What is the New Year Resolution for your business?

I ask this question having heard stories recently about how quickly and frequently New Year resolutions get broken or get followed but achieve no long term benefit. Some people are very good at being strict with themselves and go on something like dry January only to go back on the booze in February having given their liver a rest for a month and hoping it will be OK for the rest of the year. Others make an attempt and have a few exceptions along the way and give themselves 6/10 for trying and others fail in a blaze of glory.

However, who has set one for the change they want to make in their business ion 2019 and what can you do to avoid it ending at end of January at the latest? The thing is, if you own your business and you want to get better results from it, in terms of earnings, work:life balance or wealth build you cannot achieve this without something changing in the business. It is a well know saying that the definition of insanity is doing the same things and getting different results.

I think the real art is not to set the resolution as the starting point but to spend some time defining the future requirements for change. We know that change comes either as an away from change – from desperation or dissatisfaction or as a towards change – from inspiration or vision. Here is a five step process you can use.

Step 1 – Dream. Set the dream without being constrained by the reality of where you currently are or what you currently see as being the limits placed on you by your environment. I meet many business owners who set their goal as “last year plus X%”. This is as a result of failing to dream. If you have done this you have not allowed yourself to set a meaningful resolution for your business.

Step 2 – Goals. Look at your business and understand what needs to change to enable you to achieve the dream. This may be client growth, profitability change, product or service change, team change or a variety of all the above. It will likely be something that starts as words and can then be translated into numbers – revenue, profit etc and become the basis of a business plan and budget.

Step 3 – Learn. The formula for success is Be X Do = Have. Before you think about what needs to be done to achieve the goals spend some time thinking about what do you or your business tram need to improve on (Be better). This may be skill enhancement, may be learning through research or may be fact collecting about your competitors and market to enable you to make better decisions and perform more successfully when you do the doing! Many businesses fail to move forward and grab the opportunity because they did not do the research and see it.

Step 4 – Plan. Set the annual and quarterly plan that says who needs to do what to achieve milestones towards the goals and set Key Performance Indicators that allow you to track progress and revise the plan based on knowledge gain along the way. The only true failure is the failure to participate. Whatever you do will result in a step forward or a learning that can help the next step succeed better.

Step 5 – Action. This is where the resolutions occur and gain you true results rather than be a passing fad or something you never really believe in. Set the dream, set the goals, do the learning, set the plan and milestones and KPI’s and ongoing action will take you and your business forward and achieve lasting results.

I hope this has helped you to think about your business New Year resolutions and given a method to make them meaningful and long-lasting. If you would like to discuss how I can assist you in setting yours please contact me on rogerpemberton@actioncoach.com or call 07511969690.

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