New Year’s Resolutions for your Business

Did you fulfill your New Year’s resolutions? If you are among the majority, chances are you set big personal goals for yourself at the beginning of the year such as losing weight or getting organized. And as the year progressed, you likely forgot about those goals. Day-to-day life got in the way and the focus on those big dreams and plans faded.

This year, try something different. Instead of personal goals, set goals for your business. Focus on your company as a whole, or on your employees and what you wish to grow or improve in the New Year. Make a plan that includes a path to success that can be incorporated into your day-to-day activities. Just like losing weight or saving money, you won’t see incredible results overnight.  It takes a commitment. And in the case of a business, it must be committed to at every level.

In order to accomplish this, it will take setting goals that are not only measurable, but realistically attainable. “Increasing profits” can be a murky goal, as it is not quantifiable and evaluating success can vary from person to person. Instead, set measurable steps such as “Sell X number of widgets per month” or “Convert 25 percent of sales into repeat customers.” These concrete numbers can be measured and gauged throughout the year. Just like a personal resolution to lose 20 pounds, attaining the results will create a new standard at your company that can be sustained far into the future.

On the other hand, it can be detrimental to set too many goals. Too many changes being pushed forward at the same time can lead to confusion and scattered efforts. It’s vital to stay focused on the drilled down goals that will have the most impact on your business and bottom line. Use weekly recap emails, or a board to track progress throughout the year. Set a date for the first of each month to run reports and compare your progress against your goals. Engaged employees produce twice as much work product as unengaged employees, so getting everyone involved will have direct implications on the company’s efficiency and bottom line.

Companies are using surveys to track these resolutions. At NBRI, we recommend deploying employee engagement and customer service surveys to track not only resolutions, but sentiment from many aspects of the company. The data you receive will help you create an action plan for setting goals your entire company can support. Then, you can resurvey periodically to evaluate the effectiveness of your initiatives. Contact us today to start setting your 2013 resolutions.