15 Questions to Ask Your Team before 2015

At Verizon, January always brought a flurry of kickoff activities where the sentiment was 90% forward focus. Auditoriums around the country would resound with a consistent message, “Last year is over… no time to spend there, we’ve got game-changing work to do.”

I’m all for a 2015 fast start. In fact, I’m looking forward to the strategy work I’ll be doing with teams across a variety of industries this January. But it’s a mistake to not pause, reflect, consider, celebrate, and mourn before 2014 is put away with the Christmas decorations.

15 Questions to Ask Your Team Before 2015

Here are 15 questions to get your team thinking and talking before 2015. It can also be fun to pick your favorite 12 and send them out in email for the 12 days of Christmas reflection.

If you’re off sipping eggnog, it’s okay, they’ll still work on January 4th ;-)

When you reflect on 2014…

  • Where have you had the biggest business impact?

  • Who have you most influenced?

  • What was your biggest contribution to the team?

  • What new strategic partnerships/relationships did you form within the company? In the industry?

  • Who most influenced your leadership?

  • What are you most proud of?

  • What is the most important lesson you learned?

  • If you could make one decision over again what would you change and why?

  • In what areas have you grown most professionally? Personally?

  • What was your greatest disappointment?

  • How could I have supported you more effectively?

  • What was the most influential book you read?

  • What was the most impactful developmental experience? (Note: if they can’t think of one, that’s a BAD sign ;-)

  • In what ways are you different from this time last year?

  • How are you going to celebrate your accomplishments?

  • While you and your team are reflecting on your year, I’d love for you to take a minute to offer your suggestions on how I can best support you in 2015 by completing this quick survey . I want to ensure LGL continues to grow and improve to add value to your leadership journey.