A new year and a fresh start

It’s always great to start a new year. It’s a great time to take a look at the year ahead, review the past year, and feel refreshed about our work. If you lead a team or run a business this is the time to take a big picture view. Even as a member of a team, a fresh review at the start of the year helps you become clear about your goals.

Having a clear vision for you and your business is critical for organisational success. If you have a business plan still actively review it, make sure it is in line with your direction, and review the goals for yourself and your team.

No matter how much holiday or time off you have or haven’t had, it is so important to begin the year with fresh enthusiasm and motivation. If you don’t have it you need to find it!

The fresh start you decide to have can be at four levels:

1. Your wellbeing

Think about last year and how you felt about your wellbeing. Were you fit and healthy throughout the year? What could you do better this year to be more relaxed and have more energy? Can you start with some good clear resolutions and stick to them? It might be as simple as:

• Always have water on your desk, so you drink more of it and less coffee.
• Get up from the desk and have regular breaks.
• Avoid long hours as a routine.
• Take walks for meetings instead of sitting and eating.
• Walk every lunchtime.
• Walk to work or add a walk for part of the way, every day.
• Bring in a healthy lunch.
• Schedule ‘me-time’ in your diary for an hour every day for time to relax, go to the gym, walk… and stick to it.

2. Your planning and prioritising

How did you go last year with being organised? Did you have a good system to manage tasks? Did you feel in control or out of control? What do other people you work with think about your organisational skills? Do they see you as effective? Well organised? Assess what you could do better:

• Do you manage your emails efficiently?
• Do you need to improve your task management system?
• How well do you monitor your progress?
• Do you need to do a time management course or develop skills to prioritise better?
• Is your desk clean and organised?
• Is your filing under control?

If you are happy with the way you kept on top of your work that is great! If you need to make improvements, now is the time to work out what and how.

3. Your career goals and job satisfaction

What is your vision for yourself this year and for the coming years? Let’s assume you always want to impro ve your performance. Consciously consider what areas of your performance you need to develop. Do you have all the skills you need or should you be exploring developing new skills? What new skills and where and how are you going to gain these skills?

Is there anything that impacts your job satisfaction besides the development of skills? Is it within your control to make some changes? Now is a good time to be proactive and do something about it.

4. Clear vision for your business/team

Do you have a clear vision for your business and the team? Does your manager have a clear vision that has been communicated to you? If not, ask for it. If yes, how will you communicate it to your team?

The vision needs to be translated to each individual staff member so they are clear about what they need to be doing and how this contributes to the overall performance of the business.

If you are a leader you need to create a good role model right at the start of the year for being organised, in control and inspiring others to perform at their best.

Eve Ash is the producer of the best selling Vision & Values DVD and many other inspirational DVDs to help you and your business develop skills and improve performance.