Latest / Your Dream Coach Podcast / The Q4 Sprint Trap: How to Finish the Year Strong Without Breaking Your Team
Transcript
- Your Dream Coach Podcast: There are about 12 weeks left in the year. And right now, a lot of business owners are about to say, make the same mistake, push harder, ask for more, and hit January with a team that's completely empty. So let's not do that this year. Well, I want to welcome you to today's episode of your Dream Coach Podcast. I'm your host, Shayla Way. And a quick reminder before we start: my first book, Dream Bigger, Lead Better, launches December 1st, which means I am in my own Q4 sprint right now. So trust me, this episode is coming from a very real place. And make sure you grab your spot on the launch list and you can find that link in the show notes. Well, today's episode is for the leader who's looking at the gap between where you are and where you said you'd be by December 31st and feeling that knot in your stomach. Maybe you're behind on revenue, maybe you're ahead and terrified of slipping. Either way, the instinct is the same. Sprint. And sprinting isn't wrong, but there's a right way and a costly way to do it. So, this is your Dream Coach podcast where leadership fulfillment and growth aren't three different goals. They're one. And I help entrepreneurs, business owners, and leaders dream bigger, lead better, and build the vision, sales, and systems to get there. And growing the business and the person running it. So today we're gonna talk about the difference between a sprint and a surge, what the Q4 trap is really costing you, and my finish strong framework so that you can close the year. With results and a team that still wants to be here in January. So let's jump into the sprint mindset. Every year around this time, I watch the same pattern. October hits, someone looks at the year-end numbers, panic sets in. And suddenly everything becomes urgent. More calls, more meetings, more check-ins, longer days, a new contest every week. And for about three weeks it works, activity goes up, energy goes up, then mid-November hits. The holidays start creeping in, people are tired, and the leader is tired. And the business limps into December, hits or misses the number, and everyone collapses over the holidays. Then January arrives, and you're starting the new year with a depleted team, and you wonder why Q1 is so slow. So that's the Q4 sprint trap. You win the quarter and then you lose the next one. So what does the trap cost? Well, what I found is that the trap costs you in three places. One, it costs your people. Your team doesn't experience Q4 as a strategy. They experience it as pressure. And if every push feels the same, frantic and reactive, they learn that the end of every year is something to survive. It costs you your pipeline. When everyone is focused on closing what's in front of them, nobody is building what's next. Prospecting, follow-up, relationship building. That's what feeds Q1. And it's the first thing to go in a panic sprint. Another thing is it costs you. The leader usually burns hardest because you're carrying the pressure and modeling the pace. And you don't get a recover over the holidays because you're too busy planning how to fix next year. And I learned this lesson in one of the biggest years of my career. In 2020, when the world shut down, I was leading around 30 offices across Canada. And overnight, we had to pivot our entire model to virtual. And so with my right-hand leader, we rebuilt how we trained, how we recruited, and how we sold, and we broke sales records. And on paper, it was the best year ever. And I'm so proud of what that team did. But here's the part nobody saw I was running on fumes. And after that surge, I had a real burnout. And I carried a lot of mom guilt about what that next year, you know, or what that year really did take from my family. And so the one thing that kept us grounded through it all was gratitude. And we started a daily 8 a.m. gratitude call with the team on Zoom. And it sounds small, but it reminded us every single morning. why we're doing this. And I love that practice so much. I eventually tattooed gratitude on my wrist. And what I learned that year is that a surge can get you results, but only a sustainable sprint gets you results that you can repeat. So what's the difference between a sprint versus a surge? Well let's define it because a surge is very reactive. It's driven by fear of missing the number, it has no end date and everything is a priority. And it depends on people pushing past their limits. Whereas sprint is designed, it's it's a driven by a really a clear target, it has a start and a finish, it has a short list of priorities, and it's built so people can give their best effort and recover. And athletes don't sprint the whole race. They know exactly when the sprint starts and when it ends. And so your team deserves to know that too. So what does the fifth framework of finishing strong really look like? Well, The stream, the framework that I use with business owners and really with my own sales team when we were going after these goals is number one is to name the number and then the why. Not just we need to hit X dollars, but why does it matter? What does hitting it make possible for the business, for the team, for each person? A number without a dream underneath it is just pressure. The second is to pick three priorities, not 10. So, what are the three activities that actually move the needle in the next 12 weeks? Everything else gets paused, deleted, or done good enough. The third thing is to put a finish line on the calendar. Declare when the sprint starts, when it ends, and what happens after. Maybe it's a team celebration, maybe it's a slower week before the holidays. Give people something to run toward. Number four is make it a game, not a grind. I've designed a lot of contests and incentives in my career. The best ones reward the right behaviors, they celebrate progress weekly, and they make people feel like a team, not like competitors. So recognize recognition can be is really an amazing fuel. The fifth one is to protect the pipeline. Set aside time every week, even in the sprint, for the activities that feed January. And your future will definitely thank you. And then number six is to schedule the recovery before you need it. So block the downtime now. Time off, family time, the days you won't check email. You know, if it's important to it's really important to schedule it, otherwise the sprint will just will eat it up. And then you need to protect the person running it. And I want to talk to you, the leader. If you're calm, focused, and clear, they'll rise to that. So here are a few questions for you: is what do you need to To do to stay at your best for 12 weeks? What do you need to stop doing? What's one thing outside of work that you refuse to sacrifice this quarter? For me, it's planning magic moments with my family on the calendar first, then building work around them. Q4 doesn't get to take those. So you can finish the year strong and still be a person that your family recognizes in December. So your challenge this week is to sit down with your team and define your sprint. One number, One why, three priorities, and a finish line on the calendar. And if this kind of leadership is what you're building toward, you'll love my book, Dream Bigger, Lead Better, launching December 1st. And you can check the launch list pre-sale in the show notes. If this episode helped, I'd be so grateful if you supported the show. On Apple Podcasts, you can leave a rating review on Spotify, hit follow and give it a rating. And on YouTube, you can drop a comment and tell me what's the one priority that you're sprinting toward before December 31st. You win the quarter and you lose the next one. A number without a dream underneath it is just pressure. And athletes don't sprint the whole race. So remember those key phrases, those little quotes, and keep in mind to always dream bigger so you can lead better. I'll see you next time on your dream coach podcast.