With the beginning of a brand new year around the corner, resolutions are on everyone’s mind. This is deemed to be the most appropriate time to review the top five resolutions and you might relate them back into your business:
“This is the year I get into shape/lose weight/stop procrastinating/start meditating.” No resolution list would be complete without a renewed commitment to health and fitness. A general review of the fitness of your business is always worth doing. Do you need to tighten up your cost of goods? Have you fallen into lazy habits around office reviews? Are you highlighting gaps in the market for investigation of potential opportunities?
“I am seriously going to pay off this debt.” The second and most common theme tends to be around finances – this is obviously directly related to business issues as well. Is there opportunity to sharpen up your infrastructure spending? Are you doing your best to examine return on your marketing activities? Focussing on the fine details of your numbers is an exercise in discipline.
“No more mess! I’m clearing out all of the clutter.” Whether it’s the closet, the garage, or the home filing system, organizational issues are rarely missed on a solid resolution list. Naturally, organizational are core to business design. Do you have the right systems and processes in place to build the best team? How are you helping your managers learn to become leaders? Have you tasked anyone with refining the feedback process? Without consistently refining your organizational map, you risk an inability to handle growth.
“It’s time to reconnect with the people who matter to me...” No matter the list-maker, one’s social activity often comes into question. Spending more time with family, engaging in more volunteer work, calling friends with whom you’ve lost touch. External contacts are equally demining in business. Have you been building your network? Are you staying up to date with the latest thought leadership in your industry? Where do new partnership opportunities lie in the coming year? Looking outside your business (the box) and into those around you can change the way you think.
“I’m going to be my best me.” Whether it’s signing up to learn a new language, learning to meditate, or booking a three month trip around the world to find yourself, this is the ever-important self-improvement resolution. Are you inspiring your team to develop as people as well as professionals? How can you build clarity around your core services? Can you conduct an inter-office staff exchange to build learning opportunities? Internal examination is vital to business philosophy and drivers.
As with personal resolutions, it’s easier to make the claim than to follow through on it, so start small. Pick one thing to deeply focus on this year for your business -- general fitness, finance, organizational, external or internal. Keep doing the others, but set one apart as your key area for improvement. Just like a commitment to the gym, sticking to your resolution even three days week will result in a tighter healthier, stronger business – and when that business hits the town – heads are going to turn.
