Shake It Up

Happy New Year and welcome to 2024 – a year full of promise and opportunity! The Christmas and New Year break has become one of the most important times in our business and personal calendars. ?

The Australian summer break gives us permission to down tools, disconnect, and take real time off, it gives us time to pause, reflect and reset for the new year.

So, it’s no surprise that every January I hear variations on similar themes as I meet with friends, colleagues, and clients:

• This year will be different, this is MY year!
• I’m going to find balance this year; I’ll work hard and I’ll play hard (or I’ll travel more)
• This year my business (or department or team) is going to do things differently. ?We’ll work together, bring out the best in each other, focus on outcomes, create value, opportunities and drive sustainable growth
• This year, we’re going to grow or maybe even bring a new idea to life.

Many of us head back to work, or life, with the best of intentions to do things differently this year – if it wasn’t for the grind of the everyday. ?

After a week or two, the holiday glow loses its shine quickly and we slip back into the way we’ve always done things – work and life alike. ?

We attend the same meetings, with the same agendas, engagement, communication and actions. ? We have the same conversations. ?

We revive the routines that ‘worked’ for us last year, and the year before. ?Our businesses, departments and teams get back into the groove – predictable relationships, predictable performance, and predictable results.

And just like that our January intentions are replaced with a commitment to doing more of the same. Our habits and routines, at work and at home, aren’t moving us toward our goals – they’re holding us back.

The ‘groove’ at work isn’t creating new value, nor encouraging our people to bring their best to work – the groove is, in reality, a deepening rut. ?This year I encourage you to SHAKE THINGS UP.?

This year I encourage you to reframe the concept of change and embrace An Investment in Disruption, because only by disrupting what you’ve been doing on autopilot, by stepping into those circumstances that are challenging, or hard or tough, will you move towards your New Year Intentions.?

This year I encourage you to consider your business, your people and yourself, important enough and valuable enough to find a new way.

Disruption, innovation and chasing dreams (business or personal) all centre on one fundamental truth – doing something differently. You can create different in one of three broad ways:

• Different by Default Let it happen by default – in a vacuum of leadership, decision-making or intentional interventions disruption occurs through inevitable failure and diminishing quality, relationships, trust and commitment, ultimately diminishing the value of our business, or what we do (and how we do it);
• Different by Dispute Throw a grenade and see what happens – where things need to change but it’s mismanaged, where vocal dissatisfaction with the status quo combined with haphazard or unreliable leadership, conflicting messages and a reluctance to seek or accept feedback defencelessly, drives a disruption agenda that erodes value by creating an (at times hostile) environment in which there’s heightened chaos, uncertainty and scarcity with diminishing engagement, commitment and quality; OR
• Different by Design Approach it with structure, intention and commitment – clear, purposeful leadership supported by effective decision-making, high quality relationships and performance that surprises and delights. ?This approach to disruption creates value and commitment, it encourages creativity, drives quality and creates an environment in which every person has the opportunity to bring the best of themselves each and every day. ?This approach to disruption creates a culture that’s resilient and innovative, and a business (or department or team) focussed on value and long-term sustainability.

Disruption, Innovation, Change – it’s not for the faint of heart. ?It’s not easy. ?But none of the options are:

• Different by Default makes business & life hard because nothing changes (while everything around us does). ?People start working for themselves and what they want from a job and you spend time fighting fires rather than investing in what’s important and what moves you forward;
• Different by Dispute makes life & business hard because people are destabilised and often actively work against each other and the organisation. ?You spend your time, energy and dollars managing unproductive conflict, disengagement and attrition with little (if anything) left to invest in growth and progress;
• Different by Design means every day is an intentional choice to move out of the comfort zone and face new challenges, and while there are no guarantees to success, your time, energy and dollars are invested in designing and creating growth, opportunity and value.

Different by Design means you’re in the driving seat, you’re paying attention and the people around you are with you, because they want to be. Make the most of the new year.? Make a commitment to yourself, your people, and your stakeholders.? Invest in disruption. Choose Different by Design.? Here’s a simple starting point for you (& your team):

1. What’s one thing that you’d like to be different? (Focus on outcomes rather than activity)
2. What does the following look like:GoodBetterBest
3. What’s getting in the way of Better and Best?
4. What needs to happen to resolve what’s getting in the way? (Give people accountability for resolving what’s in their domain)
5. What commitments and actions are needed to move toward Best, and what accountability does each person have to achieve the desired outcomes?
6. What new habits or routines need to be created to drive these new behaviours?

Alternatively, you can give me a call and let’s chat.? I’m in your corner, committed to your success and ready to support you and your team. ?

I’ll help you challenge your status quo, to think differently, to discover and bring your best to the table, to navigate the challenges and to create value.

Make 2024 your best year yet.

Let’s get started!

Sandy