The Startup Reset: January Actually Decides What Scales

Read time: 2.5 minutes

Here's what's most important in today’s world:

1. Make decisions without hesitation. Typically, the process of waiting to acquire all of your "perfect information" will teach your team that you are giving the team decisions as though they are simply multiple possible "options."

2. Make sure you assign "ownership." If leaders don’t assign "ownership," the rest of the organization will operate as if nothing is urgent, despite the leadership team’s words to the contrary.

3. Keep the team in the loop. A team will focus on what is 'closed' and not worry about what is 'talked' about.

4. Be aware of the little things that get missed. A missed promise from January will no longer be a little thing by the end of the year.

5. Skip the "values" refresh. Faster, clearer decision-making will create a better culture than another "values" slide.

These are not very exciting actions... they are operational actions and that's why they stick.

💡Key Takeaway: 

January is often seen as a highly productive month for planning. However, planning does not typically lead to the implementation of productive behaviour. What is significant is how leaders respond when things don't go according to plan - how swiftly they take action, how clearly they communicate, and whether the corrections are made visible. This is how teams will learn what is important, the velocity of movement, and the extent of accountability. The month of January is a time to develop habits for these types of reactions.