Setting Up For Success

As the financial year draws to a close in Australia and some other parts of the world, it presents an ideal moment to pause, reflect, and reset for the year ahead.

How are you setting up for success in the new financial year?

Whether you lead a small team or a large organisation, this is the time to align your people, purpose and plans.

There are three core considerations at the heart of this reflection: what to focus on, who is involved, and how the work will be done.

What: Lessons, Opportunities, and Automation

The starting point for the new financial year is to review the learnings from the last one.

What worked well?

What didn’t deliver as expected?

But it’s not enough to simply reflect; these lessons must be applied in the context of a business world increasingly shaped by automation. It’s vital to look beyond artificial intelligence hype and think practically about what tasks and processes could be eliminated altogether because they no longer add value.

By doing so, you free your people to focus on meaningful, high-impact initiatives that drive real results.

Who: Your People and Their Role in Change

Once you’ve defined what needs to be improved or changed, the next focus is on who will be involved. This isn’t just about assigning tasks; it’s about engaging your team early.

A useful approach is to bring your people together - perhaps at an off-site workshop - with some pre-work, asking them to identify what they believe they’ve done well and where improvements could be made.

These honest insights can guide decisions on who will lead new initiatives, who might be affected by automation or restructuring, and how best to support everyone through the change.

How: Behaviours, Culture, and Execution

Finally, how the work will be done is often the most difficult question to answer. New processes and technologies can only succeed if people adopt the right attitudes and behaviours.

This requires leadership to directly address culture - the underlying beliefs, values and habits of the organisation.

Without this cultural alignment, even the best strategies can falter. The ‘how’ is where many organisations struggle, but it’s also where real competitive advantage can be gained.

As I work with several clients on this through tailored workshops, I encourage leaders to take this structured approach into their own planning.

If you’d like to explore this further, feel free to get in touch.