Teamership: Just one thing

What is just one thing that you can do for your team and leaders in 2024 that will significantly improve 2025?

I have recently discovered the late Dr Michael Mosley’s podcast, which is called “Just One Thing”.

The premise is pretty simple - each episode explores one thing that you can do to improve your health and wellbeing.

Clearly, given that there were 114 episodes and a book, there is more than one thing that can improve your health. I’m enjoying the concept, though and there are parallels with leadership and team performance.

Here are my “Just 1 things” for leadership teams and team leaders.

For leadership teams

If you are a senior or executive leader and want to invest in your team. What is just one thing that you can do this year?

Spend a day together.

Not just any day, though and ideally not in your regular place of work.

Spend a day together with the specific intention of reflection and inflection.

Reflection to learn lessons from how the team has performed this year. Questions like…

• What has worked well?

• What was the hardest thing that we did this year?

• Who or what are we grateful for?

• What is the work that we are proud of?

Inflection to get clear on how your team wants to work together for the coming 12 months - factoring in all that you have learned from your reflection and what you expect 2025 to require of your team. Discussions like…

• How will we turn up next year?

• What are we excited about?

• What are we concerned about?

• How do we make this team a valuable place for you to choose to be?

By taking the time in 2024, you can set your teams up to make the most of the “fresh start effect” when you return in 2025.

For team leaders

Just one thing if you want to support team leaders?

Develop a plan for your leadership development in 2025.

Gartner has recently revealed that the Number 1 priority for HR professionals is leadership development.

If you are responsible for developing leaders in your organisation, there is a high chance that leadership development is high in your priority list.

According to the Gartner research, 71% of HR leaders don’t think they are effectively developing their midlevel leaders.

By spending 2024 developing a plan that you can communicate to your leaders about their development for 2025, you will have made big progress on a big priority item and you will be able to give confidence to your leaders that you value their development and are taking tangible actions to support them in the year ahead.

How will your leaders be more effective than 2024?

Here are some questions to ask yourself in the planning:

• How are we currently supporting our leaders?

• Do we have ways to develop leaders mindsets as well as skillsets?

• How are we fostering connections between leaders that improve our conversations about leadership?

• Is there anything that will have a more significant effect on our teams than how our leaders perform?
  

Some questions for you to consider this week.

• What is just one thing that you can do to support your team to end this year well and start 2025 well?

• Is there a higher priority for you, your teams or your organisation than the performance of your leaders?