Leaders should plan to improve in 2020
It’s that time of year when everyone seems to be making resolutions in the hope that we can do better – and be better – in future. So which resolutions should leaders thinking of making as they look ahead to 2020?
1. Take control of the device that is stealing your time
“Decisively take control of your smartphone – and the time it is stealing from you,” says Greg Orme, a keynote speaker and the author of The Human Edge: How curiosity and creativity are your superpowers in the digital economy. “Why are we enslaved by a device that was supposed to liberate us?”
Orme’s advice is this: “First, audit your social media apps. Delete those that don’t make you genuinely happier. Second, redefine your relationship with ‘always-on’ work emails. Check your inbox three times a day at most.”
By taking these steps, leaders will be able to focus. “Use the time you save to explore,” suggests Orme. “Read a book, take up meditation, write a story, draw something or learn a language. Curiosity and creativity are the workplace superpowers of the 21st century. To develop them, you need to learn how to protect your precious time. Just because you’re able to log in anywhere, anytime, doesn’t mean that you should.”
2. Make trust your priority
“In the era of fake news, deepfakes, data breaches and unfair use of personal data, trust and transparency are gaining importance and value. “The next year will bring yet another surge in concern over the way our data is being used, so brands must prove they can be trusted with our behavioral, contextual and emotional data if they are going to survive,” says Professor Steven Van Belleghem, an expert in customer focus in the digital world and author of Customers The Day After Tomorrow.
He adds: “Leaders should make it their resolution to set the right example and embed trust as a key value in their company culture. I believe we will see the continued rise of the ‘chief ethics officer’ within companies in 2020 as a result.”
3. Say “no” more often
“This will be the year I finally learn to say ‘no’,” says Jo Owen, a social entrepreneur, founder of social enterprise Teach First and author of Resilience – 10 habits to thrive in life and work.
“My goal is not to do more, but to do less and to do it better. Activity is not a substitute for achievement, so this will be the year of focus. It will not be easy, because focus will mean making some hard choices: letting people down and letting opportunities pass by. But ‘no’ will be my passport to making 2020 a personal and professional success.”
4. Use your power responsibly
“Lines of corporate responsibility and accountability are quickly coming of age,” says Dr José R. Hernandez, a corporate crisis expert and author of Broken Business: Seven Steps to Reform Good Companies Gone Bad. “They are being extended to consider a broad range of stakeholders and society’s generational challenges: waste, climate change and inequality.”
Hernandez argues that in 2020 leaders should resolve to exercise their corporate power more responsibly and act with more humanity. “A narrow focus on shareholder value, profits and growth may get managers a promotion and short-term bonuses, but CEOs and corporate rising stars will fall fast in 2020 for ethical failings or abuse of power,” he predicts. “Leaders need to use the power and privilege afforded to them to solve the problems of people and planet profitably.”
5. Become a champion of neurodiversity
Leaders should resolve to actively promote and champion neurodiversity within their organizations, according to Mark Simmonds, who trains major organizations in creativity, insight and innovation and is author of Breakdown and Repair: A Father's Tale of Stress and Success.
But what does it mean to become a neurodiversity champion? Simmonds suggests that leaders take the following approach: “Firstly, I will make it my mission to identify anybody and everybody who suffers from any kind of mental illness – for example, stress, depression, obsessive compulsive disorder, an eating disorder or post-traumatic stress disorder. Secondly, I will do my absolute best to understand how they think, what they feel, what makes them tick and the conditions that cause them stress. And thirdly, I will create an environment where each of these individuals can bring their ‘real me’ to work and fully flourish.”
6. Visualize your goal
“At the start of each year, leaders traditionally establish goals,” notes Patricia Peyton, author of wellbeing book Physical Intelligence and a director of training provider Companies in Motion. “Clear focus is the first step to achieving them. If you imagine clearly what you want to achieve, picture it, and experience the feelings of pleasure and reward associated with that achievement for yourself and others, you are more likely to achieve it.
Peyton believes that the act of visualizing goals is highly motivational. “It increases determination because we are drawn to that future reward,” she says. “Visualization not only helps to ensure success, it helps to create pace – and it takes our mind off the discomfort, difficulty or pain associated with working toward the goal.”
7. Summon your inner revolutionary
“Make 2020 the year when you dare to break through the atrophy of conformity, the automatic adapting to the status quo and the ‘this is the way we do things around here’ default zone,” says Dr Diana Theodores, a speaker, coach and author of bestselling book Performing as You. She is also director of coaching company Theatre 4 Business.
Theodores recommends becoming “a role model for doing something differently that will serve others better”. This might mean developing presentations that inspire rather than inform, creating meeting environments that nurture better quality engagement and thinking, sharing a personal story to build more trust and connection with your team, getting to know the stories of those you lead, or simply creating something you want to see in your organization. “What is something you’d like to start doing differently in your world of work that speaks of you and to you?” she asks. “And the most important question of all is: what is the consequence of NOT doing this?”
8. Commit to memory
“Even in ‘the Google age’ when we have a wealth of information at our fingertips, business leaders should not underestimate the power of a good, old-fashioned, brain-powered memory,” says Chester Santos, a memory skills expert, speaker and author.
He says: “Being able to quickly recall important facts and figures in meetings, talk confidently through presentations without notes, remember foreign language vocabulary and network like a social butterfly, all show how a powerful memory could be the secret weapon that makes you a much more effective leader.
Santos explains that while many of us think a good memory is something you either do or don’t have, the reality is that it is a case of “use it or lose it”. He recommends putting aside some time each day “for practicing things like visualization techniques to train your brain”.
9. Reframe power in your organization
“Many organizations are moving towards a flat structure, where there is no place for the command-and-control leadership style often reinforced through hierarchy,” says Antoinette Dale Henderson, a leadership expert and the author of Power Up: The smart woman’s guide to unleashing her potential.
She continues: “Leaders are therefore questioning which behaviors are needed to inspire people to deliver results. My New Year’s resolution for leaders is that they reframe how power is harnessed and expressed within their organizations. This involves moving away from a binary view, where you either have it or you don’t, toward a new power paradigm, where everyone is able to channel a whole spectrum, from the soft glow of intuition, through to the blazing flame of assertiveness, because everyone’s voice deserves to be heard.”
10. Improve the employee experience
“Every leader should resolve to dramatically improve the modern work experience so employees can do their best, while loving every second,” argues Chris Dyer, a performance expert, speaker, and author of The Power of Company Culture.
He says that while organizations that have focused on their culture have made great progress, the future offers up even more potential. “Just as we’ve moved from the printing press to computers, to artificial intelligence, we’re about to see much quicker and more radical change in how people-centric policies exponentially push business growth,” he explains. “Enormous new efficiencies – as well as innovation and evolution in work processes that we cannot yet predict – are right around the corner.”
