Leadership Crystal Ball

Which ball do you drop for what priorities?

 
The Crystal Ball has long been recognized as a symbol of the mysterious unknown and the future. “If I only had a crystal ball…” What would you wish for?
 
Welcome to 2012. Now is the time to follow through with your New Year’s resolutions as you consider them as goals to complete. How did you spend the New Year’s? Are you ready to say your New Year’s resolutions and this time follow through with them? This year try something a little different than you have in the past.
 
Of the many lessons corporate executives and leaders learn is perhaps the most is that change happens. The next most important lesson may very well be that to keep managing change is to ride it rather than resist it, understand it and make it work for you.
 
Having a crystal ball at your disposal may not help you predict what is going to happen for you in the next 12 months. As you create your goals, the possible ways of reaching those goals one step at a time, preferably on a monthly basis, you will notice the significance of your skills and those of your employees will help make these goals happen.
 
Being successful in 2012 is not about your skills abilities per se. It is not about your actions or activities either. Being successful does not even depend on having a great plan. The most important secret to your success in 2012 is making sure that you never stop!
 
Get Clear on Winning
 
Your employees have 2 questions permanently etched on their minds: Where are we going as an organization and how will we get there. Your most important task as a leader is to answer those questions by painting a rich and vivid picture of what winning looks like for your organization.
 
Get very clear on your vision and set the unique specific goals you expect to complete by December 31, 2012. What do you want to achieve and how will you get there?
 
What’s Working
 
Continue focusing on what’s working. This will help you move forward. Do not focus on what isn’t working. By doing so, this will take time and effort away from what you need to concentrate on that will yield your best results.
 
Be proactive in taking action on your goals with follow through. You may find that the growth of your organization can surpass your competition beyond average growth.
 
Don’t Limit New Ideas
 
Look for new product and service ideas and other ways to improve your systems and processes. Sometimes the best ideas come from unlikely sources.
 
If your biggest challenge is to become more creative and innovative, look carefully at how each of your employees are using their maximum potential. Assess from them how much more creative and innovative they actually can be.
 
Timing
 
Business forecasts and their assessments can take anywhere from a few days to more than a week. Change management takes a lot of time and depends on the size of the organization. The number of changes can be completed on a gradual basis.
 
Open Communication Channels
 
Every business owner and leader knows that communication is important. Structure your communication to the extent that it is conducive for all within your organization to understand. Keep employees informed to any changes that take place. Get input from employees can help you get things to change. You may even get and use some ideas from your employees. Remember to give them the credit for using their ideas.

 How you re-engineer your crystal ball can help you re-structure what you predict you want on your wish list. Since no leader has a crystal ball, to make savvy leadership decisions, you have to rely on the most current data about your competitive markets and know your own company inside out. Some of the best plans are dreamed up overnight. In fact, these might take some time to come to fruition.

 
Imagine business as a game in which you are juggling six balls in the air. Can you keep all 6 balls in the air at the same time? If you drop one of them, will it bounce back to where you want or expect it to be? This is the reason I suggest working on a maximum of 3 goals at a time to work on. It is an easy number to handle.
 
Sometimes, things that are not planned just happen. As long as you keep the positive action going, you will have significance results.
 
What’s in store for your organization in 2012? As you gaze into your crystal ball, do you see a year of promise and opportunity? You might also see new challenges that require different ways of viewing and thinking that can lead to how view your organization now and beyond 2012.