Are you ready for a new year? So many clients are setting their New Year’s Resolutions and plans for transformations to make 2017 a better year. Clients often ask us how to:

– be better leaders
– manage their time more productively
– inspire and lead change in their organizations

It’s that last one that we’re focused on this year – helping leaders actually get the results they’re looking for in the transformations they’re leading. Helping them from making things too complex. Helping them look for consistency between words and action. Helping them get others involved in leading the change.

To do that, you need to take a good hard look at what you’re trying to accomplish in 2017. What’s realistic? What will take people to the next level vs. what will push people too far? So many changes fail because we take on too much too fast and then don’t have the perseverance to follow through. You have to take into account the culture of the organization, the skills and attitudes needed for the change, and the competing priorities in the organization. One client wanted to launch three new operating systems in six months – not realistic! They needed to make some tough choices and decided to launch one system successfully before moving on to the other two.

Once you’ve scoped out what’s realistic, you need to layout a roadmap for the change. What are the major milestones you’ll achieve? How long do you expect it to last? Who needs to be involved when? It’s important to involve the key stakeholders at this stage to make sure that you’re getting all the perspectives you need to make a realistic roadmap. An added bonus? The more you engage people in conversation, the more they start to see you’re vision and get on board. Test the major milestones with everyone who will be affected by the transformation.

What else needs to change? As you’re contemplating your own personal New Year’s Resolutions, you realize the importance of having a plan to fit it into your own life. If you want to read 52 books this year, then you need to create some time in your daily life to do that. It might mean less tv in the evenings or getting up 30 minutes early before the rest of the household is up. Small changes are needed to reinforce the big goal.

The same rings true for your organization. If you want your organization to be more strategic, you might need to reduce the frequency of operating review meetings. One client changed the schedule from weekly to monthly – a tough shift for the finance team who would have preferred to focus on the numbers, but an important one for the sales team so they could create individual customer plans.

Take some time this week to create your own plan to get the results you’re looking for in the transformations you’re leading.