There's only one month left until the end of the year, and as a leader, you're probably thinking that everything that needed to be done has already been done. And that because we're nearing the end, there's no more time to reverse any complex situation that may have occurred or any mistake that happened along the way and couldn't be corrected. But is it really impossible to do anything?
It's normal to feel tired, because when this time of year arrives, we really just want it to end so we can start all over again, in a new way, as if it were a blank page. But it's not as simple as it seems, especially when there are processes that have already been started and need to be concluded so that you can move on to others.
The truth is that from the moment we believe we can't do anything more, we end up stagnating and putting off some issues until next year, which isn't good. If you don't solve this problem today, it will be like a ghost, because it won't magically disappear next year. Worse, it may have even grown in size, making its resolution even more difficult.
You might be thinking, how do I address this? OKRs – Objectives and Key Results – can be useful; after all, one of their premises is to bring the team together to help, so that teamwork is done, which will most likely be better for addressing the issue. The manager can sit down with their employees and start slicing the cow to eat it in steaks, making a list of the pain points and thus defining the degree of priority.
From this, everyone can think about what can still be resolved this year, without dragging so many problems into 2025. Thus, the tool helps you bring clarity and focus, which will assist in the process of choosing what should be looked at first and also how adjustments can be made, which in OKR management can be done constantly based on results, allowing you to recalculate the course more quickly.
However, it's very important to keep in mind that it's not feasible to fix everything in the last 45 minutes of the game. For it to work, the team needs to be well-structured to address what can be fixed now, and create a backlog of other demands that will take more time or don't deserve to be tackled now. There's no point in panicking and trying to fix everything, only to have twice the work to fix it again later. It will end up being worse and causing more headaches.
For this reason, it is essential that managers utilize the tools available to them and count on the support of their employees, so that they can close 2024 with a positive balance and without many outstanding issues. There's still time to salvage the year; you just need to organize yourself better, establishing long-term, medium-term, and especially short-term goals, never forgetting to work towards results. That makes all the difference!
