Journey to success
WELCOME to the best year yet!
Happy New Year everyone and may 2023 be a prosperous, peaceful and productive one.
Welcome to a series of articles where I focus on this year being a year of success. To begin our journey of success, we have started by looking back on last year, 2022, and identifying what we have learned and what we can build on into 2023. This process is called reflection.
Reflection provides us with information to assist with our forward planning. The next stage in the planning process is to prepare ourselves, mentally and physically; make sure our team is fit for the journey ahead and update the products and services we intend to offer next year.
This is my first article for 2023. By now you should have reflected well on the past year and begun to plan for the year ahead.
Here are a few things for you to think about as the year begins – I will deal with each one in more depth in future articles.
Firstly, what goals have you set for yourselves and your businesses for 2023? If you are unclear about what you want to achieve, then maybe you need to seek help from a business coach quickly. Once you are clear about your goals, who are you sharing them with? Make sure that the people you will rely on this year know where you are heading and how they can assist. If you have a team, it is also useful to help each team member identify his/ her own goals.
Once the goals for the year are clear then you can create a plan to help you achieve them. Remember that failing to plan equals planning to fail. Active, regular planning is a crucial business tool that will help you make the most of the good times and do your best during the challenging times. Planning is a daily business activity and is not about writing a business plan. It is about engaging your brain and those of the people around you to make the best decisions as you make progress towards your goals.
To lead your business forward, especially into the unknown, requires strong leadership and personal fitness – mentally, emotionally, socially and physically. If you are unfit you will find the journey very tough and unforgiving.
When things are going well then make sure you give the credit to your team. During times of hardship and challenge you need to front up and take responsibility. In this way people will respect you as a leader and will follow you.
Your team also needs to be fit for the journey so now is a good time to review your job descriptions and employment conditions. Make sure they are all up-to-date and that you are rewarding people correctly. Try to ensure that everyone has a personal development plan to help them on this journey. Ask them if they are happy with what they are doing in your business; do they have enough training; do they always feel supported; do they have unused skills and experiences that could benefit your business; are there new things they would like to be doing?
Review your place of work. Is it comfortable, pleasant, and friendly? Is it a good place to be in for eight hours a day? Are the toilets and kitchen areas clean and hygienic? Have you got rid of the rubbish, cleaned the windows, replaced old notices, fixed the holes in the carpark, repainted signs and so on. All these things give out signals both to your team and to your customers – no-one wants to be anywhere where they do not feel welcome or comfortable. Are you using technology to help you run a more efficient and profitable business?
Review your products and services and make sure they reflect the needs of your customers and are relevant and up to date.
Finally, now is the time to review your business continuity plan or, if you do not have one, to create one! Disaster can strike at any time, and it is your responsibility to do what you can to protect lives and livelihoods and give your business the best possible chance of survival and recovery. You and your team need to know what to do before a disaster to make your business as resilient as possible; during a disaster to keep yourselves safe and after a disaster to keep your business going.
Over the next few weeks, I will spend more time on each of these topics and more, all of which are designed to help your business be the best it can be and to make 2023 the best year yet!
Please contact me with your own stories and experiences and, above all, over the year ahead have fun and enjoy the journey!
■ Contact chris@breadfruitconsulting.com or hazel@breadfruitconsulting.com Breadfruit Consulting (www.breadfruitconsulting.com) is a Vanuatu-based business providing advice, training, coaching, and mentoring to businesses throughout the Pacific Islands.