Reflection and Planning

As another year comes to a close, so it is time to review and summarize your reflections. December is a great time to capture the highlights of the year and identify the key points that defined the year for you.   

As you assess what transpired during the year, ask yourself the following questions:

• What was the highlight of your year?   
• Is there a one-liner that describes your year?  
• What were the key wins? Identify your key wins and determine how you can continue this pattern.
• What worked for you? List what worked for you and list what you need to continue to enable you to be successful.
• What did not work? It is important to capture what did not work, because you can learn from the lessons to avoid the same mistakes, or come up with a plan on how you will improve yourself.
• How did you improve your leadership capabilities? Leadership development is continuous. We repeatedly develop and improve ourselves. This way we can help others.
• Did you grow talent around you? A leader’s number one job is to develop talent around them. By growing talent, we multiply our ability to compete with others. Because leaders always grow other leaders

Whether you had a good or bad year, it is important to answer the above questions to enable you to document and, more importantly, come up with a plan that will help you navigate the upcoming year. There are two ways of approaching the upcoming year: create a concrete plan that you can follow or go with the flow. I strongly suggest coming up with a plan, because you’ll have a roadmap that you can use to track your progress. Going with the flow is not a good plan, because going with the flow keeps you from focusing on the key learnings that will help you avoid the same mistakes.   

I always look at reflection as a great way of closing out the year and planning for the upcoming year. It also allows me to focus my attention on my personal development and perhaps renew my dedication to something that I’m passionate about. Learn from what transpired this year and start 2017 strong.