December is deceptive. Half the company is sprinting to hit year-end numbers, the other half is mentally checking out, and leaders are tempted to just “survive the month.” But the best-run organizations treat December differently. They use it as a strategic reset point to make Q1 their most decisive quarter of the year.
At Adonis Partners, we spend our days inside private-equity-backed manufacturing, logistics, healthcare, and industrial services companies. The leaders who consistently outperform have a pattern: they don’t wait until January to get aligned. They use December to clarify, prep, and remove friction so they can hit the ground running on day one of Q1.
If you want Q1 to be your accelerant rather than a recovery lap, here are ten things you can do right now.
Don’t wait for the January town hall to discover your annual goals are vague or unmeasurable. Use December to tighten targets, metrics, and ownership. Clarity now prevents rework later, and eliminates the Q1 “we’re still defining success” drift.
If everything is a priority in January, then nothing is. Identify the three processes that create the most drag today. Document the current state. Assign owners. Line up resources. Make these your Q1 wins.
A consistent weekly operating rhythm is the difference between chaos and traction. Decide right now:
If you wait until January to build this, you won’t run it consistently until February.
Standard work drifts all year. Q1 is when you feel it. Use December to tighten the steps, eliminate variation, and align on the “one best way.” Teams start January faster when the playbook is already clean.
Capture what worked, what didn’t, and what must change. Turn lessons into actions, not a slideshow. Document the fixes while they’re still fresh so your Q1 execution isn’t built on last year’s blind spots.
Middle managers are your force multipliers. December is the time to clarify priorities, performance expectations, and how progress will be tracked in Q1. If your frontline leaders hit January aligned, your whole operation accelerates.
Pick the chronic issue that drags down productivity or morale. scoping a 30-day cross-functional Kaizen now ensures you kick off Q1 with momentum and a visible early win.
Don’t layer on new dashboards in January. Instead, define who owns what, how success is measured, and how progress will be reviewed. Roll expectations out this month so accountability feels normal by the time Q1 starts.
December is your last chance to prepare for labor constraints, demand swings, and recurring bottlenecks. Validate workloads, rebalance teams, and create a simple communication plan to avoid January chaos.
People follow narratives, not spreadsheets. Use December to articulate the story behind your 2026 plan: where you’re going, why it matters, and what role each team plays. Q1 energy rises or falls on how well you tell this story.
January momentum is not an accident. It’s the byproduct of leaders who use December intentionally to clarify, align, and reduce friction before the year starts.
If you want 2026 to be the year your organization accelerates output, reduces variation, and actually sustains improvements, December is your leverage point.
