December Reset: Lead Into the New Year With Clarity, Not More Chaos

As we head into the end of year, it can get a little chaotic until the holidays.  December is not just a month of year-end reports, holiday parties, and budget approvals. It is the month that exposes the truth about how your organization operates.

You see it in missed deadlines that suddenly matter because the calendar is turning. You see it in leaders stretched thin because they are still carrying what their teams could not. You see it in teams exhausted, not from lack of effort, but because they worked inside systems that made success harder than it needed to be.

This is why I tell leaders that December should not just be for closing the year. It should be for resetting it.

When I was leading teams, I would use the last month of the year to look at what’s working, what’s not and what needs to change. If your team is still operating in chaos, it is time to figure out how to get organized. Here are the top 3 things to look at before the new year:

1) Teams rarely fail because of talent. They fail because workflows are unclear.
2) Managers unintentionally become bottlenecks; over-involved, monitoring every detail, stepping in at the last minute.
3) Accountability is assumed, not defined, and assumed accountability never sticks.

If you want January to feel different, you cannot wait for the calendar to flip. Leaders who win in the new year make decisions now.

What high-functioning leaders do in December

Strong leaders use December to tighten the system before demand picks up again.

They:

• Clarify ownership: who runs each process that impacts the teams?
• Close open loops: what has been hanging in the background that quietly drains energy?
• Decide what stops in January: not everything deserves to come with you.
• Reset expectations so performance is not dependent on heroics.

End-of-year is not the time to push harder. It is the time to build cleaner ways of working.

Why workflows matter more than motivation

I once worked with a financial services team that looked high performing on paper.They were smart, dedicate and hardworking, but they were drowning. Every day felt like a fire drill. Leaders were frustrated. Managers were burned out. And yet, when I dug into the root cause, it was obvious, this was not a performance issue.

Looking at just one process, you could see what the root cause was for the frustration and burn out. Their “simple” process for closing a client account required five separate workflows and ten different teams being notified. Procedures were so dense no one read them.

The result?

·       Steps were missed.

·       Clients were billed after termination.

·       Trades were placed in closed accounts.

·       Errors multiplied and so did the fire drills.

When we collapsed five workflows into one, with clear steps, decision rules, and a single owner, everything changed. Notifications were sent automatically. Errors were reduced. And Fire drills for closed accounts stopped.

People do not burn out because they do not care. They burn out because the way work is structured makes success exhausting. This is a leadership decision not an employee problem.

Want a practical way to spot fire-drill culture?

I recorded a short video walking through this exact scenario and how leaders can fix it by cleaning up workflows; not pressuring people. If you want a quick breakdown you can apply before January, watch it here.

 https://creatyl.com/butrflie813/custom-products/12

Your December Leadership Reset Checklist

Before January 5th, choose one problem workflow and:

• Assign one owner
• Map out what actually happens today
• Simplify steps and remove duplicates
• Build decision rules (“If this, then that”)
• Define how you will measure success

Fixing one workflow will shift more in Q1 than another motivational speech ever will.

If this sounds familiar…

If your team is tired, if you are constantly stepping in to save work, if you have the same problems showing up every quarter, it is not a people problem. It is a workflow problem.

This is the exact work I do in a Chaos to Clarity Session. We look at a real workflow, diagnose what is slowing your team down, and build a cleaner way forward.

Imagine starting the year without the fire drills. It is possible and now is the time to prepare for it.

Here’s to a new year where chaos is optional!

Cheers!

Rene