The start of a new year offers an opportunity to look back and consider ‘what is’ and ‘what can be’ – before new challenges and changing priorities capture your time and attention. This is a model that I’ve found to be helpful:
Analyzing Value Creation:
- What were your most impactful initiatives in terms of customer value and business outcomes?
- Which efforts fell short, and what adjustments are needed?
- How did your culture enable or amplify that value creation?
- How might sharing these insights with your team improve agility and innovation?
Assessing Time Investment:
- How much direct customer engagement occurred to confirm value delivery, and to identify changed needs or goals going forward?
- What portion of time went to employee recognition and cultural reinforcement?
- Was sufficient time allocated to linking functional work with strategic objectives?
Potential Action Priorities for 2025:
- Strengthen customer relationships to anticipate market changes and adapt strategies accordingly.
- Encourage more employee initiative and collaboration to foster a more agile, innovative culture, and to support talent development.
- Actively connect organizational culture to strategy execution through consistent engagement.
Validate the impact of these actions by:
- Quantifying the specific ROI of last year’s successful initiatives.
- Documenting how cultural elements contributed to key wins.
- Creating structured touch points for customer feedback and employee recognition.
- Setting clear metrics to track progress on culture-strategy alignment.
How will you make the most of your new year’s reflection?