We’re well into January and business owners are focused on the year ahead. Did you set New Year Resolutions for your business as well as your personal ones?
I have a theory about New Year resolutions – in fact I call them ‘Revolutions’. This is because they come around again every year if you don’t achieve them (a revolution) or they change the world (also a revolution)!
When you’re looking at your business, most people refer to them as ‘goals’ – and you don’t need it to be New Year to set them – but it is often a place to start. However, goals are only achievable if there’s a solid plan behind them.
Have you translated your big goals into action plans with a detailed to do list and tasks allocated time in your diary? If you break down big targets into many small steps you’ll find achieving them is not such a big leap.
If you have a team you don’t have to do it all yourself – you can delegate tasks to other people. In fact, if you’re running a business you definitely should delegate much of the work to your team – that’s why they’re there.
Even if you’re a small business you don’t have to do it all yourself. Trusted contractors are essential to allow you to do the stuff only you can do. That might be a VA, a marketing agency, a PR specialist, an accountant or bookkeeper – or other experts that can add value.
Briefing your team
Whether your business is big or small, your team are there to help to achieve your business goals. As your business goals are likely to change from time to time, depending on market demands, customer demographics, competitive activity and the economic climate – the activities that each member of your team is responsible for may need to be adjusted.
Communication is the key.
Many companies send out a newsletter to let their customers and contacts know what they’re doing and what’s new, but it’s even more important that the same kind of regular communication goes to your team. The content may be different, but they need to know what they’re aiming to achieve and why if they’re going to be a real help.
This includes outsourced workers too.
There’s a saying:
Understanding creates commitment
If your team are just blindly following their job description they won’t be able to make smart decisions and their motivation and job satisfaction will be low.
Keeping everyone in the picture of where you’re going and why will make a dramatic difference to performance and results.
Generating a revolution
Revolutions happen when people are fired up – without seeing an exciting future on the horizon, there’s no fire in anyone’s belly. If you want to take big steps forward your team are your rocket fuel – but you need to light their fuse! Isn’t that what leadership is all about?
