The new year signals a time of celebratory transformation, unexplored potential, and a fresh start. Many individuals mark the new year with a resolution–a promise and declaration of personal growth and positive change. Statista reports that in 2023, Americans resolved to boost exercise, choose healthier foods, and slim down.
Business resolutions for the New Year focus on company improvements and greater goals. An actionable New Year’s resolution for a business creates a framework for success that facilitates growth, improves employee retention, and develops a positive culture. Welcome the New Year and explore a New Year's resolution list for entrepreneurs to embrace change, success, and positivity in 2024.
Table of Contents:
The Importance of New Year's Resolutions for Business
Create Employee Appreciation Programs
Transform a Toxic Workplace
Write Your Personal Development Plan
Embrace Extrinsic Motivation
Focus More on the Importance of Teamwork
Lead by Example
Learn the Different Communication Styles
Demonstrate Participative Leadership
Choose to Understand Employees' Strengths and Weaknesses
Work Smarter, Not Harder
FAQ: Setting Goals and Establishing New Year’s Resolutions
Synopsis:
Positive transformational change leads to success. Entrepreneurs and business leaders must start the path to this transformation by setting goals, embracing better habits, and striving to appreciate and value their team. A simple New Year's resolution catalyzes leaders to move into a positive new direction and build a stronger foundation for achieving their targets, profitability benchmarks, and overall success in their industry.
The Importance of a New Year's Resolutions List for Business
Entrepreneurs and business owners look towards the new year with goals focused on scalability, profitability, employee retention, and other crucial factors impacting the success of their business. Every leader must look at their business strategy to understand weak points that must be strengthened.
Choosing the best resolution (and keeping it!) requires thought and a willingness to commit time to move toward the desired change. Just as an individual cannot lose weight by resolving to do it, a business owner cannot inspire change without directing it.
What should you resolve to do this year? What change inspires growth and profitability, facilitates employee happiness, and builds a positive workplace culture? Explore these 10 resolutions and choose one that moves you to act, to change, to grow, and to succeed:
Create Employee Appreciation Programs
Transform a Toxic Workplace
Write Your Personal Development Plan
Embrace Extrinsic Motivation
Focus More on the Importance of Teamwork
Lead by Example
Learn the Different Communication Styles
Demonstrate Participative Leadership
Choose to Understand Employees' Strengths and Weaknesses
Work Smarter, Not Harder
Resolution #1: Create Employee Appreciation Programs
According to SelectSoftware Reviews, two out of three employees would move on from an employer that didn't value them. Employee appreciation programs impact morale and profits; SelectSoftware Reviews' statistics reveal that employer profitability increased by more than 20 percent for companies with "high employee engagement."
When employees know that their contributions are meaningful and that their employer sees and acknowledges them, they, in turn, respond with an increased engagement in their performance and their overall role for the organization. Appreciation programs look different for every company. Employee of the Month plaques are a great example of this type of program. In addition, companies can develop programs that honor team members for their service length, performance (hitting sales goals), or even for a specific accomplishment.
Business leaders must understand that their employees want to feel valued and appreciated. They want their hard work and dedication to be noticed and not taken for granted. In 2024, resolve to create an impactful and effective recognition program.
Resolution #2: Transform a Toxic Workplace
Signs of a toxic workplace are easy to spot for consumers. These offices or businesses ooze low motivation and bad energy. Everyone has walked into a business only to be greeted by a tuned-out employee who doesn't even look up. Sometimes it's worse, though. Perhaps the salesperson is focused on a hard sell, using unpleasant tactics that generate anxiety and create a desire to flee.
A workplace culture grows toxic over time. When a new manager steps in, the environment might seem too untenable to transform. Maybe employees are leaving in droves. Can a toxic workplace glow up into a positive and uplifting culture?
Yes! When business owners and leaders realize that their company's toxic vibe is casting away clients, change must happen now. Resolve to transform a toxic culture one step at a time. Beginning the change is not easy; leaders must develop a new plan to change the team's thought process.
Before transforming toxicity into positivity, leaders must identify the core problems. They also must understand the values and priorities of the company. Go back to the beginning and remember what values drove the initial success. Set clearly defined expectations based on the values and ethics of the organization. Identify and communicate the consequences for those who fail to uphold these standards.
Reach out to all team members. Ask for feedback, and listen to what they say. Some team members might add to the toxicity. Put a plan in place to handle and hold responsible individuals who fail to abide by the ethos and expectations of the company.
Resolution #3: Write Your Personal Development Plan
Personal change inspires company-wide change. Leaders must lead. Look forward and embrace growth and change by creating a personal development plan.
With this plan, outline all personal goals. In addition, a personal development plan requires individuals to assess their strengths and weaknesses. This assessment provides a crucial analysis of what the individual should develop to reach their goals. Some personal development plans include a SWOT analysis; this outlines and examines strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
Resolution #4: Embrace Extrinsic Motivation
Extrinsic motivation relates to tangible rewards, and this type of motivation inspires many employees. For this reason, companies include prizes like gift cards, televisions, or other high-end devices as a reward for hitting sales goals or other company-identified targets.
Extrinsic motivation also includes rewards like more paid time off (PTO), a company party, or a fun activity. Not all individuals feel motivated by these rewards, but incorporating extrinsic rewards adds more opportunities for team members to understand they are valued and appreciated.
Resolution #5: Focus on the Importance of Teamwork
To create an impactful, effective, and close-knit team, managers and leaders must develop strategies that reinforce the importance of teamwork. Resolve to create opportunities for team members to collaborate and work together towards a common goal. Demonstrate the importance of every individual's role and how it adds value and success to the team.
