Champagne corks popping, the ball dropping in Times Square (just a few blocks from Eclaro world headquarters!), Ryan Seacrest doing, well, whatever it is that Ryan Seacrest does…traditional signs of ringing in the new year are . Few practices that go hand-in-hand with the flipping of the calendar are as time-honored, or as daunting, as the new year’s resolution.
The ancient Babylonians have been credited with making resolutions a “thing” more than 4,000 years ago, setting in motion the annual practice of self-assessment and reflection, a sense of hope around self-improvement, and setting in motion a goal (or a set of goals) based upon positive change and a plan to make it happen. Now, while most of the buzz out there surrounding resolutions seems to be about getting more exercise or eating better or dropping a few pounds—and those are certainly valuable and worthy pursuits—we’re thinking about how businesses can start forging a better tomorrow by making a few resolutions today.
We aren’t saying exactly what those resolutions should be for you, since there is no one-size-fits-all approach to such things. It’s really more a reflection on why resolutions are a good idea for businesses of all shapes and sizes to consider. With both immediate and long-term implications, the right resolutions can help a business…
Promote Growth and Development: New Year’s resolutions can help companies identify areas where they can improve and grow. By assessing areas to focus upon, setting specific and measurable goals, and coming up with strategies with which they’ll pursue those goals, companies can focus their efforts and resources on the most important priorities, and create a system by which to track their progress over time. This can help companies stay ahead of the curve and maintain a competitive edge while also instilling a culture that focuses on the importance of ongoing self-examination and transformation.
Increase Accountability: New Year’s resolutions can create a new, refreshed sense of accountability within a company, as management and employees alike are inspired to take a step back to evaluate areas where they can improve as well as those where they are succeeding and can continue to grow and evolve. At each level of a business, a resolution can motivate everyone to take even greater ownership of goals, priorities, processes and deliverables—and hold themselves to a higher standard when a particular goal is in sight. This can lead to improved performance and efficient, focused efforts while uniting everyone in the mindset of not merely meeting goals but surpassing them, not simply “doing the job” but engaging and excelling and moving themselves as individuals, and the business as a whole, forward.
Encourage Innovation: New Year’s resolutions can encourage companies to be more innovative—or, in some cases, even consider the very concept of innovation for the first time—and think outside the box (even coming up with more innovative ways to say “think outside the box,” perhaps). By setting ambitious yet attainable goals and looking for new and creative ways to achieve them, companies can continue to differentiate themselves from the competition and discover new opportunities for growth.
Build Morale: New Year’s resolutions can also help build team morale and foster an increased sense of unity within a company. When everyone is working toward a common goal—or working toward individual goals while knowing that everyone else is also giving it their all to hit their own personal marks—it can create a sense of purpose and motivation that can extend beyond merely a “resolution” and reinforce the idea that everyone within a business is essential to its ongoing success, every single day, by being part of the team that is striving toward well-defined goals.
Improve Communication: New Year’s resolutions can help improve communication within a company, as they require management and employees to work together and share ideas in order to come up with ideas where resolutions might have a positive impact, create plans of action, put considered processes in place, and then move forward to achieve the goals that are set. The overall process can lead to better collaboration and teamwork, and a culture in which communication becomes the ongoing norm as part of a long-term corporate transformation.
So chill that bubbly, turn down the volume on Mr. Seacrest (at least for a few moments), and raise a glass to the healthy, happy days and that await in 2023, and the promise that even the smallest of resolutions may hold for a fantastic future.
