3 Leadership Resolutions You Need To Make For 2017

Paul Keijzer — January 3, 2017 Follow @Paul_Keijzer

There’s no better time to set goals for yourself than the start of the year. And I’m not talking about professional goals or your business’s goals. I’m talking about your personal goals. Your leadership resolutions that’ll set the tone and pace of the year ahead. These resolutions or pledges are imperative for your leadership’s success and the impact it makes on the people around you and the business you run.

So getting right to it, here are 3 leadership resolutions you need to work on to become a better leader.

Strive For Balance

There’s much talk about work-life balance and the struggle for a leader to achieve it is relentless. While work-life balance is always something to strive for, I’m throwing another perspective into the mix. And that’s achieving mind-body balance.

The first step of course is to manage your time better. Schedules and allocating time for everything that’s important to you on a daily basis is essential. But what’s next when you’ve found the time away from work. Or when you’ve attended to the other things in life outside work. The time you find after work and personal life is what should be invested in your body and mind. That’s the time you’ll be spending keeping yourself fit and in shape and strategizing on the next big innovation. Basically what it comes down to is a pledge to exercise your mind and your body.

Build Capacity

As a leader you’re most likely seen as a role model and a source of guidance and motivation. That’s probably a fundamental trait that defines leadership. So you inspire dedication and commitment. You drive performance through motivational engagements. And you lead with innovative and creative thinking. But all that comes down to is you being the focal point.

Building capacity is not just succession planning. It’s going a step further and stepping out of the limelight and not being the focal point of the company. Truly building capacity entails quite a lot of invested time and effort on the leader’s part. So, as a leadership resolution, you’ll make efforts to specifically allocate quality time with each member of your team – one-on-one. During this time the conversation won’t be about the business or the targets that the company has. It’ll be about the bigger picture and the role each team member will play. It’ll be about how you’re empowering them and allowing them room to maneuver and shine. This is the time you’ll actually be transferring your vision. The objective is not just to motivate or inspire your team members, it’s to elevate them to the next level of leadership. It’s passing on the torch without actually leaving.

Invest In Yourself

While chasing your vision you may often find yourself trapped in a vortex that just keeps asking more of you. You’re constantly on your toes in terms of how people perceive you. You’re motivating people, developing strategies and ensuring outcome. You’re meeting customers and business associates to ensure stronger ties. You’re networking and building relationships. You’re doing all this and much, much more.

Investing in yourself is a loaded leadership resolution in that it demands many things to be taken into consideration. But on the surface of it, what it requires is stopping for a moment and thinking about nothing except yourself. Just you. Who you are. What you want to achieve and be remembered by. Where you see your career and life headed towards. When you plan on achieving each objective you have for life. And how you’ll get there. To answer any or all of these you’ll need to find some time reflecting on everything you’ve achieved so far and design a path that you can navigate through for the foreseeable future of your life. This leadership resolution is beyond your business and your personal life. It’s about you – as an individual. Once you’ve invested time in yourself you’ll be able to decipher what value you’ve created, the direction you’re headed towards, the personality you’ve developed, the changes you’ll need to make, the relationships you need to strengthen or let go of, the challenges you’ll put yourself up to, and the behaviors you need to display. Yes it’s a loaded leadership resolution for sure!

Irrespective of what goals you lay out for yourself this year, make sure to have some of these leadership resolutions on your agenda. While you’re leading your teams and realizing your vision your pursuit of excellence and continuous strive to be a better and stronger leader should remain on course.

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