitor analysis, and the year ahead. Take time to create a full-year timeline with strategic projections and goals. Use the 2022 Annual Report Components infographic to serve as a guide for elements to include.

Annual Report Infographic - Jenny Reilly Consulting - Executive Coaching

 

“A budget is more than just a series of numbers on a page; it is an embodiment of our values.” – Barack Obama 

Know your numbers

Over this quarter, a primary client focus has been on analyzing financial reports and data to aid the decision-making required for 2023 planning. Understanding the budgeting process is crucial in evaluating opportunities and risks.

Understanding your numbers allows for more strategic decision-making. Your numbers can provide:

  • comparability,
  • verifiability, and
  • understandability

of the next best steps to take in your company.

As a leader, you are expected to have a thorough understanding of your numbers, prepare forward-looking financial reports, set financial targets, determine the usage of resources, and evaluate the costs and benefits of each option.

Business budgets help leaders run a successful business. A budget provides the opportunity to assess the actual budget against what was forecasted and planned.

Steps to take in preparing for 2023

  1. Before developing your budget, it is normal practice to have a strategy session that will review relevant economic factors, sector issues/constraints/ opportunities, and management plans. Develop or review your 2023 budget (that should accommodate your short-term plans, normally one year in duration) and ensure each of your strategic objectives is related to your budget.
  2. Your budget should address each of your strategic initiatives, including cash and payments, sales volumes and revenues, detailed inventories, labour, and production requirements.
  3. Break your annual budget down into monthly budgets that will assist in planning and communication to the team.
  4. If you are working on a unit or department budget, ensure you understand how the budgeting process interlinks with the various budgets in the business.

Can you answer the following?

  • What is your mission, vision, short- and long-term strategic objectives?
  • Have you recently conducted a position analysis of your organization?
  • Who are your current competitors?
  • Do you have a comprehensive forecasting and budgeting process? Can you explain when and how this process is performed?
  • How often do you review your annual budget, identify variances between your forecasted and actual performance and update as strategic initiatives pivot and change?

Understanding your budget will enable you to:

  • identify short term problems
  • promote forward-thinking
  • help in the coordination of units within a business
  • communicate budget guidelines
  • motivate your employees to promote better performance
  • monitor performance relevant to the budget
  • implement a system of control, levels of responsibility, and authorization

If you’re a business owner, entrepreneur, or c-suite executive and have any questions about this month’s topics, or feel this resonates with you and you need executive support to project your budget successfully into 2023, please contact us, or reach out directly to jenny@jennyreilly.com and book a complimentary 30-minute strategy session.

 

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FIVE CORE LEADERSHIP TACTICS

There are five leadership tactics that I follow that help me in my consulting practice. I encourage you to think about how they could help you in your position.

1.) Planning Backwards:

Focusing on the future and planning backwards is an effective leadership tactic. It encourages unconstrained thinking and disruptive ideas and will help you to propel your organization forward. Once you have a focused vision, align your people to engage on goals, and develop a comprehensive action plan to move forward.

  • Where do you want to be professionally and personally one year from today?
  • What do you need to do to get there? (Of your action items, prioritize them in sequenced order and develop an action plan on what is required in each step.)

2.) Purpose-driven and value-focused:

My consultancy purpose and values determine my guiding principles. If you have not listed your guiding principles, it is time to do so. Your guiding principles outline how you operate, the organization’s role and the individual within. 

  • What is your company vision, purpose statement/mission, and what values define how you do business? 

3.) Intentionally listen actively:

Leadership is a conversation. Improving your listening ability will be a cornerstone of your leadership success. Listening will assist you in problem-solving, determining and implementing innovative ideas, defining process improvements, and developing new ideas for faster and better outcomes. Engage your team, clients/customers and external stakeholders in a discussion on progress once modifications have been agreed upon, design and circle back to question if you have it right. 

4.) Innovate continually.

You cannot afford to become too comfortable and complacent. Customer and client preferences in the product or service area you are offering are continually changing. Technology advances will improve speed and results, can transform our processes, and adaption of best practices. Quarterly question processes, this will help you retain focus on improvement and will become part of your culture. Encourage bottom-up and top-down idea initiatives for improvement. Make decisions faster and base them on data with a focus on quality. Quarterly, prioritize the top three areas you can innovate to bring the greatest return to your organization. 

5.) Performance – think short and long-term.

To thrive in the long term, we need to have not only long-term goals but also short-term goals to gain momentum. Future-proof your performance by answering the questions below: 

  • What trends are influencing your business and sector?
  • What are your customers and clients seeking or asking that is not currently being provided? 
  • What is your data telling you? The facts have the answers. 
  • Ask your employees for feedback on what is working and what isn’t and any suggestions they have for improvement.
  • What are your duties and responsibilities – are they aligned with your purpose? 
  • Assess how you are doing things, is it the best and most effective way, or have you fallen into a routine and repeated past actions hoping for better results? 

If you have any questions about leadership tactics or want to learn more on the powerful benefits of executive coaching to elevate your professional success, please reach out to +1 604-616-1967 or askme@jennyreilly.com and book a complimentary 30-minute strategy session. If you want monthly leadership and professional development tips, sign up for my JRC newsletter or check out my social media on Instagram for information on my new upcoming 6-month executive leadership course.

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