Posts

, ,

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.

/by
, ,

KEY AREAS OF RESPONSIBILITY IN LEADERSHIP

Leadership is complex and challenging. You need to set the direction, communicate your vision, and be on top of strategy execution.

Focus on a positive workplace/team culture, align and mobilize talent to ensure they are working to their strengths and effective in their roles.

You are connecting purposefully internally and externally with a timely cadence. And…all the while personally managing your effectiveness and energy levels.

How a person performs in a leadership role matters. This is an obvious statement, but one we need to ponder as the top 20% of leaders could contribute more than 2.8% of the average leader.

Working on soft leadership skills is hard – ironic, isn’t it!

If you rate yourself on how you are performing as a leader on a scale of 1-5 (1-being abysmal to 5-knocking it out of the park)

  • How are you performing?
  • Why do you give yourself this rating, and in what areas can you improve?

No matter the industry sector nor size of the business or team, a leader’s key areas of responsibility include these steps:

1. SETTING THE DIRECTION

Looking back to look forward or conducting a review to do a preview of what’s coming is an essential leadership tactic.

Think of a Venn diagram, with the overlapping circles intersecting in the middle, that central area of overlap is the core focus. In the instance of setting direction, consider what is needed (your customer/client needs), what is your superpower (what you are good at), what drives you (what you are passionate about) and the big business kicker $ (how you can make money).

Be bold when setting your vision, direction, strategies, and resource allocation. Think beyond what is needed and focus on what is required in the future.

QUESTION: Why should we exist five years from now?

2. ALIGNING STRATEGIC PRIORITIES WITH BUSINESS GOALS

When taking on any new priority, ensure first it aligns with your overall business goals. This will ensure that you stay on track and focused for the long game. Don’t forget to set performance milestones, these will motivate and keep you accountable. Eliminate activities that do not contribute to core areas of focus.

QUESTION: What strategic priorities are you working on that ARE NOT aligned with your business goals? Why?

3. LEADING TO AN INDIVIDUALS PSYCHOLOGY

Everyone has a different psychology. What they need from a leader and how they receive it can be unique. A good leader makes the time to understand how to best lead each person in their team and get the psychology and mechanics right to help the individual be the best they can be in their position. A leader applauds an individual’s wins, supports them in situations, and provides professional development to help them be more effective in their role.

QUESTION: Do you know how you can best lead each team member?

4. EXECUTING CONSISTENTLY ON THE RIGHT THING

I love this quote:

‘There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.’
~ Peter Drucker

A reminder to constantly be assessing what the right thing is to be focused on and consistent in the execution of action to get it done. Remember the 80/20 rule or Pareto Principle (80% of our outcomes come from 20% of our causes), prioritize high-impact tasks, resulting in greater productivity and results. Look at your entire task list, prioritize based on the impact level each task would have if complete on your work/business goals, focus first on those top 20% of items on your list as they will result in 80% of the impact that you can generate for the day.

QUESTION: What are the top 20% of tasks I need to focus on today?

5. FOCUSING ON CULTURE AND ENGAGEMENT

One of the most challenging things about leading a business team is not the work that needs to be done but… working with the people, navigating personalities and reframing a business culture to be more positive. Motivating and inspiring someone to improve their mindset, work ethic, or ability to work with others takes time and needs to be very intentional.

From a work culture and employee engagement perspective, I encourage you to start by working on one thing. It could be your: hiring process, onboarding, annual performance reviews, processes to address bottlenecks and points of frustration, engagement survey, revised job descriptions or the incorporation of team building activities to look forward to.

There are so many items that you can focus on, pick the lowest hanging fruit that will help you improve culture and engagement and go for it!

QUESTION: How can you inspire your team to do their best work?

6. CONNECTING WITH STAKEHOLDERS

To ensure strong relationships with your stakeholders, you need to start with a foundation of trust.

When was the last time you asked your stakeholders for feedback on any process or improvement recommendations?

Engage and share the goals you are working on, help your stakeholders understand your opportunities and challenges, harvest new ideas, and stay focused on a forward-looking agenda.

QUESTION: What stakeholders should you connect with this week?

