Starting the New Business Year Right

 

The start of a new year is a great time to take stock of where your business currently stands and turn your attention to the future. It is a great time to assess your business goals for the year to come, and determine what kind of planning you will require to get there.

Strategic business planning for a new year should answer questions like – What is the present status of your business performance wise? What business goals do you want to achieve in the newyear? And what are the best ways to go about achieving them?

In planning and setting goals for a new year as a small business, the following steps should be put into consideration;

1. Be Honest With Yourself

The hardest part of setting goals is being realistic. It’s easy to attempt to convert every dream into goals, but far from easy to convert those goals into achievements. Be realistic when planning for the newyear. Consider transactions that take time and attention and be delibrate in incorporating recovery and relaxation into your schedule. This will ensure you separate rest time from work time and make your goals truly achievable.

Now that you’ve analyzed where you’d ideally like to be, figure out where you stand in relation to those goals. Sales figures are one way to measure how you’re doing, but success can mean many things; it all comes down to what success means to YOU. Measure yourself against your vision, mission and values.

 

2. Humanize The Workplace

Planning for the newyear starts with gratitude. Be grateful for where your business is at, be grateful for your team and be grateful for life in general. It’s prudent to identify the highs and lows of the previous year. It’s also important for leaders to ensure that their team members understand the struggles and successes the organisation had. Most importantly, have a conversation with the team on where the business should go from its current position and what’s the work to be done? Be prepared to do the work together with clear goals.

 

3. Develop & Set Growth Goals For The Team

it is important we don’t get so wrapped up in what happened last year and what we want to accomplish in the newyear that we forget the most important part to our goal is the team! As business owners, lets not forget that it’s our team that has helped us accomplish success so far, and it will be the team’s growth that will lead the business to the goals they want to achieve in the newyear.

The first step toward any strategic plan is to determine where you’re headed, so spell out in concrete terms what you’d like to accomplish this year. Be specific. Don’t just say you’d like to increase sales. By how much would you like to increase sales? In which area? How? The clearer you are, the easier it will be to map out ways to achieve your goals.

There are three areas that can help in achieving this, namely- vision, mission and value – these should be considered as you set your business goals and articulating these areas will help you put a strategy in place to accomplish them. Your plan will affect everything from the number of employees you hire to the types of products and services you offer.

4.    Create Your Implementation Strategy

Your strategic set goals/plans will amount to nothing more than an intellectual exercise and a dream until you start to implement it. Your next challenge will be doing the work to execute your specific ideas, making required changes where necessary, and monitoring their outcomes.

Figure out how and when you will address each element of your plan. For the implementation of your plan to be successful, it’s helpful to assign specific responsibilities, activities, deadlines, and budgets accordingly.

5.    Evaluate Your Plan’s Performance

Strategic planning isn’t a one-shot deal, but an ongoing process. You will need to evaluate how things are going after you put the plan into effect. As you move forward, don’t be afraid to change course if something isn’t working out the way you thought it would, and don’t be afraid of a little discomfort as you alter the way you’ve been doing things.

Schedule the time to take a look at what’s working and what might need tweaking. Make sure you and your staff members are clear about your business goals and what needs to be done. For parts of the plan, you might decide on a daily or weekly check to see how the implementation is going. For other changes, monthly or quarterly reviews will do.

 

6. Be Ready To Give (And Take) Feedback

Despite what you may think about your workers receiving feedback about their performance, research shows that they not only want it, but they also want to give it to you. So as 2023 kicks off, be generous with your feedback and open to criticism yourself.

 

5. Celebrate Wins And Acknowledge Losses

 

Wrapping up any year in business is an exciting time. As a business owner reviews the wins and losses of the previous year, it is important to revisit the wins that were experienced. Acknowledging the misses alongside the wins will help ensure lessons are taken forward as valuable learning experiences. Casting a compelling vision will help generate momentum for a bright start to the newyear.

Team 618 Bees wishes you the very best as you navigate through the 2023 business year!

 

Team 618 Bees.

Sources: www.aofund.org, www.forbes.com

 

 

 

 

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