Preparing and Planning Your Leadership for 2025

As business leaders, I am sure that many, if not all of you, are currently in the process of reviewing your 2024 business plan and developing a strategic plan for 2025. Your plan should include a budget, major business objectives, and certainly a comprehensive sales and marketing strategy. While strategic planning is vital to your success, another area is oftentimes forgotten about. Both you and your management team should be evaluating and planning where your leadership/management skills need to be reviewed, refined, and improved upon.

While numerous opportunities exist for leaders to grow and develop, my experience tells me that the following areas MUST be reviewed and refined periodically to ensure both the success of the leader and of the organization. These areas are:

• Delegation
• Mentoring and Coaching
• Time Management and Prioritization
• Leading Through Trust and Transparency

Let’s briefly touch on each of these critical skills.

Delegation

Delegation is a necessary skill for all leaders to master, as it allows you to then focus on the big-picture strategic tasks. In addition, delegation will empower employees to take responsibility, develop their skills, and prepare them for future opportunities.

Allow employees to make decisions—within boundaries—linked to their daily tasks. This builds trust and motivates employees to take the lead. You can’t do it all and most employees not only want to help, but it makes them feel good to be needed and trusted. Start with small tasks and duties, then as the employee grows and succeeds, continue to give them more. Keep in mind that the key is to build self-esteem and confidence, which will result in them taking ownership.

Mentoring and Coaching

Part of every leader’s day should be devoted to individual employee development. Recognize what each person is doing well, what they could be doing better, and what they need to stop doing. This is truly performance management at its best.

Assist them by having both yourself and other leaders share your experiences—both positive and negative—to allow the employees to relate and recognize their own areas for improvement.

It has been proven through study after study that employees who receive mentorship and coaching are more likely to feel valued and invested in their job, increasing both job satisfaction and retention. Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group, has been quoted as saying, “If you ask any successful businessperson, they will always have had a great mentor at some point along the road.”

Time Management and Prioritization

Time management and prioritization involve a mixture of effective planning, educated implementation, and flexibility. Leaders who can manage their workload efficiently and direct their energy toward what truly matters will ultimately create a more balanced work-life structure. They will also create a culture that enables everyone to understand the need to work on what’s important not necessarily what is urgent.

Time management and prioritization are crucial for all business leaders, regardless of the size of your company. Doing so will help to maintain productivity, reduce stress and burnout, and focus on business growth through proper attention to the short- and long-term strategic plans.

Learning the importance of daily planning is essential to effective time management. Practice what you preach. Use available technology. And ensure that everyone in the organization is engaged in this daily process. As Steve Jobs once said, “Deciding what not to do is as important as deciding what to do. That’s true for companies, and it’s true for products.”

Leading Through Trust and Transparency

Below are some suggestions on how to build trust and transparency in your organization, however all too often we fail to engage in these management/leadership behaviors and then wonder why our employees are not engaged.

• Be firm, be fair, and be consistent. Do not allow favoritism to exist inside of your organization.
• Encourage questions and feedback. Give both positive and constructive feedback as often as possible.
• Admit your mistakes and allow your employees to make mistakes but ensure that everyone learns from them. Create a freedom-to-fail-but-a-requirement-to-learn culture.
• Keep employees informed by scheduling updates and holding informational meetings with all employees. Make sure these meetings are not canceled unless it is completely unavoidable.

Leading with transparency creates a workplace where employees feel respected, engaged, and motivated. It nurtures loyalty and high morale and enhances all the other components previously mentioned that will enable your organization to sustain profitable growth for years to come.

By embracing the above-mentioned management and leadership practices, you and your team can build strong, trusting relationships that benefit your employees, the organization, and all stakeholders associated with your business.