It’s a new year, and that means many of us have made resolutions. Things we want to accomplish, do better or stop doing. Maybe yours is to implement your strategic plan or to use executive coaching to boost personal effectiveness. Whatever they are, and whether you’re in Cincinnati or anywhere in America, there are some proven ways to increase the likelihood you’ll keep your business resolutions.
First some stats. 70% of companies have a strategic plan but only 10% implement them. On a personal level, 70% of Americans make new year’s resolutions but only 8% achieve them. And by Valentine’s Day, over three-quarters of us have completely given up on our resolutions.
In my 17 years as an executive coach and strategic planner, I’ve worked with hundreds of people and companies. There are three common denominators among those who achieve their resolutions: discipline, routines and innovation.
Discipline
At the top of the list is discipline. Nothing beats a sustained commitment to change, because nothing of significance happens overnight. Holding yourself accountable for achieving the goal is a great place to start. It takes hard work and the wearing down of old, bad habits. But you can do it.
Imagine how good you will feel when you finally accomplish your resolution. Even better, imagine how your family will feel about you when they see you stick with it and do what say you’re going to do. For business resolutions, imagine how your co-workers, employees or shareholders will feel when they see you deliver the results you said you’d deliver.
Routines
The best way to sustain your commitment to new behaviors is through routines. If your resolution is to exercise more, one way to accomplish that is to develop a 6:00 AM exercise routine. Get up and work out before anything gets in the way.
Routines make things easier by making them more predictable. So, if your resolution is to lose weight, develop a routine of only eating salads at lunch. Tell everyone you only eat salads. Pick up a menu and only look at the salads. No need to be tempted by the double cheeseburger and fries.
Innovation
This one may surprise you, but if you really want to accomplish your resolutions, it helps to approach them differently. After all, you’ve been doing things the same way and now it’s time for a change.
Think outside the box. Behaviors impact results, so come up with some new behaviors. One of the more successful ways to exercise more and lose weight is to hire a personal trainer. Yes, your trainer will show you some new exercises to help you drop those unwanted pounds. But the greater value may just come from approaching the resolution from a completely different angle.
The same thing applies to business resolutions. If your company has fallen short on the execution of your strategic plan, maybe you need to bring in an outside facilitator. If you have areas you want to improve, maybe an executive coach will shake things up enough to make an impact.
I help business leaders decide what they need to do and then get it done. Sometimes it starts with an actionable strategic plan. Other times it’s all about implementation. In many cases it takes executive coaching to complete the transformation for you or members of your leadership team. If you have resolutions you want to keep, please give me a call. I’m based in Cincinnati but work with companies all over America. Together, let’s make this the year you deliver on your business resolutions.
