Most companies don’t miss their annual goals because of bad strategy.
They miss because momentum is lost early—and once it’s gone, it’s hard to recover.
By the end of Q1, the gap is usually set.
Right now, many leaders are still waiting for clear signs that demand is returning beyond normal seasonality. As a result, too many organizations remain stuck in a holding pattern, hoping conditions will magically improve.
Hope is not a strategy.
If 2026 is going to be a breakout year, the work ideally started six months ago. But there is still time, if you act decisively and move with urgency. A fast start doesn’t come from inspiration. It comes from discipline.
Stop waiting.
Step 1: Ruthlessly Narrow the Focus
Every leadership team says they have priorities. Few actually do.
If everything matters, nothing does.
Limit your objectives to three to five outcomes that truly move the business. These should be the goals that, if achieved, make most other problems smaller. Anything that doesn’t directly support those outcomes should be deprioritized, or paused, at least temporarily.
Fast starts come from saying “no” early.
Step 2: Get the Team on the Bus
Strategic priorities mean nothing unless they translate into individual accountability, top to bottom.
Strategy usually fails at the point of handoff. This isn’t easy, and it takes time to get everyone moving toward the same objectives.
People don’t execute what they don’t understand, or what they don’t feel accountable for. Every leader should be able to clearly answer two questions:
- What is my role in achieving our 2026 goals?
- How will success be measured for me and my team?
If those answers aren’t crisp by the end of January, you’re already behind.
Step 3: Do the Hard Things First
This includes making the hard decisions.
Strong leaders address issues early. Doing so creates clarity, restores trust, and frees the organization to move forward with confidence.
Your people already know where the problems are. When leadership avoids them, confidence erodes - in you, the strategy, and the company.
The decisions you delay in Q1 usually show up as problems in Q3.
That includes:
- Underperforming roles
- Misaligned customers
- Pricing and margin discipline
- Resource misallocation
Delay compounds risk.
Step 4: Be Willing to Get “Dirty”
When performance lags, leaders often push harder instead of fixing what’s broken.
A fast start requires leaders to get into the details—to stand shoulder to shoulder with their teams and fix root causes, not just demand more effort.
Before asking for more output, examine:
- Sales process and qualification rigor
- Decision rights and escalation paths
- Data quality and reporting cadence
- Tools that create friction instead of leverage
A fast start isn’t about working longer hours. It’s about removing drag.
Step 5: Address the Highest-Leverage Moves
Focus on the parts of the business that have the greatest impact on results.
Start with the supply chain.
Your supply chain reveals the truth faster than your P&L. Financial results lag; operational signals lead. In many organizations, the supply chain touches up to 70% of expense categories.
Order cycles, service failures, expedited freight, inventory swings, and supplier performance expose issues months before they show up in earnings. An early supply chain review tells you whether your plan is realistic, or already at risk.
These problems quietly tax growth, margin, and customer experience. Early analysis removes drag before it compounds.
If you wait for the numbers, you’ve waited too long.
Step 6: Establish a Cadence of Execution
Momentum is built through rhythm.
Weekly operating reviews, monthly scorecards, and quarterly resets create urgency without chaos. The goal isn’t more meetings; it’s faster course correction.
Having worked in both Fortune 200 companies and smaller organizations, the difference is clear: speed matters. Smaller companies can course-correct faster, and that advantage is often the reason they outperform much larger competitors.
By March, you should know:
- What’s working
- What’s not
- What you’re going to do about it
If you don’t, you’re reacting instead of leading.
A Final Thought
A strong start doesn’t guarantee success—but a weak one almost always predicts failure.
Use the first 90 days to test assumptions, validate strategy, and adjust quickly. Leaders who learn fast win. Leaders who defend early decisions usually don’t.
The best years don’t start with big announcements. They start with clarity, focus, and disciplined execution.
Get those right in Q1, and the rest of the year gets a lot easier.