Are You Making These 3 Leadership Mistakes?

As Annual Planning approaches for many companies, leadership teams are sitting down to develop their goals for 2018. How was your 2017? Did you get everything accomplished that you had hoped? Are you closer or farther away from your BHAG?

To develop a stronger leadership team in 2018, start with Annual Planning. Watch out for the three leadership mistakes below during your Annual Planning meeting to have a constructive session!

1. Forgetting the devil is in details

"The best leaders also know that it’s a rookie mistake to fail to outline small goals for their people to achieve along the way." CEOs so often get caught up in their visionary BHAG that they forget how the work is going to get done to meet their goals and dreams. You need to develop your BHAG and Winning Moves in a way that your team can quickly figure out how to set SMART goals and how their departments are going to meet said goals. During Annual Planning, setting realistic goals for initiatives is much more constructive than just winging it and hoping to meet targets. Each initiative you decide on during Annual Planning should involve the right team and priorities. 

2. Poor planning communication

Your plans can only be effective if you communicate them effectively. As you step into Annual Planning, remember your plan will only be effective if it is clear and concise. Your employees need to understand the decisions the executive team made and how those will affect their daily work. At the end of your Annual Planning session, you need to spend time thinking of how you are going to communicate the plan with your organization. 

3. Lack of clarity with your organization

Often we at Rhythm Systems hear that leaders feel like they don't understand why initiatives are not getting done. As a CEO, there is no reason you should feel like your organization is a murky crystal ball.  You might not need to know everything going on in your organization, but you should have a general understanding. Using Rhythm, leaders can easily see the progress of initiatives and communicate with their team to get more done successfully.

Want to learn more about how to plan more successfully in 2018? Check out Chris Cosper's session at Breakthrough 2017, "Plan Like a Pro - Facilitation Skills to Get the Most Out Of Your Planning Sessions."

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