“Year’s end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can install in us” ~ Hal Borland

Most individuals and businesses alike will soon be looking to strategise a plan with goals and objectives for 2021. These often emerge as uncreative spreadsheets, featuring last year’s figures plus 10%, fraught with flaws and yielding few new ideas.

The key to a successful strategy?

Reflect.

Optimising your business ojectives in the year to come, starts with reflection of the year before. A reflection of successes, what fell short of expectations and whether your company is still working toward a vision that is future-proof. By leveraging wisdom that you can mine from the past 12 months, you can uncover some key lessons, insights and opportunities that can be used to plan for the year ahead.

Talk.

Include everyone and avoid a top-down approach to align management and team priorities. This will give your employees on the ground a better sense of understanding and ownership of company goals, as well as bringing the team closer.

Change the scenery.

By heading off-site to a dedicated venue when you are allowed, enables your team to leave behind their board-room personalities and inspire a different level of communication. This will encourage them to share honest feedback and enable ideas to be freely bounced without criticism or judgement. Informal, inspiring settings, also can inspire creative thinking!

Banish the Blues.

Motivate your team ahead of new year projects by organising a team-building activity. Energisers & icebreakers will work wonders for team bonding of new recruits or restructured teams. They also promote positive behaviour, communication and higher retention of learning and performance. Employee awards and rewards to celebrate hard work, commitment and improvements, also work well to boost morale.

Be Visionaries.

Get your team to envisage what they think the company will experience over the next 12 months in an ideal world. Views may vary, but having a range of differing views helps drive companies forward. Align these visions by prioritising key actions and highlighting changes and decisions that need to be made.

Support your consumer’s goals.

Put yourself in their shoes! Many of your company’s clients or consumers will simultaneously be planning their own new year transformations and aspirations at this time. Render your brand as market leaders and influencers by tailoring the company’s marketing efforts, services and products to support the pursuit of their goals.

Set Intentions.

After digesting the wisdom, experience, insights and opportunities your team has gathered, you can now use this knowledge to plan how to realise what you have all collectively envisioned. Prioritise key projects, create deadlines for decisions, gather resources and set strategic intentions.

Back to Blog