5 NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS EVERY BUSINESS SHOULD HAVE

5NEW YEAR’S

RESOLUTIONS EVERY BUSINESS OWNER SHOULD HAVE

With the start of a new year comes the excitement and hope of a new beginning. As our planet approaches a new rotation around the sun, you should start thinking about what you’ll be doing differently this time - not just with regards to personal growth, but to business growth, too.

So, to help your business kick off the new year on the right foot (and hopefully end on the right foot too!), we’ve come up with some New Year’s resolutions every business owner needs to put on their list.

BUILD ON PAST SUCCESSES

Before setting your eyes on the future, take a good, hard look at the past. What went right? What didn’t? Both are equally important questions. New year’s resolutions are more about what you can do to improve, but don’t forget to pat yourself on the back for what you’ve accomplished.

Knowing what worked for your business last year can also set the direction for what you want to do this year. Did delegating more responsibility to your team help bring out talent that you didn’t know was there? Maybe this year is the time to invest and develop their skills. Think about how you can further cement your position in that market and maybe even expand it to similar platforms.

Strengthening your company doesn’t just mean creating brand new programs, it also means maintaining the ones that have been proven successful.

BREAK DOWN BIG GOALS INTO SMALLER ONES.

If you’ve ever made a list of new year’s resolutions, you’ll know that the tendency is to make grand goals that look just as bright as the fireworks lighting up the New Year sky.

‘Eat healthier! Do things that make me happy! Build meaningful relationships with my family!’ - But as the smoke clears the morning after, you start to realize that those sweeping statements are vague. And when directions are vague, it’s that much harder to follow through on.

The solution is to break your one big annual goal

down into bite-sized, actionable goals. To get to where you want to be at the end of the year, what do you need to do on a quarterly basis? On a monthly basis? On a daily basis? Instead of taking one giant step in the right direction, take baby steps. Plus, putting a tick mark on multiple small tasks builds up the confidence you need to continue throughout the year.

FIND A WAY TO EASILY TRACK PROGRESS

If you’re wondering how all the new year’s resolutions you’ve made over the years have fallen by the wayside, look no further than the failure to monitor progress. You need to keep your eye on the prize and know what’s happening on the way there.

Luckily, there are a lot of easy ways for you to track your progress. Habit-forming apps are all the rage, with their userfriendly functions and easy and portable access. Some even provide the platform to build communities so you can get support in reaching your goals. Explore the possibility of using apps to help your team stay on track.

Now, there’s nothing wrong with a good old whiteboard in the meeting room to remind you of your annual goals. Take time regularly to share updates about your progress, whether it’s in your weekly meetings or monthly townhalls. This way, you’ll know if you’re on the right track, or if you should change direction to get to where you want to be.

ASK AND LISTEN

There are a lot of things you can’t see from the top that are painfully obvious for people down below. Listening to your team may uncover important insight to what should be prioritised for your business’ new year’s resolutions. Whether it’s as small as changing an inefficient printer or as big as foregoing tedious daily meetings, you might be surprised to find out what

your team thinks is holding your company back.

How to gather and collect that information will differ between workplaces, but the main thing is to get other people’s perspectives on what should be changed. Chances are, you’ll see recurring themes that will give you clues on what direction you should take to keep your employees happy and engaged.

This exercise doesn’t just help formulate your business’ new year’s resolutions, it helps encourage ownership of them too!

LEARN HOW TO CUT YOUR LOSSES

Sometimes, the plan that we form in the beginning of the year ends up not working. It always sucks when your time, effort, and resources did little to advance you towards your goal, but it happens. And the only thing that will make it worse is if you keep at it just because.

Sometimes, it’s just better to let go. So remove that age old adage that “Winners never quit and quitters never win.” Sometimes, the only way to win is to quit and try something new. As early as the beginning of the year, settle into the mindset that not everything is going to go as planned. And that’s okay. Making the decision to push a little bit further or cut your losses will involve a lot of thinking and discussion, but keeping your mind open to that possibility early on will help you recognise when it’s time.