FCCS News & Insights

Developing Habits to Be Future Ready: The Power of Positive Habits

Habits are more than just routines; they are the building blocks of personal and professional transformation. Carefully cultivated, positive habits have the potential to change not just our individual performance but also the culture and success of entire teams. As FCCS Director and Senior Leadership Consultant Jeannie Clinkenbeard aptly states, “Good habits tend to create other good habits.”

Habits: A Key to Success

Habits are consistently ranked as one of the top indicators of professional and personal success, outpacing luck or talent. Whether it’s improving individual performance or fostering a culture of excellence within teams, habits are the foundation.

Why habits matter: Positive habits impact everything from career trajectory to team dynamics. When habits improve, so does performance.

The transformative potential: Changing your habits can change your life—and for leaders, it can also change your team’s future.

Cultivating Team Habits to be Future Ready

Leaders have a unique opportunity to shape habits that drive collective and future success. Developing strong habits requires both a mindset and specific actions.

A Growth Mindset of a Future-Focused Leader and Team:

It starts with the acknowledgment that all leaders and teams have the capability to help create their future. We can each develop new abilities and intelligence through effort and learning. This mindset empowers our teams to create and own part of their future.

Habits of a Future-Focused Team

Here are 3 habits that your team can consistently adopt through the year.

1: Desired Future 

The purpose: Simply committing time to think about how you / your team might serve your customers or operate differently helps open opportunities. Then, identify the habits needed to create that vision.

The Habit: Meet with your whole team at least twice a year and ask: ”What does our desired future look like?”  “If we could wave a magic wand, what would we be differently?”  “Do our processes still work? “How have our customers (internal or external) changed?”  “What do they want in the future?”  Generate ideas and discuss.

2:  AARs (After-Action Reviews)  

The purpose: The purpose of an After-Action Review (AAR) is to learn from an event or project and apply those lessons to improve future projects. AARs can help teams identify strengths and weaknesses and improve their performance. 

The Habit: After each project milestone, program rollout etc. have an open team discussion and gather valuable data. 

Ask

What was supposed to happen? 

What did happen? 

What worked?

What would we do differently next time?

3:  Change the Question

The Purpose: Reframing a question can stimulate innovative thinking by encouraging your team to consider different possibilities and solutions that might not have been apparent initially. 

By asking “what” or “how” questions instead of simply stating facts, you can prompt deeper reflection and exploration of the underlying causes or mechanisms. 

The Habit: Every team meeting ask your team to reframe some questions.

Instead of: “Why are sales declining?”

Ask: “What factors could be contributing to the recent sales decrease, and how can we address them?” 

“Is there a specific area where we see sales declining?” 

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The Habit Advantage: Your Roadmap to the Future

Being Future Ready means intentionally building habits that support both personal excellence and team success. As leaders, creating a habit-driven culture ensures your organization is positioned for sustained growth and achievement.

Ask yourself:

What habits define my leadership?

How can I inspire my team to align habits with our vision?

What roadblocks can I help them overcome to reach their goals?

Developing habits today ensures your readiness for tomorrow. For more insights and tools to help your organization thrive, explore FCCS leadership programs like Leading Self, Leading Others and Leading Leaders, or tune in to The Forward Thinking Podcast. Together, we can shape a future built on the strength of purposeful habits.