Here we are at the start of another year. Many of us use this time to make resolutions on what we want to achieve in the year ahead. It is a good time over the last few days of the holiday season before the work starts again to think about some really effective resolutions. Maybe 2011 will be the year you tackle some big projects at work, maybe it is about reconfiguring what resources you have to meet challenging times. You will know which issues need picking up and which ones you can de-prioritise until later in the year.

One of the key things about resolutions is that you need to put a note in your diary to review progress periodically; rather like performance reviews for employees, you can review your own performance against your goals or should we say resolutions?

Before you settle on a resolution, you might want to consider some of the ideas here, just in case you have not come up with an idea that you think is worth resolving to do in 2011. You may already have your list of resolutions and at the risk of adding to them it may be worth looking over these ideas just in case they help.

Tips for making resloutions that work

Here are my suggestions for making resolutions that work:

• Don’t pick too many. We all are keen to tackle issues but being unrealistic in your goals is not going to help. 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 thinking about them already 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.
• 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:

1. Consider implementing an up-to-date performance management system. With the need to keep staff performing through challenging economic times a real attention to effective performance management will help.
2. How about developing those employees who you are relying on with an investment in increasing their personal effectiveness?
3. Have you reviewed your recruitment process recently? What about your recruiters: are your managers adept at sifting, interviewing and selecting the right candidates? Stop waste on poor recruitment decisions by getting in some effective advice and training.
4. 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 ?
5. 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?
6. 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