Top 5 Business New Year Resolutions For 2009
By Isla Campbell
When a new year arrives, often what come with it are new opportunities. Therefore, grasp those opportunities with both hands by following these top 5 business New Year's resolutions, which may help drive your company further forward in 2009.
1. Open your eyes wider - be active not idle. Encourage lateral thinking across your business and think about your customers, services and product ranges. Consider whether there are new opportunities that can be exploited within the market by keeping an eye on competitors and trends in the market; as well as other unrelated industries and if required, make the bold decision to change. But don't let this focus be a one off quick fix; make the practise of research, evaluation and testing a regular activity that injects life into the business again and again.
2. Think smarter - make your business into a lean mean revenue driving machine. Therefore, use your time within the office wisely and try to streamline certain actions so they perform more efficiently. This is can be of great benefit to the business, whilst also helping to reduce those late nights at the office.
Being able to turn work around quickly can also free up your time and allow you to work on other projects that you otherwise might not have been able to start. But, to work smarter you may need to invest money and resources to create this opportunity. By doing some time/cost assessments you can highlight the quick, low cost wins against the bigger, more costly, but ultimately rewarding investments.
3. Learn something new - make this an ethos across the business so individuals can develop as well as being able to spot new opportunities. Learning is a great motivator and can reinstall drive into a work force that may appear demotivated; this is especially true with the cloud of recession looming overhead in recent times. Therefore, what people learn should then be distilled and spread around to all concerned as it can spark other ideas too. Share the knowledge to release the power across your business.
4. Take that extra green step - think global, act local. Going green doesn't always have to be on a global scale. Try and see what good you can do in your local community, such as holding a charity event to fix up a local play area or simply making a conscious and visible effort to tidy up your surrounding neighbourhood. These types of actions are a great way of attracting the press, differentiating yourself from your competitors, great motivator and a potential retainer of staff.
5. Set your goals - it is important to have focus. Even this act of giving yourself resolutions is goal setting. Set your plans, know your ideal destination, have a path to follow and check progress weekly, not quarterly. Reflect upon the previous year and carry forward any success stories and learning into the New Year.
In fact, making a note of your progress on a couple of highly visible notice boards or large sheets of paper can be a motivator to all those involved in achieving the goals. As with any business, expect change and ensure you are moving forward; this will then help you get closer to your goals.
These business New Year's resolutions are just a few examples of what you could be doing to drive your company forward in 2009. The five ideas above may not be applicable to every business; however, if you do not make a conscious effort to adapt in the New Year, then you might not have the chance to apply any resolutions at all next year.
Isla Campbell writes for a digital marketing agency. This article has been commissioned by a client of said agency. This article is not designed to promote, but should be considered professional content.
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