The New Year's Resolutions You Should Never Make

January is the time of the year when people tend to take time out to reflect on the year ahead and what the future may have in store for them.

A New Year also marks a fresh start and one thing I have noticed in the recruitment sector is that there is always a marked upturn in the number of inquiries we get in January. There are an increasing number of people who are looking for a new challenge or a change of direction in their career path.

There are also plenty of business leaders who set out resolutions for the 12 months ahead. There is nothing wrong with making New Year's resolutions and setting yourself personal targets, as long as they can be achieved. It’s important to have goals but there also needs to be a healthy dose of realism. Many people make resolutions which are unrealistic and this only leads to disappointment. This can also have the knock-on effect of crushing any sense of enthusiasm, so ambition should always be tempered with a sensible approach. That’s why I never make resolutions I can’t keep.

With this in mind, here are three things you as a business leader should be thinking about when setting resolutions

1) Managing growth – There is nothing wrong with a fast growing company but you must always match your growth expectations with where your business is at. Setting an unreasonable target can lead to you sacrificing the long term for short term gains. There are many examples of companies squeezing margins in order to gain more customers and grow turnover – but this can have an unhealthy effect on profits. There are so many things to take into account when your business starts to grow – from recruiting the right number of quality people, to managing cash flow. If you aren’t yet ready for this sort of growth, there is no point trying to force it.

2) Managing expectations – Quite often an owner-manager will have a meeting with key members of staff to explain what will happen in the year ahead. This can be with regards to changes that may take place or improvements you want to make to the business. It’s important to keep everybody on the same page, and you don’t want to raise their expectations falsely. You should always be looking to progress as a company but business is no place for pipe dreams.

3) Encouraging initiative - I like to regularly set goals for the people who work with me but I would also expect every individual within my own organisation to be setting their own personal targets. True motivation should always come from within rather than be imposed from above. The very best organisations are the ones who are full of self-starters, so make sure everybody within the company is empowered to set goals for themselves.

Along with these things, the key, as ever, is to be totally committed. Before you make a resolution you should think about how dedicated you are to the idea of improvement and change. Ambition and the desire to do better is a great character trait but that also needs to be allied to resolve and strength of will.