Have you ever noticed that after ‘ease back in January’ you can get ‘deer-in-the-headlights February’? All of a sudden you feel the weight of all that’s on your plate, overwhelm sets in and you’re wondering how the heck you’re going to achieve everything you need to.

We see this often when February rolls around – clients sharing they feel stuck about how to change things and do things differently so they can actually achieve a workload that just doesn’t get any lighter. Do you feel that too?

If you do, then this newsletter is going to light a fire in your belly. Because, here at Tactician, we’ve got one in ours too.

Our big mission statement for this year – for our business and how we will lead our clients – is to stick our neck out in pursuit of our big goals.

And we want to challenge you to think about – what could that look like for you? How can you be brave this year, and stick your neck out to really go for what YOU want?

We know it’s cliche, but as the saying goes: “If you keep doing what you’ve always done, you’re going to get what you’ve always got.” So the way to get different results for yourself, your team and your organisation is… get out of your comfort zone, stick your neck out, and challenge yourself to do something new in 2025.

The good news? The ways to do that boil down to 3 things:

• Learn something new: about yourself, or a new skill, or how you interact with others.
• Do something different: with how you approach things; shake it up.
• Change the way you operate: create different habits that will support you succeeding.

Whether you’re looking to feel more efficient and productive, lead your team to create better results, nail those business KPIs or go for that promotion, one of these 3 things is how you get to change up the status quo, commit to your big goals and achieve them!

Here’s what they might look like at an individual, team and organisational level:

As an individual: take a pause, gather the data, reflect and … GO

What tends to happen when overwhelm sets in is we fall back on business as usual. We slide back into our comfort zone and can’t see the way forward.

The key thing to do at this time of year is NOT jump right back into routine – that’ll take you on the fast track to Stuckville. Instead, take a pause for a moment, and gather some feedback from your team, peers, and business leaders, and you’ll likely see where you need to do something different, learn something new or challenge yourself to step outside your comfort zone.

Great tools at this stage are things like the Hogan 360 or LSI Assessment, so you can let the data do the talking and point you in the right direction for where you might need to grow, learn or change how you operate.

As a team leader: Let go of control; hand over the reigns

Yep, this one is tough! Most leaders don’t realise it, but their team is often craving you to do something different – or let them try something different. So if you want to change up the energy in your team, and inspire their enthusiasm and motivation – try handing over the reins.

For a lot of leaders this requires them being brave because they have to let go of some control! And allow for some risk and the possibility things won’t work out.

But a Harvard Business Review article said that in times of stress, leaders and companies often tighten up and stick to what they know, but that can actually make things worse.

The article went on to say: “What firms are better off doing is opening up; exploring new sources of potential revenue and experimenting with bottom-up processes to generate such ideas and innovations.”

Aka, let your team take the lead for a change, and allow them space to surprise you.

Department Heads: Shake up the status quo

While you don’t have to go rogue, you might want to channel a bit of your inner maverick when it comes to shaking up how you and your team or department are perceived across the organisation.

Here are some ideas:

• Do you shy away from the spotlight? Challenge yourself to grab it.
• Have you been opposed to an idea? Maybe lean in and test it out.
• Do you tend to step back and let other voices take over? Make a point of speaking up.
• Consider how others in senior leadership perceive you or expect from you, and turn it on its head.
• Are there stakeholders you tend to not engage with? Make an effort to do so.
• Where could you advocate or raise the profile of your department more strongly?
• Sticking your neck out isn’t easy, we know. But you’ll discover that there’s very little you can’t accomplish when you’re willing to be brave.

So, what do you think you will do when it comes to sticking your neck out this year? Think about what professional goals, team targets or business KPIs you want to achieve – and play with some of the suggestions above.

If this idea of being a brave leader or brave organisation really speaks to you, then stay tuned as you’re going to love what we’ll be serving up and talking about over the next couple of months. And if you know you want to be a brave leader, or be part of a brave organisation now, then we can help.

At Tactician, we know that doing things differently and taking risks is exactly how you are going to get there. That’s why we do organisational development differently – we cut through the fluff, challenge the way you operate, and communicate candidly so you can implement straight away, and get braver faster.

Want to find out more? Hit reply or call us on 1300 110 165, and we can talk through how we can help you or your organisation.

Here’s to you sticking your neck out and challenging yourself in 2025!