Make 2026 Stick: Three Leadership Behaviors That Turn Strategy into Results
By March, most strategy decks are already collecting dust.
It’s not the plan that fails. It’s the behavior.
Every Q4, leaders gather around polished decks and ambitious goals. The off-sites are filled with good energy and great intentions. But by the end of Q1, projects drift, accountability fades, and those strategic priorities become footnotes.
The truth is, strategy doesn’t fail in the boardroom. It fails in the daily habits that follow.
It doesn't have to be this way. 2026 can be different. Not through a heavier process or new software, but through three simple leadership behaviors that compound across every level of your firm.
These are the conversations I love to have. Not designing the strategy (I have two brilliant colleagues who can help you with this), but in helping leaders make strategy stick.
This is your 30-60-90 Advantage: clear actions that turn good ideas into visible movement before Q1 ends.
1. Candor in Conversations
Surface friction early; decisions speed up.
When leaders model candor by naming tension in real time instead of after the meeting, trust grows and cycles shorten.
Example: “Let’s pause, because I sense disagreement here. What hasn’t been said yet?”
2. Clarity in Direction
Repeat priorities until they’re boring; ambiguity drops.
Clarity isn’t about saying more. It’s about saying the same things often enough that no one wonders what matters. When leaders echo the same top three priorities in meetings, emails, and 1:1s, focus strengthens. Make them digestible and memorable.
Example: Your team can finish your sentence about what’s most important this quarter.
3. Accountability in Action
Close loops publicly; trust rises.
The fastest way to build accountability is to make follow-through visible. Decisions, next steps, and ownership shouldn’t live in people’s heads.
Example: End every meeting with three lines: Decisions. Owners. Dates.
The 30-60-90 Reinforcement Plan
Days 1–30
Install a Weekly Leadership Huddle: ten to fifteen minutes, same three questions every time:
What’s clear?
What’s fuzzy?
What changed?
Days 31–60
Equip managers with a 1:1 Clarity Kit. Include a simple agenda with three key pieces:
What do we keep doing?
What do we need to adjust?
What can we try?
Keep a short decision log to continue moving forward strategically. The repetition normalizes feedback and keeps direction fresh.
Days 61–90
Launch a Decision Journal. Capture what was decided, why, and what signals to watch. End the quarter with a short Behavior Stories share-out, where leaders highlight one moment candor, clarity, or accountability moved real work forward.
The Signals of Momentum
By February, you’ll know if your firm is getting crisper. Look for:
More meetings ending with clear Decisions, Owners, and Dates
Fewer “re-litigate” conversations
Shorter cycle time from issue to decision
People saying, “I know what success looks like this quarter.”
Momentum by March
One firm I worked with installed the 30-60-90 Reinforcement Plan after years of strategy fatigue.
By week four, meetings were shorter. Partners began surfacing friction directly, not through email chains. Within two months, client responsiveness improved, and internal misfires dropped.
By March, the managing partner said, “We’re spending less time talking about alignment because we’re finally living it.”
Carry It Forward
Great strategies deserve great follow-through.
The firms that win in 2026 won’t be the ones with the most polished off-site decks. They’ll be the ones whose leaders model the smallest, most consistent behaviors. They are the ones who turn ideas into daily movement.
This is where I work as a Fractional Culture & Leadership Partner:
Installing and reinforcing the 30-60-90 Reinforcement Plan
Coaching the first two cycles in the first 60 days
Standing up the dashboard that sustains alignment
If this would help your team, message me “2026” and I’ll share the full 30-60-90 template and huddle agenda.
Or tell me below — which behavior are you focusing on first: Candor, Clarity, or Accountability?
