As we head towards 2026, I still find myself wincing at the familiar ritual of goal-setting season. Not because ambition is a bad thing—but because most intentions never survive contact with reality.

The truth hasn’t changed: the world doesn’t lack ideas, strategies, or plans. What it lacks are people who consistently finish what they start.

In every organisation I work with, the differentiator isn’t intelligence or even experience. It’s the ability to take responsibility, commit to a course of action, and follow it through when enthusiasm fades and pressure rises.

That’s as true for sales leaders as it is for teams.

So before you ask your people to “step up” in 2026, it’s worth asking yourself a few uncomfortable but productive questions:

• What initiatives did we start last year that quietly drifted off?
• What behaviours did we say we would change—but didn’t?
• Where did execution break down once the excitement wore off?

Many leaders are excellent starters. Far fewer are disciplined finishers.

One definition of excellence has always stuck with me:

Excellence is a commitment to completion.

In today’s environment—tighter margins, more informed buyers, longer sales cycles—half-implemented strategies are worse than no strategy at all. They drain belief, dilute focus, and teach teams that “this too shall pass”.

And your team is always watching.

Whether consciously or not, people ask one simple question when they’re asked to commit:

“How committed is the person asking me to do this?”

Your consistency sets the ceiling for theirs. Your follow-through either multiplies performance—or quietly undermines it.

This is where commitment moves beyond motivation and into discipline.

Raising performance in 2026 isn’t about hype or heroic effort. It’s about persistent, visible leadership behaviours: setting clear priorities, making deliberate choices, and holding yourself accountable before you hold anyone else accountable.

Two qualities matter more than ever:

• Volition – the ability to make deliberate decisions, not reactive ones.
• Accountability – the discipline to see those decisions through.

One practical habit I still see work exceptionally well is a short, structured weekly improvement meeting. Not a talking shop. One hour. One focus. Identify what needs improving, agree a small number of actions, assign ownership and deadlines—and then follow up next week. Progress doesn’t come from big gestures; it comes from small, consistent gains compounded over time.

If you make modest improvements every week for a year, the results aren’t incremental—they’re transformational.

So as you look ahead to 2026, don’t just set goals. Decide what you are truly willing to finish.

Because the market will always reward leaders—and teams—who do what they say they’re going to do.

And it still needs more of them.