January is like the first blank page in a new notebook. What you do during that month can set the stage for success for your business for the entire year. Getting your business off to a great start in a new year requires planning, critical thinking and dedication to executing your strategy.
1. Establish Your Possible 'Big Wins'
Focusing on what you would like to achieve, documenting it and then setting up an annual, quarterly and yearly plan to achieve those goals is an excellent way to receive your year started. It permits you to understand what you're working towards for the whole year and what's most important, while also providing a way to track progress throughout the year. Discuss your plan with others also for liability.
2. Ask Your Staff for Their Requirements and Priorities
It's important to ask your inner clients -- your staff and yourself -- what they want and what is a priority to get them for the year. Our priorities change over time, therefore it's important to check in with yourself and your team to find out what the priority is and how it aligns to the organizational goals.
3. Document And Map Your Objectives
While the cap of the season is an intrinsic time to begin fresh, that doesn't mean that your goals will be set for you. Make time to define the huge wins for your organization in the new year. This might be creating a key hire, landing a contract worth a particular amount or establishing the desired culture within your group -- it does not matter!
4. Understand The Trends Likely To Impact Your Company
Assessing your HR requirements. Identify your competitive edge and how to quantify it. Choose your desired culture. Produce the strategic piece of this strategy. Then, decide how you'll implement it: How will you push the buttons for compensation, benefits, work-life equilibrium, performance and recognition, and development and career opportunities to affect every one of your priorities?
5. Focus On Improving The Customer Experience
It's no secret clients expect more daily, yet businesses still do not invest in the consumer experience. There are so many ways to surpass expectations and build loyalty with customers, but leaders are often not given the time or focus to do that. Create a customer-first strategy for your organization, including rewarding leaders for delivering excellent encounters in 2019 and beyond.
6. Establish Your Human Resources Strategy
It's important to perform an evaluation of your own market and tangential markets to determine likely changes during the year you will need to get prepared for. 1 valuable approach is scenario planning, in which the company's leaders look at what is likely and in early warning signals to alert you that the scenario is in play. Base plans on most likely scenarios.
7. Motivate Employees
Bonuses can come in various ways. Cash bonuses and extra benefits will give employees the incentives they need to work harder. Additionally, apps like paidsubs will give employees opportunities to make extra money which they will appreciate and work harder for.
8. Take Stock Of What Is In Front Of You
The new year brings people to look for new bright and shiny objects. However, I recommend that leaders take a step back and assess what's already in front of them. What are you taking for granted? What tools and people are underutilized? What areas are you avoiding working on because they feel like too big a challenge? Your greatest opportunities are usually right in front of you.
9. Take Time to Think
Most leaders have numerous demands on their time that it's easy to fall into a pattern of reactive behavior like attending meetings, responding to emails and returning calls. Fantastic leaders understand the importance of dividing time to think, whether it's to develop a new strategy for client acquisition or to reflect on what is happening with a dysfunctional team. It is not simple, but it pays dividends.
10. Be Ready To Deal And Adapt To Change
It's no secret that the business environment faces a high amount of change in our post-digital entire world. Applying systems thinking to cover the drastic changes in the market and demographics, the global stresses, and fast maturing automation will help business owners confront complexity head on and maximize competitive advantage.
