Starting the year with a bang for your business

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The new buzz word in politics? It seems to be ‘momentum’. When a party starts to see a few wins it achieves ‘momentum’ and nothing can stop its achievement. The converse is also true. Once it loses this ‘momentum’, everything not just feels, but is, harder.

The same is true in business. You can see when a business believes in itself and knows it’s a winner. There’s no deal it can’t win, no product it can’t successfully launch. And, as the leader of such a company, you need to start benefitting from this at the very start of the year. There’s not a day to waste!

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1. Set objectives

If you want people to feel excited and follow you, you need to set SMART objectives. Of course they need to be ambitious, but they also need to be credible. Make them Specific, Measurable, Achieveable, Realistic and Time-bound in order to win the respect of your peers as well as subordinates. They’ll then be able to set their own teams’ objectives and show the link between them and those of the whole company.

2. Make them manageable

It’s helpful to divide up large company objectives into smaller, more manageable ones. Working to quarters can be useful, because twelve weeks is a manageable amount of time, but is still enough time to complete projects. Ensure your team prepares plans that help the business to achieve its plans.

3. Front load

An easy mistake is to believe that when an obstacle appears, deadlines need to be moved back, and time made up at the end of a project. A better approach is to build in more when you plan the project. Then, if anything looks like it may be falling behind, you’ll have time to apply all the necessary resolve and catch up immediately.

When you have clear objectives and front-loaded plans, you need to ensure your have the support of your whole business. Use every opportunity and method to publicise your plans, including what they mean to the company and each individual.

4. Quick wins

To kick-start momentum, arrange for a number of high-profile wins to occur at the beginning of the year. This boost to everyone’s morale will encourage people to be even more enthusiastic when facing the objectives which follow.

Building momentum is easier said than done, but with a few tactics up your sleeve, and some careful planning, you’ll enthuse your people and will be well on the way to starting your company’s year with a bang!

Heather Foley is a consultant at etsplc.com, a UK-based HR consultancy, specialising in 360-degree feedback

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