7. MANAGING PERSONAL EFFECTIVENESS

As a busy professional, one of the most important things to focus on is your time. Take back your calendar, be conscious of every item scheduled one week out and determine if you need to be present in every meeting. Be intentional about what you want to achieve daily, weekly, quarterly and annually.

QUESTION: Can you articulate your professional areas of strength and work style? What changes do you need to make to be more consistent and effective in your role?

 

‘You have to reinvent yourself. The world changes. You have to change.’
~ Roberto Setubal, Chairperson, Itau Unibanco

If you have any questions about leadership and leader’s key responsibilities, or want to learn more on the powerful benefits of executive coaching to elevate your leadership success, please reach out to +1 604-616-1967 or jenny@jennyreilly.com and book a complimentary 30-minute strategy session. If you want monthly leadership tips, sign up for my JRC newsletter or check out my social media on Instagram for top leadership advice throughout the year.

/by
, ,

STRATEGIC FOCUS AND PLANNING

For our businesses to continue to thrive, we must constantly evolve and adapt to changing needs of the market and our clients. Transformation only happens when we focus on it, and at the beginning of every quarter, it is time to take stock of our areas of focus and determine if we need to change or pivot our direction. Be strategic. Consider the impact of technology, talent, and operational changes to help you continue to grow and remain competitive.

Q1 REVIEW

Strategic focus sustains and builds on an organization’s high performance and effectiveness. Set aside time to conduct a Q1 review:

Step 1: List your three biggest wins and accomplishments from Q1.
Step 2: How far did you get on your Q1 goals?
Step 3: In Q1, list what worked and what didn’t that you can learn from.
Step 4: Define what you will keep doing, improve upon, stop doing and start doing due to this review.
Step 4: List your goals for Q2 and who will be accountable for the results by when.

STRATEGIC FOCUS TIMING

Remember it takes time to define your focus, implement and execute the action.

    • 20% planning
    • 40% implementation and change installation effort
    • 40% sustaining high-performance effort on the direction and plan over the long term

NO STRATEGIC PLAN?

If you don’t have a strategic plan, it is time to work on one. There are three core phases to follow:

Phase One – Assess and Organize

    • Environmental scan and organization assessment

Phase two – Strategic Design and Plan

    • Define company positioning
    • Articulate customer focus
    • Clarify competitive strategies and critical success factors

Phase three – Operational Design

    • Plan priorities
    • Strategic budgets
    • Performance management systems
    • HR management strategies

COMPONENTS OF A WRITTEN STRATEGIC PLAN

There are core components of a strategic plan. The points below can be used as a checklist for you in the design of your plan:

    • Introduction – opening defining your ‘why.’ Include your company vision, mission and values
    • Current State Assessment (SWOT: Strengths – to build on, Weaknesses – to eliminate, opportunities and threats))
    • Environmental Scan
    • Marketplace (segments and characteristics) Analysis: key customers, main products and services, the value of segment, market share percentage, industry competitors, the life cycle of product or service
    • Organizational Goals
    • Key Success Factors (KSF) and Action Plan (Areas of concentration, actions to develop target measures and baseline data, who is responsible and due date)
    • Core Strategies and Actions for Each Strategy
    • Major Change Summary (summary of significant changes desired over the life of the strategic plan) and Change Management Structure
    • Priority Actions (key must-do actions in addition to the day-to-day operations and other stats that you can complete in addition)and Implementation Game Plan
    • Annual Plan Format – break this down into a yearly roadmap

TIPS FOR SUCCESSFUL STRATEGIC PLANNING

    1. Have the process facilitated
    2. Take an organization-wide approach and integrate all level planning
    3. Define quantifiable measures of success
    4. Include short and long-term forecasting
    5. Use transparent and straightforward terminology and language
    6. Clarify and benchmark against the competition
    7. Define strategic business units
    8. Make informed budget decisions
    9. Make tough decisions when necessary
    10. Be open to pivoting from the initial direction
    11. Implement an effective process to roll out new initiatives
    12. Empower and support staff to take action on strategic initiatives

Acknowledge that the process does not end once a document is produced. It needs to be executed on, implemented, evaluated and measured. Your strategic plan has to be a living document, one that is continually reviewed.

HOW WELL ARE YOU DOING?

