While your colleagues may wish to wait until January to think about 2024, your job is to be ready to do big things. Therefore, before the energy of 2023 is exhausted, now is the time to leverage remaining momentum and forge a clear—and compelling—vision for 2024.
In this space last week, we identified 10 questions you can ask to support your team in finishing the year strong. Now, here are the five steps of a framework effective leaders use to align colleagues to a shared and important vision of the future, particularly during a period of transition.
First, identify the aspect of your business around which you want the team to strengthen alignment in 2024. Here are some topics that are popular in our programs right now: innovation, simplification, speed of achievement, customer centricity and cross-functional collaboration.
Next, before you begin facilitating a dynamic discussion around your chosen area of focus, do this:
- Set context, including stating your intention for taking these five steps. For example, you could share the words from the opening paragraph of this blog.
- Validate the experience and current mindset of colleagues. For example, “Everyone has worked hard to advance [topic] in 2023. It hasn’t been easy—yet it’s been valuable.”
- Share what’s important to you and why. For example, “In 2024 it’s critical that we go to new levels in [topic], so we can create greater value faster.”
Your colleagues are now ready for 5 simple steps to prepare for 2024:
Step 1: In 2023 what were our most important successes in the area of [topic]?
Step 2: What specifically did we do to create those successes? (An alternative question that strengthens bonds among colleagues: Who would you like to acknowledge for providing unique or critical value in our efforts?)
Step 3: What does excellence look like in [topic] as we move through 2024? (Note: Encourage small groups here, where all ideas are documented. Then bring the large group together and identify common or important areas of focus.)
Step 4: Why is creating and accomplishing the vision outlined above important to you personally?
Step 5: What plans must we create or revise to accomplish our vision (in step 3)?
Momentum is a matter of focus. The year 2023 has many gifts to provide its successor. It’s up to you to leverage the past to create a stronger future.
