Life as a woman business owner is incredibly busy, and there’s so much power in the pause. It’s an opportunity to identify what went well over the last year and plan for how to replicate and build on our successes in the future. It’s also a time to identify where we experienced difficulties and think through what we can do to overcome these and improve.
The result is more strategic and forward thinking and less reactive leadership and yet as women business owners, we feel constant pressure to move quickly and make progress. Still, the most effective leaders balance action with intentional pausing to check assumptions, gain more self-awareness, adjust course, recharge and reconnect with vision.
December is the perfect time to hit pause and reflect. Here are some questions we might consider asking ourselves during this time:
- What’s working and what’s not?
- What have I achieved that I’m most proud of?
- What are the most valuable lessons I learned?
- Are my goals still the right goals?
- If I can only accomplish one thing next year, what would it be?
- What should be first on my to-do list for next year?
- What do I need most from my team next year?
- What do I still need to know or learn?
- What support do I need for this?
- Who do I want to meet or work with?
- Am I sabotaging my success in any way?
- What do I need to start doing, keep doing and stop doing?
- How do I want my business to change by this time next year?
As part of this process, it’s also important to look at ourselves as leaders:
- Have I been successful at communicating my vision, mission and values?
- How about motivating my team to embrace these?
- Do I give and take feedback well from employees and/or customers?
- How can I do these things better in the new year?
- Do I hold myself and others accountable?
- Do I have a good decision-making process in place?
- How can I be more proactive and less reactive?
- How can I be a better communicator?
- What kind of example am I setting for my team and other women business owners?
- Am I making an effort to grow as a leader?
At NAWBO, we can support you with this reflection and growth as a leader in 2024. We are holding our annual Leadership Academy on January 28-30 in Charlotte, North Carolina, and have tracks for chapter and personal/business leadership. It’s such an extraordinary time to come together with other women business owners from across the country to talk about things like promoting our businesses as well as ourselves; navigating difficult conversations; how employee and personal wellness supports a healthy bottom line; and how collaborative leadership can engage and empower teams.
I hope you’ll join me in Charlotte! Meanwhile, enjoy the power of the pause this month, and holiday holidays!
