Somehow, 2023 is just three weeks away. If you’re like most executives, you’ve got Q1 KPIs to approve, a whole slew of finely tuned OKRs to guide staff toward achievement, and target metrics laid out for nearly every month of the upcoming new year. But to make next year your company’s best year yet, consider some stretch goals for your company that will sharpen your colleagues’ strengths, boost the effectiveness of your executive office, and possibly increase your most precious resource: your time.
Seek coaching for your utility players and ensure new hire success with onboarding plans
We all have those employees we can count on for just about anything. They proudly claim their status as a generalist and they’re always willing and able to help when there’s a fire. To ensure that these employees keep feeling healthily challenged, consider what skills and mentorship they aren’t getting within your company, and then outsource to someone who can coach them. Your employees will be eager for the additional professional development. Providing coaching to your staff demonstrates your investment in them, and in turn, will likely increase their investment in your leadership and the company.
Dig into your effectiveness—be honest, know your blind spots, and be open to adjustments
To level up in 2023, your executive office needs to be running optimally. Don’t rest on “good enough” and let your support team operate at status quo. To begin optimizing your executive office, evaluate how things are now. Consider each member, their responsibilities, how they perform under stress, and how often that stress is present. Are your processes and technology useful and noncomplicated? When a member of your team encounters a problem, are they able to troubleshoot with other colleagues or are you always the go-to? These are some of the questions that our advisors ask our clients. After initial conversations, we provide clients with our Effectiveness Diagnostic—a questionnaire that helps us grade their effectiveness. Combining both qualitative and quantitative analyses, Prime finds the areas where your executive office can evolve. This could include bringing clarity to the goals and roles in your executive office, expanding the team, and improving the processes and technology you use day-to-day.
Learn to delegate and provide information
The most effective executives manage to carve out more time for themselves. It might sound like a superpower, but really, it just involves building trust and agility within your team. Often, when we think of delegation, we think of playing hot potato with tasks. It’s much more than that. Delegation is entrusting others to represent you and make decisions on your behalf. The only way your colleagues can be your delegate is with information. Work on teaching your team the why behind your decisions. Provide your team with the same information you use to evaluate options. Once your team can think like you, decide like you, and advise like you, you can relax on the days you’re double booked. Instead of having to be in two places or substitute an in-person meeting with a string of emails, you can trust that your team has your back and will represent you and the company when you can’t be present. As a result of being your delgate, your team will gain confidence and savvy. Prime’s COO Jamie Henriod said it best, “Delegation helps not only the leader but gives those around them the ability to learn and step up to the challenge.”
The start of a new year is both refreshing and overwhelming. It’s a new start and clean slate that comes with a boatload of new goals and long to-do lists. Optimizing your executive office and steering growth for the professionals you surround yourself with will help ensure that you achieve the goals you’ve set and tackle the surprises that come along the way. Whether you commit to all three of these stretch goals or just keep them as ideas in your back pocket, remember that the attention you invest in your executive office will return more productive days and smoother operations for your entire company.