If you’re looking to raise your game in business here are my top 3 suggestions to include on your New Year’s resolutions list.
1. Have a vision for your business
2. Set underwhelming goals
3. Develop your mastermind team
Have a vision for your business. Knowing where your business is heading is incredibly important on so many levels. Often business owners are so busy working ‘in’ their business that they don’t have time to work ‘on’ their business – to take a more strategic view. After the initial dreams of setting up a business, visions can get lost, and in so doing, the business ends up driving you, not you it!
What is your vision for the business? If you’re ‘only’ looking at ‘survival’ for the next couple of years – you can easily miss the opportunities for your business to really flourish. Take some time, review your achievements and disappointments from the last 12 months, draw from these the lessons before setting your vision for the future.
If you have teams, ensure that you communicate the direction of the company. How can your team be pulling in the same direction if either you don’t know the direction you want your business to go in, or you fail to communicate it?
Set underwhelming goals. When you have a clear vision you might be surprised at the new level of energy and enthusiasm you have for your business. Whilst your vision might be audacious – and long term goals may be challenging, when it comes to a nearer time horizon, set weekly goals that are underwhelming and easily achievable. In business there are inevitable twists and turns, set goals that are achievable not just on the first day – but 100 days into your plan.
Develop your mastermind team. It’s said that who we mix with is a good predictor of how much money we make. These people influence our attitudes and actions. Expand your existing network, to mix with people who uplift and inspire you, I would even go as far as to say limit time with people who are negative and are holding you back. Developing your network has many benefits – new people bring different ways of thinking, and if you apply some of these thoughts within your business it’s likely you’ll generate new ideas.
As your business grows you will go through a development journey. Many people start their business because they have strong technical skills, and quickly have to develop some core business skills. As your business continues grows, so you will develop more skills.
Perhaps you remember the decision to recruit your first member of staff, and the learning that you had to go through to ensure that “who does what” was clear. As the number of team members increases – a further development happens to your leadership; less time ‘doing’ and more time ‘directing’. This can be a challenge to many hands-on leaders but the risk of you always getting stuck in, is that the team don’t ever take responsibility for their actions. Think about who is supporting you in stepping up to the new challenges? Develop your mastermind team to support you.
Suzanne Hazelton is author of ‘Raise Your Game’ (£14.99, Ecademy Press, available via Amazon.) www.raiseyourgame.biz
