I am a big believer in categorizing the year into three clear phases when it comes to creating a
roadmap for success: prepare, perform, and proclaim. At the beginning of the year, I shared a
few Insta posts on the “prepare” phase. It’s now mid-year which means you should be in the
“perform” phase. This is the stretch of the year where actions can make or break your ability to
meet success. There is one mistake I see all too often during this phase: blindly charging
ahead without establishing checkpoints to assess progress and the feasibility of your milestones
and confirming the path to get to your goals. Staying grounded on where you are along your
roadmap and objectively assessing if the milestones and path are still relevant are crucial to
meeting success.
What is the risk if you do not create checkpoints within your “perform” phase? Ultimately, you
could put energy towards actions that do not lead to your milestones. Or worse yet, you
accomplish milestones that are no longer relevant for the path to achieving your goals. Let’s
say one of your goals this year is to implement a new program for your company. You have
aligned with your boss that success looks like it being delivered on time (in October) and on
budget. What happens if a key team that is part of the program is impacted by a workforce
reduction? (There’s a lot of that going on these days.) How do you meet success when
external and internal factors change after your preparation phase?
I offer a three-step process to stay on track: assess, adapt and advocate.
First, as part of your roadmap to success, you should establish checkpoints to assess
your progress. Are you performing at the level, speed, effectiveness that you expected? If
not, what is impacting how you are delivering? This is the time to assess internal and external
elements that are coming into play. These can include factors that are internal to you, like
motivation, skillset and focus as well as external factors like work environment, shifting priorities
or unexpected events (like tariffs). To perform at your best, you must make time to reaffirm your
desired outcomes, the path and the current state of your progress. In the example above,
learning of the workforce reduction should be a natural checkpoint to reassess progress on
delivering the program and feasibility of being able to do so on time and on budget.
Second, the ability to adapt is key to meeting your long-term goals. People, businesses,
and industries around us are constantly shifting. If you want to create systemic success, you
must be able to adapt to these shifts, remaining flexible without losing sight of the end goal. Part
of assessing progress is identifying roadblocks or unexpected challenges. Once identified, take
time to consider which you can resolve and which require a new path. Moving forward without
assessing and adapting to new circumstances can lead to disappointment and unrealized goals.
Continuing with our example, once you know that a key team has impacted, how do you
respond? If this team was one of the customers of the program, do you continue to work
towards delivering an outcome for a team that no longer exists? Will this look like success to
your boss? Or do you adapt the plan, rearranging resources and milestones to account for the
change?
Third, be prepared to advocate for what you need to succeed. Ask: what must be true for
me to hit this goal? Once you know what you need, speak up. Talk to your manager, your team,
and your peers and let them know. While it might seem daunting, communicating early and
often is key to delivering on time and above expectations. Far too often, I see people struggle
silently when the circumstances around them have changed, only to raise their issues at the end
of the year. By then, it’s too late to change the outcome or expectations. Do not wait to
advocate. From our example, as soon as you adapt the path forward, with a new resourcing
plan and adjusted milestones, the very next step is a conversation with your boss. In the
moment is the time to advocate for changes to the definition of success and drive to alignment.
Otherwise your performance, even if heroic, could lead to different outcomes than what is
expected. It is quite painful to feel you performed at your best and be met with disappointment
and rejection by your leadership at year’s end. I know because I have been there.
Success doesn’t happen in a vacuum. It’s the result of purposefully assessing, adapting with
intention and communicating clearly. As you move through your “perform” phase this year,
check in. Assess current state and unexpected changes. Adapt where needed. Advocate
without hesitation. And keep moving forward.
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