On a scale of 1-5 rank (1 being the lowest and 5 the highest), your organization on the following:

    1. A culture of excellence
    2. Accountability of resource
    3. Effective and efficient business processes
    4. Collaboration and teamwork
    5. Communicated long term vision and direction
    6. Constructive problem solving
    7. Continuous process improvements
    8. Data based decisions
    9. Employee empowerment
    10. Equality of opportunities
    11. Facilities and equipment
    12. High staff productivity and performance
    13. Innovation and creativity
    14. Job design and descriptions
    15. Marketplace competitiveness
    16. Performance appraisals
    17. Profitability consciousness
    18. Quality production of products/delivery of services
    19. Resilience level to adaption to change
    20. Resources (monetary and other)
    21. Reward systems
    22. Staffing levels
    23. Team development
    24. Technology
    25. Visionary leadership

STEP ONE: Highlight any score below three
STEP TWO: Brainstorm action that could be implemented on low scoring areas to raise your rank
STEP THREE: Attain buy-in on identified actions, implement and execute

 

Plans are of little importance, but planning is essential.

~ Winston Churchill

 

If you would like more information on strategic planning, and you need someone to keep you accountable through this process, I can be contacted at +1-604-616-1967 or jenny@jennyreilly.com. If you want monthly leadership tips, sign up for my JRC newsletter or check out my social media on Instagram for top leadership advice throughout the year.

/by
, ,

Goal Framework | Eradicate Your Limiting Beliefs and Step Forward into 2022

Eradicate Your Professional Limiting Beliefs

Our experiences and limiting beliefs can colour the lens through which we will view 2022. Do you have any professional limiting beliefs that you need to eradicate to move forward?

Some of the limiting beliefs that I have heard the last month include:

  • “It is not the time to make any changes, the economy is terrible.”
  • “Things aren’t going to get any better until we are all vaccinated (AGAIN!), so best to stay doing what we are doing and not make any change.”
  • “I am no good at x,y,z… that is why I can’t grow and scale my business.”
  • “I don’t have the skillset, nor experience for the position/to get promoted.”

Don’t let your assumptions on what will occur in 2022 hold you back. You can have goals around outcomes that you have control over. What goals do you want to have around your: professional life, relationship, parental, social, financial, health, fitness, and professional development.

Our thoughts around our limiting beliefs directly impact our execution of action and bottom-line results. If you can mentally switch your negative beliefs as you experience them, you will have a better year in 2022. Identify where your limiting belief came from (e.g., past negative experiences, media…) and test the validity. Limiting beliefs are just that, barriers to what we can achieve.

2022 Goals

Step Forward into 2022

If you don’t think you can achieve your goals, it will become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Take action with the following:

Step 1

Write down five limiting beliefs that may stop you from what you want to achieve in 2022.

Step 2

Objectively evaluate each limiting belief and determine if it is empowering, or hurting you from taking the next step forward.

Step 3

Reframe or replace each limiting belief. If it crops up again, then go back to your reframed statements and use these as motivational cues to move forward.

SMARTER

2022 Goal Framework

If you are nearing year-end with a ‘To Do’ list that is so long, you feel exhausted merely looking at it. Or, if you had so many goals this year that you were unable to achieve and are reluctant to set more in 2022, I want to share a goal framework that will simplify the process for you.

Writing your 2022 goals will help you focus your efforts and set out a roadmap of action for the year ahead. Written goals provide you clarity, motivate action, and help you think through the critical steps that will be required to attain achievement.

For 2022 define seven to ten goals (a combination of professional and personal) in your control. These goals will enable you to focus efforts on what is essential. I usually set seven professional and three personal stretch goals annually.

Goals should follow the S.M.A.R.T. or, better still, S.M.A.R.T.E.R. framework. I am sure you have seen the original S.M.A.R.T. acronym that gained great popularity after General Electric adopted this goal-setting technique in their company.

The intent was to ensure all company goals were specific, had measurable criteria whereby progress can be tracked, were attainable, realistic and timely. There have been many reiterations to the S.M.A.R.T. framework, and it has morphed now into the S.M.A.R.T.E.R. goal framework. Of the various versions, the words used for the acronym differ, so I have listed the most common words referenced to the right to provide you with an overview of other additions, and you can simply choose the words that resonate with you.

