Are you planning big achievements in your business next year?
Those plans may be dreams if they’re built in addition to this year’s objectives.
Not long ago, employees were energized when leaders boldly declared plans for new growth. Today, growth is often a code word for certain exhaustion: Employees will have to do more with less.
A Leader Who Gets It
A friend told me she’d just been delegated the responsibility of leading a significant project with an aggressive timeline. The job was outside her stated responsibilities.
“When my boss made the request, I hesitated before agreeing,” she said. “That’s when he followed up by asking me, ‘What are you going to give up or take off your plate?’”
She smiled. “I really appreciate my boss asking this. My experience is most leaders only ask that question when you push back. Or they never ask at all.”
Reminder: To support your colleagues in their focus, effective planning includes determining what work will no longer be executed.
An Analogy to Share with Your Team
Americans annually spend $37.5B renting storage space to keep belongings they don’t use. That’s an average of ~$100 per month per household.
Compassion is easy: What heartless person would rid themselves of their great-grandmother’s china set? And that ceramic lamp you made in high school? Someday there’ll be a spot for it.
It’s also easy to understand why other people have an extra $100 a month to invest or try a new restaurant. They were disciplined: They sold the china set. They gave away the ceramic lamp.
Deeply aligning to a plan includes the discipline of deciphering between the needs of your customer vs the sentimental appeal of china sets and ceramic lamps.
Is there a ceramic lamp in your 2025 plan?
Hat tip: C.O.
