Reflect on last year for success in 2018

Before we all dive headlong into a new year, it’s worth taking some time to reflect on 2017. Did you accomplish what you set out to do? Where did you come up short? What lessons did you learn? What will you stop, keep or change doing? Here are my biggest takeaways from 2017:

Make time to talk regularly, one on one, with your clients and your team members. You’ll be surprised by what you learn. I had one employee who I thought was doing a great job until I started talking directly with those he worked for and with. It turns out they were frequently disappointed or frustrated with him. He didn’t follow through, they said. He was hard to reach and harder still to get through to. They felt he didn’t seem to care about the work anymore, and the evidence backed them up, with tasks not done, balls dropped, avoidable mistakes made.

Read the full story from the January issue here.