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Terry Starbucker has posted an article on The Mid-Year Leadership Check-Up: 10 Ways To Stay On The Path To Success based on his New Year’s “checklist” of 10 things we needed to do to make it a great year.

1. Take Stock of the Victories – We started the New Year by pausing and reflecting; it’s time to once again “come up for air” from the deep dive of our busy business lives. Make sure you take a day, or even just a morning, to have an informal chat with your team to consolidate your learning from the first six months.

Mid-year is an excellent time to celebrate individual achievements. So often these victories get lost in the whirlwind of the end-of-the-year activities. They can be announced informally to everyone in your organization and have a very positive effect on morale.

2. Analyze and Absorb Your Current Position – Just like we “studied” up in January to know our business plan inside and out, we need to analyze and absorb the year-to-date operating results, so we can make meaningful comparisons (and more importantly, any mid-course corrections).

With the first half of the year behind you that means that youstill have six more months to achieve the goals that you set for yourself, your team, and your business. A short meeting with the principle players in your organization can quickly analyze areas of concern and lay out a plan for dealing with them.

3. Perform a Self-Assessment – Take a look at those “fine print” tendencies that you filed away earlier in the year – are you pushing too hard? Did you micromanage anything you should have backed away from? Or did you overcompensate and not push hard enough?

One of my favorite managers from a past job used to say, “When in doubt, ask.” Ask yourself these questions, but, more importantly, as the people that report to you. Their answers can help you develop personally and professionally as they build trust and teamwork.

Starbucker has seven more exercises for you, I recommend reading the entire article. Then put these Action Steps into your system for completion by the end of the month. You won’t regret it.

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