The Decisions You're About to Carry Into Next Year

5 days ago

5 min read

There are problems in your organisation that won't appear in the year-end report.

The project everyone knows has lost momentum. The high performer quietly doing the work of two people. The decision that keeps returning to the leadership meeting because nobody wants to make the final call.

None of these will necessarily stop you from closing the year successfully.

The numbers may still look good. Targets may be met. The team may deliver what was promised.

And yet, underneath those results, there are things people have learned to work around rather than resolve.

I've seen this happen in organisations with very capable leaders. Particularly towards the end of the year, when everyone is focused on delivery, budgets, performance reviews and getting across the finish line. There's always a reasonable explanation for leaving something until January. The question is whether January will actually make it easier to address.

What are Your Results Hiding?

One of the difficulties of leading a successful team is that strong results can disguise how those results are being achieved.

Imagine a senior leader whose team consistently delivers. Deadlines are met, stakeholders are satisfied, and the function has a reputation for being reliable.

But look a little closer.

One person has become the unofficial escalation point for everything. Another is regularly staying late to compensate for gaps in the process. A third has stopped challenging decisions because previous attempts went nowhere.

The team is performing. But it's also developing ways to survive problems that haven't been addressed.

At year-end, the leader sees the results and reasonably concludes that things are working.

The people producing those results may have a different view.

A team can be delivering what you ask of it while paying a price you haven't fully understood.

And if you only examine the outcomes, you may never see the cost.

Conversations that Keep Getting Postponed

I find it interesting how often leaders can describe a problem with remarkable accuracy long before they're ready to address it.

They know two senior colleagues aren't working well together. They know a particular responsibility has no clear owner. They know someone who was once an excellent fit for their role is struggling with what the role has become.

But the conversation is difficult.

Perhaps it involves someone who has been loyal for years. Perhaps the problem crosses organisational boundaries. Perhaps raising it will mean acknowledging that a decision made six months ago wasn't the right one.

So it becomes something to revisit.

After the next board meeting. After the budget is approved. After the year-end reviews.

I understand the instinct. Timing matters, and difficult conversations deserve preparation.

But postponement has consequences too.

People notice what leaders are willing to address and what they consistently leave alone. Over time, those observations shape what people believe is acceptable, who they trust and whether they think speaking up is worthwhile.

What you leave unresolved can become part of how your team understands your leadership.

Even when you never intended to send that message.

What are You Rewarding without Realising It?

Year-end reviews tend to focus on contribution, results and performance.

And rightly so.

But I'd encourage leaders to look beyond who delivered the most and ask what behaviours made that delivery possible.

Are you consistently praising the person who rescues projects at the last minute, while overlooking the person who prevents problems from happening?

Are you rewarding availability more visibly than judgement?

Are the people who say yes to everything progressing faster than those who make thoughtful decisions about what the business should stop doing?

None of these patterns necessarily comes from a deliberate choice.

They develop through everyday decisions about recognition, responsibility and opportunity.

Yet those decisions tell people what the organisation values far more convincingly than the values written on a slide.

Before finalising your year-end assessments, consider what your recognition is encouraging people to repeat.

Because next year's culture will be shaped, in part, by what you choose to celebrate this year.

Before You Close the Year

I'm not suggesting every unresolved issue needs to be fixed before December.

Some decisions require more information. Some changes genuinely need to wait for a new budget or organisational structure. And leaders have to make choices about where to spend their attention.

But there's a difference between consciously deciding to address something later and allowing it to disappear beneath the next set of priorities.

So before you move fully into planning for 2027, I'd ask yourself three things:

What is working only because someone is absorbing the cost?

Look beyond whether the work is getting done. Consider the effort, relationships and compromises required to keep delivering.

What have people stopped bringing to your attention?

Silence doesn't always mean a problem has been resolved. Sometimes it means people have decided there's little point raising it again.

What will become harder to change if you leave it another six months?

Not every problem grows with time. But some become embedded in expectations, habits and relationships, making them considerably more difficult to address later.

You may not have all the answers immediately. That's fine.

The point is to notice what deserves a decision before the year ends, even if the action itself comes later.

A new calendar year can bring renewed energy, fresh budgets and different priorities.

But it doesn't automatically change the way people work together, the decisions they avoid or the expectations they've learned to live with.

Before you ask what your team needs to achieve next year, ask what you're about to ask them to carry into it.

More Ways to Engage

Some of the most important leadership and career shifts begin with noticing something we've learned to accept without questioning it.

In The Reframe, my private email newsletter, I explore those moments more deeply through client stories, personal experiences and the conversations behind the decisions leaders make.

It's a place for a different perspective, thoughtful questions and practical insights you can bring into your own work and career. Join The Reframe

And if this time of year has you thinking about your own direction, my free 5-Day Email Course offers a short, structured way to reflect on the value you've built and how you want to position yourself for what comes next.

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Warmly,

Melissa Schmidiger is the CEO of Bravo Darlings, working privately with senior leaders and orgs at inflection points, using her exclusive The Bold Shift 1:1 Partnership Program. Coming from a family of educators, she leads by example demonstrating her values of authenticity, empowerment & transformation. This piece was originally published on October 23, 2026 and is shared here with her permission. You can reach out to Melissa via email.