I’m writing this as 2011 draws to a close.  What a year it has been!  The economic news is not good but I firmly believe there’s nothing like a challenge or two to bring out our best! If I look back over our last 21 years as a business I can honestly say that our greatest triumphs have resulted from rising to meet a challenge. Does that sound familiar to you too when you reflect back?  

But looking forwards,  how do we make the changes that will bring us success?  It’s not the making of New Year Resolutions that’s going to help. The secret is in the implementation of what, where and how we want to change.  To quote the old adage “if we always do what we’ve always done we’ll always get what we’ve always got”.

So that’s the difficult bit.  Resolutions are simple, but reality is a different ball game entirely. Changing personal or work habits requires sustained effort – some research tells us we need to embed a new behaviour 21 times before we  go on autopilot.  I call it the kitchen bin syndrome.  Imagine for example changing the location of your kitchen bin.  It will take you 21 visits to the bin in the new place before you really feel at ease with it and use it without thinking!

The New Year is also renowned for being the time to ‘Throw out the old and bring in the new”.  Getting a fresh perspective and  seeing new dimensions can help us decide what we want to change and how we are going to change it.

So to maximise your chances of success with your New Year’s Resolutions here are the three stages to follow:

1. Make sure you look at what you want to change from some new perspectives/dimensions

2. Once you are sure you need to make some changes, write these down using action-centred words, with deadlines attached

3.  Devote time and energy to a plan to implement these changes.  Note ideas on how you will sustain the new actions.  Identify indicators and rewards en-route.  Have a clear vision of the new and sustained change and what it will mean to your personal and/or work life.

And just in case you need more support then…

Here are some more suggestions for making resolutions that work:

Don’t pick too many. It is easy to develop a long list but to stand a chance of achieving your resolutions it is best to be selective. Try to think about relative priorities in terms of urgency and importance.

Choose resolutions that you have had on your mind for some time. If you have been mulling them over you are more likely to stick to them.

If you are thinking about changing a behaviour pick ways of making things better rather than ways of stopping doing something.

As with any project do start with the end in mind. Imagine what it will be like when you have achieved your goal. That will help it be real and keep you focussed on progress.

Ideas for resolutions to help you at work

If you are thinking about ideas to apply in the office, here are some of my suggestions:

Consider checking that your performance management system is working. With the need to keep staff performing through challenging economic times a real attention to effective performance management will help.

How about developing those employees who you are relying on with an investment in increasing their personal effectiveness?

I know that recruitment generally is reduced due to these challenging times.  It is very important to make sure that when you do recruit you get the right results.  So have you reviewed your recruitment process recently? What about your recruiters: are your managers on top of their game when it comes to sifting, interviewing and selecting the right candidates? Stop waste on poor recruitment decisions by getting in some effective advice and training.

Do your management team work cohesively together towards a common goal? Have they all the skills they need to support and drive the organisation forwards? Is now the time to be thinking about Management and Leadership Development programmes ?

Has your customer service slipped in recent times? What about the employees delivering customer service are they up to speed with their customer care training? Have their training needs been reviewed? Is now a good time to be thinking of undertaking this?

The consumer is now even more value conscious because of the economic conditions so you may be getting more complaints. How is your complaints handling? Do your people feel comfortable handling complaints? Are they looking forward to turning that complaint into a compliment? If not you might want to look at developing the complaints handling skills of your team.

Whatever you decide, good luck with seeing the resolutions through.

Happy New Year from us all at Training To Achieve UK.

Alison Miles-Jenkins

Managing Director