14x More Inspired: The Leadership Practice Most Teams Skip in January

It's January. Your team crushed 2025. The revenue targets? Hit. The projects? Delivered. Everyone's coming back from holiday break ready to execute.

And that's exactly when most leaders make the mistake that quietly kills momentum.

A new year starts, the scoreboard resets, and the message to the team sounds something like: "Let's just keep doing what we did in 2025."

No new goal. No new direction. Just... keep working.

Then we're surprised when engagement dips, momentum fades, and our best people start looking elsewhere.

The danger after a winning year isn't that your team will quit working hard. It's that they'll keep working hard on the wrong things.

They'll execute last year's playbook in a new game. They'll stay busy but drift from engaged. And without realizing it, they'll start playing not to lose instead of playing to grow.

People Don't Just Want to Work—They Want to Compete With a Purpose

I've worked with hundreds of teams over the past decade, and I can tell you this with certainty: We lose engagement not because people hate hard work, but because there's no target worth aiming for anymore.

After a win, most teams slide into what I call "maintenance mode." They stop striving. They start protecting. The energy shifts from "How do we get better?" to "How do we not screw this up?"

That's not a motivation problem. That's a leadership one.

The Research That Should Wake Every Leader Up

Here's the data that changes everything:

According to research from BI Worldwide, employees who set their own goals are 14.2 times more likely to feel inspired at work. Not motivated. Inspired. That's the difference between showing up and giving your best.

But the benefits don't stop there:

• They're 3.6 times more likely to be committed to their organization

• 6.7 times more likely to feel pride in their work

• 8.1 times more likely to proactively find ways to improve their performance

Let that sink in for a moment.

When you give your team agency in setting their development goals, they don't just work harder, they think harder. They become problem-solvers, not task-completers. They stop waiting for direction and start creating solutions.

Why Most Teams Enter January Without Clear Goals

Most teams enter January without this kind of clarity. Leaders assume, "They know what to do - they did it last year."

So there's no conversation about growth. No discussion about what new skills they want to build. No clarity on what better looks like for them this quarter.

And that's how you lose your best people. Not to competitors. To boredom disguised as consistency.

Your top performers didn't join your team to do the same thing forever. They joined because they wanted to become something. And if you're not helping them grow, someone else will.

Goals Create Standards. Standards Create Culture.

Elite leaders understand something critical: Ownership beats obedience.

They don't let their teams drift. They reset the standard through shared, specific goals - and they invite their team into the process of setting them.

When you involve your team in setting the next challenge, you're not just assigning work. You're giving them a reason to compete again. You're signaling that their development matters as much as their deliverables.

If your team doesn't have personal, self-defined goals, they're operating on autopilot. And autopilot always drifts toward disengagement.

Three Actions You Can Take This Week

Here's what I want you to do with your team this week. These aren't complex strategies. They're simple leadership disciplines that create massive impact.

1. Ask the Development Question

In your next one-on-one, ask this: "What's one skill you want to be better at by March than you are today?"

Not a company goal. Not a revenue target. A skill.

Leadership. Negotiation. Presentation. Time management. Strategic thinking. Conflict resolution.

Let them own it. Let them name it. Your job is to listen and understand what growth looks like from their perspective.

2. Share the Bigger Picture

Once they identify their personal growth goal, clarify what winning looks like for your team in Q1, and why it matters.

Connect their personal development to the team's mission. Help them see how their growth serves the larger vision. The "why" fuels the "work."

This isn't you handing them a development plan. This is you coaching them to build one. Co-create the path forward together.

3. Make Progress Visible

Goal-setting only works if it's tracked. Add one question to your weekly check-ins:

"What did you do this week to get better at [skill]?"

Thirty seconds. That's it.

But it keeps the goal alive. It shows them their development matters to you. It creates accountability without micromanagement. And it reminds them that wins don't need to wait until March - progress happens weekly.

Don't Let Your Team Drift Into 2026

Your team didn't follow you because they wanted to do the same thing forever. They followed you because they wanted to become something.

If you're not helping them grow, someone else will.

This January, don't just set team goals. Help your people set their goals. Because teams that grow together don't just win again—they keep winning.

They don't need a hype speech. They need a target. And a leader who's willing to raise the standard again, even after success.

Let's not just do the work. Let's compete with a purpose.

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About Jake Thompson: Jake Thompson is a keynote speaker, author of Beat Yesterday, and founder of Compete Every Day. He helps competitive leaders and teams sustain excellence after success by shifting from external comparison to internal growth. Learn more about booking Jake for your next event at jakethompson.com/speaking.