Welcome to issue #21 of Pondering Leadership: A Deliberate and Thoughtful, Yet Informal Look at Leading and Managing. Happy New Year! I hope you were able to take some time off, relax and have some fun over the holidays. Here’s to a happy and healthy 2024.
The beginning of the year is a good time to update lists, announcements and time sensitive documents, especially those posted internally or for public consumption. It’s also a good time to evaluate recurring deadlines to see if they still work for you. Here are some things to check as we roll into the beginning of a new year.
Closings – If you are closed for specific holidays, make sure you update the list to the correct dates/days of the week for this year.
Deadlines – If you ask your staff for stats for the previous month by the 2nd Monday of the month, does that time frame still work for you?
Recurring meetings – Same as above. If you have regular management meetings or staff meetings, do those recurring dates still work for you?
Update emergency contact information for staff – It might be surprising how many people move or change phone numbers during the year.
Check the Knox box. I mentioned in issue #7 what to include in the Knox box. Make sure all of the info in the box is up to date.
Do an audit of all bulletin boards in public and staff areas. Remove any outdated flyers and signs.
Project lists – Do the parameters and deadlines still work?
Emergency procedures – Are designated external meeting locations still available? Do the processes still make sense?
First aid kits – Are any medicines expired?
Your Turn
What are some lists, processes, dates, etc., that you like to update in the new year? You can comment in discussion.
Thank you for reading issue #21 of Pondering Leadership. I hope to see you next Thursday afternoon for issue #22 when I will write about delegating. Thank you for reading and supporting my writing.
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