S – Specific

M – Measurable or Meaningful

A – Attainable, Acceptable, Achievable or Actionable

R – Realistic, Relevant or Risky

T – Timely, Timebound, Time Keyed or Time Frame

E – Exciting or Extending

R – Reviewed, Recorded or Relevant

Your professional goals should be based on your job description, or if you are an Owner or C.E.O., the functional areas of your business that are falling short whereby you know you need to focus.

For example, business functional areas:

Marketing, R&D/Innovation, Sales, Operational, Financial, Information Technology, Human Resources, Talent Development, Personal Professional Development or Customer Focus.

After you have identified 7-10 professional and personal goals to focus on in 2022, map out in what quarter you will complete the required activities. Schedule consistent and relentless action daily towards your goal achievement. Having a plan will help you remain motivated, do better, and be a better individual.

Execution is Key

Execution is Key

Getting started is often the hardest step. To decrease the potential of procrastination, write down the first five steps required under each goal that will provide you with an excellent strategy to move forward. When you are writing down the activities under each goal, if you get stuck, simply think, ‘what would the next best step be towards completion.’

After defining the next best steps under each goal, the next challenge is how you can keep momentum through to goal attainment. For each goal, identify your top three motivators or reasons for achieving the goal. This will help you stay motivated through to completion. Remember, any action you make is better than making none at all.

 

If you are interested in learning about how professional development or executive coaching can help support your leadership or your leadership team, please reach out to askme@jennyreilly.com to schedule a convenient time for a complimentary strategy session.

Get your leadership strategies and tactics in my monthly newsletter, sign up here to subscribe.

/by
, ,

21 Questions to Help You Reflect on 2021 and Set Your Goals for 2022

Reflect on 2021 and Set Your Intentions and Goals for 2022

 

I asked my connections on LinkedIn and Facebook:

“If you could choose one word to describe 2021, what would it be?”

Some of the one-word responses included:

accelerating, adaptive, agility, busy, chaotic, courage, devastating, eye-opening, grit, emotional, faith, growth, hope, humbling, inspiring, interesting, opportunity, prodigious, reset, resilience, risk, stressful, transformational, unusual and a ‘waste.’

What is your word to describe 2021?

What will be your word for 2022?

I encourage you to start your planning process by first reflecting on this chaotic year we have had. Making a note of the lessons learned will help you clarify your takeaways, address areas of challenge, and help set your intentions and goals for 2022.

2021 Reflection

2021 Reflection

 

2021 Reflection Questions

  1. What was your greatest lesson this year?
  2. What were the top three challenges you overcome in 2021?
  3. What was the best decision you made in either your professional or personal life?
  4. What accomplishment are you most proud of this year?
  5. What did you learn about yourself that you were unaware of pre-COVID?
  6. What new skills did you acquire?
  7. What new habits did you integrate into your day?
  8. What did you fail to do?
  9. Are you a different person than you were this time last year? How?
  10. What exhausted you, and on the flip side, reenergized you this year?
Goal Setting 2022

Goal Setting 2022

 

2022 Intentions and Goals

  1. What 5-7 professional goals do you want to achieve in 2022?
  2. What 3-5 personal goals do you want to achieve in 2022?
  3. What are you going to STOP doing next year?
  4. What are you going to KEEP doing next year?
  5. What do you want to START doing next year?
  6. What are you planning to do to enable you to step out of your comfort zone?
  7. What relationships do you want to focus on improving in 2022?
  8. What technical or personal qualities do you want to strengthen next year?
  9. How can you improve the integration of your work and personal life?
  10. Are there any improvements you need to make to your work environment to be more productive?
  11. List 3-5 individuals (professional or personal) who are in your support circle that you can rely on for help and advice?

 

Upon answering these questions if you need some direction on setting your goals for 2022, please get in touch to book a complimentary 15-minute goal setting strategy session.

If you are interested in learning about how professional development or executive coaching can help support your leadership or your leadership team, please reach out to askme@jennyreilly.com to schedule a convenient time for a complimentary strategy session.

Get your leadership strategies and tactics in my monthly newsletter, sign up here to subscribe.

/by