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This is the time of year when individuals and companies begin planning for the new year. Doing so early allows plenty of time for reflection, creating a solid action plan, and preparation.

In the past, we have discussed the Decision Matrix. This is a great exercise for gaining clarity.

An Action Matrix is a great exercise for reaching goals.

You need both.

Assess Your Strengths

First, you’ll want to take a Maxwell DISC assessment and have your team members do so as well. This will identify your strengths and weaknesses. Working in your strengths alongside a team who is doing the same creates exponential impact and acts like compound interest.

Set your Foundation

Take three sheets of paper.

1. Strengths – At the top of the first page, note your strengths. Also note the strengths of your team members if you have that data available.
2. Mission, Vision, Values – Next, on that same page, write your mission, vision, and values. Writing these underscores them more deeply in your mind, and this is important, as these are the “why” behind what you do.
3. Routines – Next, list your Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly, and Annual routines on that page as well. These are the foundational actions that keep your life and business running, essentially, on autopilot. They free your executive function for higher levels of focus.

Create Your Action Matrix

On the second page, create a table with four columns and 10 rows – or more if needed.

List the goals you are considering for the new year, one per row, in the first column. Yes, all the goals you are thinking you want to accomplish. The Action Matrix will help you narrow them down to your top 1-3.

Goals can be both personal and professional. If you are looking to establish a new habit, that would be a goal. If you are looking to increase company sales by 15%, that would also be a goal. Consider each area of life and business, and brainstorm goals.

Be sure each goal is clearly defined, as an action.

Once you have your goals listed in the first column, label the heading of each of the other three columns with a green, yellow, and red dot, respectively.

Assess Your Action Matrix

Then, with each goal in mind, review your matrix line by line.

Looking at your first page alongside your Action Matrix, ask yourself:

• Does this goal fit the strengths of my team?
• Does this goal align with the mission, vision, and values?
• Is there capacity to reach this goal in the time allotted?
• Will it have significant impact?
• Is this the necessary time?

Go through each line and mark either a green, yellow, or red dot to show how it fits with these criteria.

Evaluate Your Results

Red is a warning light.

Pay very close attention to the reds. If something is red going in, it usually does not get better with time. Often, those who ignore the red go on to regret it. Reds are a clear indicator that this goal is not a good fit. There is a conflict somewhere.

Green is good.

If your initial and instinctual response is green, this usually ends up being a good goal for focus.

Yellow is cautionary.

Yellow means “pause” and reconsider. This may mean addressing the facet of it that takes it to yellow. For example: Would it require a new hire? Would it require more time or resources than you have to allocate? Is it borderline on your mission, vision, and values? Yellow can also mean “not now”.

• Highlight your green goals.
• Then review the yellow goals with one question in mind: “Is this necessary for this next season?” If it can wait, then it should.

If you have only one green goal, and you have capacity for more, you can pull a yellow goal forward. But for most people and businesses, 1-3 goals is the desired maximum per time period. If you finish those, you can always revisit your Action Matrix for an additional goal.

If you have more than three green goals, prioritize them or determine what additional resources you will need to reach them. Tighter focus yields better results, whereas going in all directions at once generally leads to nowhere.

Define your Action Plan

On the third page, list your 1-3 goals. This is your project focus page for the upcoming time period.

Under each goal, define the who, what, when, where, how, and why. Each of these is important and provides the clarity you need to move forward with clear action.

And there you have it.

1. A page that defines your Strengths, Mission, Vision, Values, and Routines.
2. Your Action Matrix
3. Your Focused Action Plan

Communicate your Action Plan

Your role as the leader is to cast the vision and establish goals. It is also to communicate those goals clearly with your team. With these pages in hand, you can collaborate on how to break down the weeks and months ahead so that those goals are actually reached.

Results come when you put the Action Matrix to work for you! Here’s to greater success ahead for you!

For valuable resources on Leadership Strengths and Tools, click here.

Deb Ingino is a highly sought-after executive coach, mentor, consultant, and speaker worldwide. Deb is well versed in business operations and in the importance of asking key questions most business leaders won’t ask themselves. She brings deep experience in leadership development, strategy, high performance team building and effective communication. She has a passion for leading people to discover and maximize their strengths as well as those of fellow team members, while offering advanced strategies to achieve high performance. Deb is the perfect fit if you’re ready to take your leadership and impact to the next level!