New Year’s resolutions? Okay, let’s look at mine for a second: only drink wine on the weekend, cut-back on refined sugar, hit the gym. It’s likely they’ll turn out to be: hit the wine and cut back on the gym…but it’s good to have a plan. Whatever our resolutions might be it’s a positive step to recognize there’s room for improvement. Hey, that could be a resolution, “recognize there’s always room for improvement”. Typically, even with the best intentions, New Year’s resolutions quickly get lost in the shuffle of the day-to-day. We tend to rationalize our way back to our old habits and since they’re typically focused on our own wellbeing and behavior, who’s the wiser if we slip up, right?
This year I suggest going big. If we make resolutions that affect our business performance and the people we work with we’ll probably feel more accountable. It won’t be as easy to slip back, especially if we share our resolutions with our workmates. The positive impact of achieving these goals in 2020 could affect many people and many dollars. The new year is a great time for a reset, so make it count.
Here are six goals you can adopt for the New Year. Send them to your colleagues and remind one another as the year progresses. Resolutions with accountability, scary!
1. Trust people you hire:
This includes employees and your agency 😉 Why carefully vet an expert and then question their judgement? Micromanagement isn’t sustainable. In my experience the behavior ALWAYS leads to frustration on all sides. What’s more is the work suffers. Seriously, no one is good at everything. The idea that only you know best limits your potential to success. Because guess what, no one’s that good. Chill your ego this year!
2. Bring your best self to work:
Here’s the thing. Everyone has personal traits and qualities they don’t bring to work. We have our work-self and our home-self. Most of us have a pretty strict separation between the two. I mean, you don’t want to nap with your cat at work, but there are qualities that get left behind that will actually enhance job performance. Showing a sense of humor, empathy for others, an appreciation for good performance and a welcoming manner will encourage people around you to communicate their thoughts and ideas more easily – and that will help surface new thinking that’s good for your business.
3. Look forward:
The past is informative, especially performance metrics. And, it’s imperative we all take stock in lessons we learn and avoid the same mistakes. However, reference to past doesn’t provide all the components to a winning strategy. Unless you evolve your approach, whatever it might be; creative, product, marketing, brand proposition, you’ll come to a standstill and eventually fail. In 2020, budget time for exploring an evolved path for your brand and be an advocate for thoughtful change to drive continued relevancy.
4. Use data:
Be a nerd already! Even if you’re a hipster creative you can still be nerd. Every successful campaign, brand positioning, merchandise plan or execution of a basic marketing asset should rely on data for direction. Look at the numbers and study engagement and response. Learn the trends, obey marketing physics and marketing science. Test and conduct surveys. Whatever you do, don’t let a committee sit around and pontificate about what “they think” without data, that’s a waste of time.
5. Listen:
Sounds easy enough, but how many times do you make judgements and begin formulating a response before the speaker has finished making their point? So many good ideas fall through the cracks because we don’t choose to hear them. Let your colleagues fully express their thoughts and create an inviting environment for contributing. Not only is it polite, but it encourages thoughtful contribution that takes full advantage of talent.
6. Understand your audience:
Appreciate who you’re talking, (marketing), to! Employ simple surveys to better understand what their priorities are. It’s kind of like that philosophical question: “If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?” Trust me, if you don’t know your audience, you’ll be the tree and you won’t make a sound.
For any of these to take hold we’ll have to get cool with change. Perhaps changing old habits is harder than adopting new ones. Either way managing change in 2020 will unlock success in everything we do. Okay, off to the gym.
Tags: business resolutions, neal schuler