Looking Back at Oneself
Effective leaders take time at the beginning of the year for an honest review. They ask themselves: What were my goals? What did I achieve – and what not? Why? What did I do well? Where did I make lazy compromises? Which opportunities did I miss? What did I overlook? What were my priorities, and what should they have been?
It is essential to write these reflections down. Simply letting the year pass before one’s inner eye is too fleeting and leaves no lasting effect; nothing can be learned from it. Equally important is objectivity and honesty toward oneself. Even very self-confident people should allow themselves one hour of truth each year.
Key Tasks
Even more important than looking back is looking ahead. The decisive question is: What must my key tasks be in the coming year?
Leadership means identifying those tasks that are critical to success in the next period. A position is not a task; it is merely the prerequisite for identifying tasks. For anyone in a leadership role, two areas are always key tasks: people and finances, regardless of the type of organization.
Effectiveness requires concentration on a few points. One may deal with many things, but can never be effective in many areas at the same time. Setting priorities is therefore unavoidable, and it requires difficult and risky decisions. The key question is not: What would I like to do? but: What is important in the given situation? Even if this conflicts with personal preferences, it must be done in the service of the task—this is a core element of leadership.
Key tasks may also include private matters; the two areas must be integrated, not separated.
Organizing Feedback
Truly effective people write down the results they expect from each of their key tasks. Only then does feedback become possible, because feedback is information measured against prior expectations.
Feedback must be deliberately created within organizations: first by defining key tasks, and second by specifying the expected results. Actual outcomes are then evaluated against these expectations. This method makes it possible to recognize deviations early, understand complex relationships better, and above all, discover one’s strengths.
The decisive question in the review is therefore not only: What did I achieve? but above all: What came easily to me, and where did I struggle? Anyone who applies this method systematically will know their strengths and align their work accordingly – the result is effectiveness and success.
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