Six months in: review your impact, influence and direction
Here we are at the middle of the year - the momentum of January has gradually reduced, and while some of the new plans might be developing nicely, and the targets, metrics and delivery cycles are ticking along, is there anything else you might like to check in with?
This is a great time of year for a quick look at how your leadership is working for you in 2026. Your presence and impact are just as important as the outputs and performance you’re responsible for, because it’s how you shape the environment around you that enables those very things to happen – so it deserves the same healthcheck as the rest at this mid-year point.
Here are three key areas of your leadership to investigate, just to ensure the next six months are on track to deliver what you want them to.
The Impact You Make
Start with the daily impact you have - not the quantitative kind, but what characterises your conversations, behaviours and decisions.
The difficulty with impact is that it is often invisible to the person creating it. It exists in between what you say and how others interpret it. It’s how you come across in difficult conversations, it’s what you prioritise and what you don’t, and it’s whether people feel safe to speak honestly, or whether they choose their words carefully around you.
How have people experienced you over the past six months? When you enter a room, physically or virtually, what’s the atmosphere like? Do people feel more positive, or more pressured; more confident, or more hesitant to speak?
A useful exercise here is this: think of three recent interactions that were small but which mattered; everyday moments like a one-to-one, an interaction in a meeting, or a response to a new task or challenge. Ask yourself what you did and said, what the outcome was, and the residual atmosphere – and be honest.
The Influence You Have
Next consider the influence you’ve had this year - how you’ve been part of shaping thinking and direction.
An important distinction here is that influence is not authority or seniority, but the patterns, practices and values you support and reinforce with your voice and actions. What behaviours do you reward, even it’s unintentional? What do you support vocally, and when do you stay silent?
Leaders often underestimate how closely they are watched by people up and down the organisation, but your reactions are signals of what should matter and what doesn’t, which then acts as permission for others to do the same. Are you getting those priorities right?
If you’ve been feeling too stretched, distracted by other things or reactive rather than carefully planned, there’s a good chance that’s rippling outward as well, and more than you realise. But equally, if you’ve been calm and intentional, that positive steadiness is infectious as well.
Mid-year is a good time to recalibrate this a little, and become more deliberate about the influence you wield. What do you want to be known for in how you lead? Not in a ‘personal branding’ way, but in your behaviour. When people describe working with you, what do you hope they are saying, and how close do you really believe that is to reality?
The Direction You’re Moving In
Finally, direction, and not the organisational strategy - that probably hasn’t changed dramatically - but your personal leadership direction.
It’s easy to slip into default mode, leading on autopilot and with your long-established habits, but the very best leadership is always carefully thought-out and intentional.
Ask yourself: what kind of leader do I need to be for what lies ahead this year?
Perhaps your team needs more challenge, or more support; clearer boundaries, or more flexibility. Perhaps they need you to step back on some matters, and step in on others. Giving this some serious thought right now will allow you to lead with that real thought and intention.
Direction also means deciding what to stop doing. Leadership can be a cluttered thing - too many meetings, and lots of little decisions that dilute your focus. Taking the right things out is as important as putting the right things in.
How to Do it Well
All this mid-year leadership checkup will take is a little bit of honest reflection in the three areas above, and a willingness to adjust in light of what it reveals. Taking that time and making a few tweaks could make a huge difference for the next six months.
Notice how your leadership style is forming this year, and see how those patterns, habits and signals will define it by the end of the year, if you don’t change anything. By the time it rolls around, your quantitative performance results will matter, of course – and the way you led to get there will matter more even. Your impact, influence and direction as a leader are all going on, whether you’re paying attention to them or not - and the question should be, are you shaping them, or are they shaping you?
Ready to lead the next six months with more clarity, confidence and intention?
If your mid-year check-in has highlighted areas where you want to adjust, refocus or grow, coaching can help you explore what is working, what needs to change and how you want to show up as a leader.
Book a discovery call and let’s explore what intentional, sustainable leadership could look like for you.
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