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Exelorate, Viki Johnston

Elevate your team in 2026!

  • Writer: Viki Johnston
    Viki Johnston
  • 4 days ago
  • 4 min read

It’s the most wonderful time of the year!


Festive lights

I love this time of year. The darker evenings showing of the celebration of lights, the parties and the cheer, and of course the time to reflect on the past 12 months. The successes, the near misses and the losses. It makes the Strategic Planning Meetings feel a little bit like a therapy session.


Before you lose hope, it's important to recognize that effective teamwork is a skill that can be cultivated with the right strategies and mindset.


With so much going on, it can be easy to forget what’s most important at this time of year... PEOPLE!


THAT CLICKED WITH ME!

As we wrap up 2025 and peer (cautiously) into 2026, now is the perfect time to evaluate not just what your team accomplished, but also how they are doing, how are they feeling, their energy levels and engagement. Are they ready to bring their best selves to work, when for some of them, this time of year is not always about joy.


As unemployment rates steadily grow, some may be worried about their future. The unpredictability of economic challenges and technological advancements will make even the optimist’s wonder. What will the next 12 months bring?


So, as you’re closing the books on this year, ask yourself a few questions:


  1. How have you been managing the performance of your team, and not just when they miss a target, but also when they are achieving their goals, what support and encouragement did they receive from their leadership team?


  2. How will AI impact your workload and are you beginning to see AI Integration Fatigue? Is your team winning on the balance of tech efficiency and human connection?


  3. How flexible is your workforce and the goals of your business? Do you allow personalized work to match the job role, personality and performance, and are your leaders clear on how to manage in a hybrid environment?


  4. What tools are you using to encourage autonomy and trust, AI can take of spreadsheets and reminders, but empathy, creativity and teamwork is still strictly human territory, how are your leaders building relationships?


Companies that will thrive in 2026 will be those that stop treating culture like a soft skill and start treating it like a strategic advantage. The data is clear, disengaged team members cost time, creativity, and ultimately revenue. Those who are engaged and energized will build the business from inside out and will spread a feeling of excited accountability that will be felt by everyone, including your customers.


As we wrap up the gifts and pop some bubbly, I'd like to say "Cheers" to more trust and less burnout. Let 2026 be about elevating people not about managing tasks.


When your team feel seen, supported and developed, they will naturally work on performance.


My gift to you are these tops tips to drive performance into the New Year.


  • Invest in learning, build development plans, provide coaching, workshops and mentorship.


  • Hold re-engagement check in meetings, that focus on well-being not just output.


  • Celebrate failures, don’t focus on mistakes as errors, but as opportunities of creativity.


  • Build sustainable teams that can flex and support workload before burnout takes hold.


  • Survey your team about what kind of support they need most next year, and plan accordingly.


  • Allow your teams and your leadership to take accountability for their own growth and watch the Lightbulb Moments click.


Let me know how you get on, did this Click with you?


If you want more ideas how to drive performance into the New Year, drop me note, I’d love to help you thrive in 2026.


Send me an email. I'd love to hear from you!


If you're hungry for more tips or insights, explore my other moments that CLICKED! or drop me a line. Let's collaborate to uncover what you haven't yet discovered about yourself and your team.




Viki Johnston's Ping moments

Thanks for reading, I hope this has given you some things to think about and you have some of your own Lightbulb Moments.

I'd love to hear about them.

If you would like some help experiencing them, I'd love to help.


Please share this with anyone you know who loves experiencing Lightbulb Moments.


Enjoy the moments that CLICK!


Viki Johnston

Viki Johnston, a Brit who moved to Southern California with her family, is a self-confessed learning junkie. Having flunked out of school at 17, she spent the next 30 (cough) years trying to figure out why learning stuff is so hard. She made it her mission to help others believe in their abilities and achieve more than they thought possible. Now through her coaching and business focused training she helps others to experience the "light bulb moment" and strive to greatness.
Her heroes are Sir Richard Branson and Brené Brown for their inspiration, and her Husband, whom without she would never have been able to live a life full of her own "light bulb moments".
 
 
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