Creating a 'team' takes time and effort, but destroying a team is simple. How do managers and leaders break down a team culture? Calling out individuals in front of the team destroys confidence and creates a sense of anxiety; this is demoralizing, especially if there is a company favorite who is never reprimanded. Pitting team members against each other leads to the pull towards self-preservation–every man for himself!
In 2024, work towards helping the team build each other up for the common good and goals of the company. Create programs addressing toxic individuals who tear down team members or refuse to be team players. Hire only individuals who uphold and exhibit the values and ethics of the company.
Resolution #6: Lead by Example
Positive leaders set an example for the entire company. Negative leaders foster a festering toxic environment that everyone wishes to escape quickly. Which leader are you?
Lead by example, and do so positively and with grace, compassion, and ethics. Lead in the way you want others on the team to lead. Map out the qualities you admire in leaders and aim to mirror those qualities.
Resolution #7: Learn the Different Communication Styles
"Personality Plus" by Florence Littauer is a must-read book for all business owners and leaders. Littauer highlights four personality types that were originally identified by Hippocrates. The book delves into the four personalities and how each handles communication differently. Identifying an individual's personality helps leaders know how to approach them and communicate effectively. This chart shows the four personality types and their unique attributes:
Personality | Main Attribute | Communication Style |
Choleric | Results-focused. These individuals focus on the bottom line. | Choleric personality types are signified by fire. They are known to be a bit harsh, they do not embrace warm and fuzzy communications, and they want to see results. Business leaders and owners often have some traits of a choleric personality; some owners or leaders are strong cholerics. |
Melancholy | Quality-focused. Melancholy individuals want to deliver the highest quality in their work and are highly motivated by perfection. | Melancholics are represented by the element of earth. Individuals who have a melancholy temperament tend to be more subdued, perhaps a little more depressive (thus the name), and do not respond well to aggressive feedback. They like messages to be delivered compassionately. Creative individuals often lean into a melancholic disposition. |
Phlegmatic | Service-focused. Phlegmatic personality types focus on service. | Phlegmatics are represented by water. They tend to be agreeable and work well in a group. |
Sanguine | People-focused. Sanguines are outgoing extroverts. | Sanguines are represented by the element of air. They are talkative, sociable, and many have great communication skills because of their friendly demeanor. |
Resolution #8: Demonstrate Participative Leadership
The International Institute for Management Development (IMD) defines this type of leadership as one that encourages employee participation in the decision-making process; leaders who engage in this leadership style create a collaborative environment that makes everyone feel included in decisions.
Participative leadership does not mean managers or owners must abide by every decision their team favors. Instead, employee feedback provides insight into how team members feel about the company's directives. Understanding employees' thoughts, feelings, and preferences helps leaders know how every team member perceives a potential change.
Resolution #9: Understand Employees' Strengths and Weaknesses
Every employee has unique strengths and weaknesses. Top leaders must understand how each team member offers something unique to the company and their role. In addition, analyzing the weaknesses of each team member allows leaders to identify solutions for strengthening the individual in these shaky spots.
Resolve to look deeper into every team member's strengths and weaknesses. Identify how these strengths aid the company and its mission and then create solutions to help individuals grow in areas where they struggle.
Resolution #10: Work Smarter, Not Harder
Leaders who are clocking 10+ hours each day and ending the day exhausted, drained, and miserable will eventually burn out. The goal in running a business is to find capable, trustworthy team members who remove the work burden and allow owners and leaders to pursue new business leads and run the company more efficiently. Work smarter, not harder! Delegate duties to the team and find competent leaders to take on additional roles and responsibilities.
When leaders understand their team's capabilities, they feel more comfortable delegating duties. Entrepreneurs and business owners who insist on a martyrdom approach to leadership will only end up miserable, exhausted, overworked, and frustrated.
FAQ: Setting Goals and Establishing New Year's Resolutions
How do you set business goals for the New Year?
Business owners and leadership must focus on what they wish to accomplish in the next year. The primary goal can change from year to year. Do you wish to transform a toxic team? Leaders may want to create an employee recognition program. Identify the weak areas and work to create goals that help strengthen them.
What are good goals as a business owner?
Many business owners aim to increase their productivity and profitability. Others set goals for team-building, transforming their office culture, or increasing customer service satisfaction.
What should I write for my New Year's resolution?
Every business owner has unique goals. If you are still determining your business goals, schedule a consultation with Tabetha to help strategize.
How do you set a successful New Year's resolution?
Writing a resolution is simple, but keeping that resolution takes dedication. Don't just set a goal; create steps to ensure you meet that goal and keep the resolution.
What is a toxic work environment?
A toxic work environment lacks positivity and fails to focus on a team-building process. Negative or toxic work environments often feature a leadership structure built around fear and intimidation. Ethics and integrity are often lacking in the most toxic workplaces.
What are some realistic goals?
A realistic goal is manageable and simple. Leaders do not want to create easy goals that are effortless to fulfill, and they also don't want to set outlandish goals that create frustration for the team. Identify an ideal goal but always outline steps to attempt to satisfy that goal.
Change Happens in 2024!
As the New Year approaches, take action and make a transformative resolution. One positive change guides other positive changes. Move your business forward, embrace a new beginning, and advance to success!
Schedule a consultation with Tabetha today and learn how EOS teaches businesses to embrace change by evolving the leadership mindset.
Tabetha Sheaver is a CEO, executive coaching specialist, project management professional (PMI), and an award-winning business success partner. She helps CEOs regain control of their companies with organizational change management strategies. While helping entrepreneurial leadership teams to be open, honest, and healthy, Tabetha’s experience and insight have made her an in-demand public speaker and presenter nationwide.
