The New Year is upon us. We’re at the time frame when companies begin to focus on year-end business prep and goal setting for the upcoming year. This time period is crucial to your business and will make a difference in your bottom line, efficiency, and even your employee’s morale.
As you prepare for the end of the year, be sure to consider the following to ensure greater success in the months ahead.
Take time to reflect
Meet with your team and reflect on what worked and didn’t work over the past year. Discuss how you can improve the areas that need a few tweaks. Brainstorm ideas together and reflect on the last year’s data before you jump into setting new goals. Further, drop whatever is not working and move on. Don’t try and force what’s not working to work.
Set realistic goals
Goal setting is a helpful habit if they are realistic. You must be able to set a timeframe and then measure the goal. A plan that has clearly defined action steps will be more effective. Your goals should be manageable and understood by yourself and others within your company. If the goals aren’t realistic, then they will fall by the wayside and they most likely won’t be achieved.
Business promotion plan
Marketing your business should be ongoing. You want to consistently promote your business and not let that goal fall to the bottom of your to-do list. Set a goal to create a business promotion plan and make it a priority. As the saying goes, “We never plan to fail, but we often fail to plan.” Don’t let that happen with your business promotion plans.
Training is key
Business professionals often forget to keep learning. Educational opportunities for both yourself and your team are vital to growing your business. There are endless webinars and free online courses to take and so there is no excuse to not embrace learning a little something new next year.
We’ve never fully “arrived” because there is always some area where we can grow. Be sure you take advantage of training opportunities within your industry and you’ll most likely see growth follow in the New Year.
Goal setting is essential as we approach the New Year. Be sure to embrace this time and come up with a strategy that will enable your business to flourish in the not-too-distant future.
This article was written by Fred Haskett of True Winds Consulting, who writes a "Fridays with Fred" column on his website.
