It happens every year. We resolve to break a bad habit or start a new, healthy practice. Gym memberships are purchased, e-cigarettes are ordered and refrigerators are stocked with apples and kale. Your teenager is enlisted to help move the flat screen out of your bedroom in hopes you will gain an extra hour of sleep each night while others are watching Jimmy Fallon.

As January rolls in, our good intentions show up at the workplace, too. Like the new kid at school decked out in a hipster backpack and Converse sneakers, our noise canceling ear buds dangle from our necks and each wrist is circled with a device, one monitoring our health and the other our activity. We set the alarms on our calendars to remind us to drink more water throughout the day and call our mothers on Sunday.

Taking steps to change behavior for the better is always a good idea, right? I mean, what could be wrong with focusing our energies on those things that help us to improve?

Well, for the most part, there is absolutely nothing wrong with setting new goals in the New Year. Some researchers have found that writing a desired outcome down on paper or sharing a clear commitment out loud with others can increase tenfold the likelihood of achieving that goal. So, don’t get me wrong, there is only an upside to goal setting.

However, it has also been said that less than 8% of the people who set New Year’s goals achieve them. This does not surprise me at all because setting a goal and achieving a goal are very different entities. It’s all in the execution, after all.

In fact, after spending thousands of hours with leaders in the C-suite over the past 30 years, I have observed that New Year’s resolutions are NOT the best way to achieve important goals. The leaders who have been the most successful personally and professionally are those who regularly and quietly take stock of what is/is not working.

Without any sign of insecurity, they check in with others throughout the year to “see how things are going”. They know that others can see what they cannot and that their perspectives are important to understand if business priorities are going to be successfully implemented. To stay the course, they are continually sensing and interacting, adjusting and readjusting how work is done and who does the work so that everyone in the business (or in their families, as the case may be) is pulling together to do the right things to succeed.

The best leaders are able to figure out what risks are worthwhile to take and are likely to pan out in positive ways. They know when to stay the course and do not have any problem disappointing those who wish they would move things in another direction. This skill of knowing when to fold them and when to hold them throughout the year is infinitely more important than the ability to make a sweeping change at a designated point in time. Read More