What have we learned, and what can we solve for in 2025?
I’m not sure if you are a New Year’s resolution person – a theme of the year, a word of the year, a phrase of the year, an animal of the year – whatever it might be.
I’m not one of those people. I just don’t trust myself to follow through on it.
But I am someone who likes to think about the past and think about what I’ve learned from the past year and what I can bring forward into this year – and as a part of our leadership coaching practice, we learn a lot.
At ADVISA, we spend a lot of time with leaders and hear about their inner worlds. And it’s really a joy. It’s an honor that our leadership coaches get to spend unique one-to-one time and help leaders wrestle through the things that they’re working on.
I want to share the big five that I’ve seen leaders wrestling with in 2024. Maybe some of these resonate with you.
I’ve learned a lot about each, and we’ve developed a lot of frameworks and tools to help leaders think through them.
The big five leadership themes from 2024
1. Balancing people and productivity
(AKA, “Please don’t leave me, but could you please do your job?”)
Leaders trying to work through the tension of “I want to get stuff done” and “I still want people to want to work with me.” The skills I see people working through is how assertive to be versus how empathetic to be. This is a a perfect segue to the second topic that has been coming up a lot lately…
2. The Goldilocks spectrum
The second thing I’ve heard a lot is the idea of trying to find the sweet spot – and the worry that comes along with it. I call it the Goldilocks spectrum:
- I don’t want to do too much, but I don’t want to do too little.
- I don’t want to communicate too much, but I don’t want to communicate too little.
- I don’t want to give too much feedback, but I don’t want to give not enough feedback.
- I want to give too much direction, but I don’t want to give inadequate direction.
I see a lot of leaders wrestling to find that sweet spot.
3. Shifting from individual performance to inspiring performance in others
The third thing that I see leaders really wrestling through is how to move from being a technical expert – a high individual performer – through to someone who’s trying to get results through others.
I’m the problem; it’s me. How do I get results through others?
That transition is a tough shift. It can be from mindset, skill, environment, the working manager. It can be a sort of business plague. I see a lot of that.
4. Culture shock: aspirational culture versus actual culture
The fourth one that I see a lot of leaders working through is the culture they want versus the culture they have – and how to navigate that world. It’s really a tough one, because that is where to spend your time.
Spoiler alert: ADVISA has a process to help you achieve your aspirational culture.
5. Prioritizing one’s own time
Finally, the fifth one that I see a lot of leaders working through is capacity: The things I want to do and the things I can do – and how to build and develop capacity, to try and do, and where to assign your time.
Time… “That’s on Amazon: where did you get that?”
So those are the big five that I’ve seen leaders working through. I can name off probably another 20 or 30, but those are the big five that I thought about.
Want to chat any of these – or something else?
Like I said, it’s a real honor for us to lead and coach leaders in this spot. So if one of those five is interesting to you, reach out to me via email.
I’d love to send you a video of some more about that particular one or maybe you want to chat just about what could be an opportunity for you to navigate that tension the wrestling that you’re going through.
I hope you have a great 2025!