For Your 2025 Leadership WRAPPED
For me, and for many leaders, the past year demanded relentless adaptation. We had to become chameleons and contortionists, constantly adjusting to the ever-changing landscape. Nimbleness was essential; we had to make swift decisions amid funding uncertainty, shifting expectations, and capacity strains. New partnerships emerged out of necessity and strategy or were born from survival rather than strength.
As we step into 2026, in these early days before rushing into what's next, there's immense value in pausing. An intentional pause allows for meaningful reflection. Without structure, reflection can devolve into mere venting-an emotional regurgitation when things aren't going well. Optimism without honesty turns into clandestine denial. What we need is a way to make sense of the year without getting stuck in it.
My aim here is to share a leadership framework I've relied on over the years. It's helped my teams, clients, and organizations transition from contentious environments to collaborative solutions. I hope you'll find it valuable too. It isn't for nostalgia. It's a practical tool for clarity, alignment, and choice.
Please note, this framework can be used by you individually or with your teams. It's simple by design, but not necessarily easy. Its deliberate sequence ensures each question builds on the previous one for higher efficacy. Let’s begin. (Oh, and I do recommend revealing the questions one by one to keep the conversation focused and from meandering into a cliff.)
First question: What has happened? Start with facts, not feelings. Identify the defining moments of the year: the disruptions, decisions, and shifts that materially affected your operations. This isn't about interpretation or justification. It's about naming what occurred because clarity begins with an honest account of reality.
Second question: What held? What worked? What emerged? Even in difficult times, something always holds. Name at least one success, one adaptation, one leadership action that helped continue or evolve the work. Recognizing what worked doesn't negate what was lost. As there are two sides to every coin, it simply forbids the false conclusion that nothing worked.
Number three: What's happening now? Shift from past to present. Assess your current reality regarding capacity, morale, partnerships, positioning, and focus. Identify what you're carrying forward, what has stabilized, and what remains uncertain. This grounds future planning in actual conditions rather than wishful thinking.
Four: What's possible now that wasn't before? Disruption changes conditions, sometimes painfully, sometimes productively, but often both. Consider what new possibilities have emerged because of the past year's challenges. This should help with expanding perspective.
Five: What are we able to do? Ground possibility in capacity. Identify realistic actions within your control for the next 6 to 12 months. This protects against overreach and burnout by aligning ambition with reality.
Your number Six: What are we willing to do? Commitment goes beyond willingness, and the two are not synonyms. Commitment involves trade-offs and discomfort if necessary. Identify what you're genuinely prepared to engage in or change, even without guaranteed outcomes.
Final question and number seven: What will we do? It is decision time. Specific actions, timelines, and resources must be defined. Decisions show up on calendars, in budgets, in priorities, and in conversations. If nothing changes, nothing changes. If nothing changes there, no decision has been made.
The gray hair in the beard requires a few cautions for you:
- Use this framework with discipline. Avoid using reflection to soften the past or turn success into denial. Ensure conversations don't turn into venting sessions and include perspectives beyond leadership's lens. Remember, “We live, lead, and experience life not from the outside, yet from the inside out.”
- Treat willingness as commitment only when it involves real choices or trade-offs. And remember, using this framework once isn't enough. It should become a habit practiced at least quarterly.
As you reflect on the year behind you and look ahead, remember this: leadership is not about denying difficult years, nor about allowing them to define you by default. It’s about interpreting them wisely and choosing what comes next with intention.
The framework isn't for perfect answers but for restoring orientation and finding our place on the map. Even in constrained environments, there's still agency, choice, and responsibility.
The year behind you has already shaped you in some manner. Now the work is deciding how consciously you will allow it to shape what comes next.
I hope this helps.
Be Well. Be Brave, Be Blessed. ...in 2026.
Tray T.S. Deadwyler, CVM, CLC, CBC
