New Year’s Resolutions
for Improved Performance
Plan a successful, comprehensive strategic approach for your business, operation and people.
One of the only ways to stick to your New Year’s resolutions is to write them down. The same goes for your business goals.
Owners and managers should evaluate their business or operation as the year kicks off before setting a plan of how to move forward. If you don’t know where your business has been or where it is going, you won’t know how to advance. To help design specific, measurable goals for the future, start by talking as a team with employees about your aspirations and visions. Then, find common goals and alignment. This team dialogue will help prioritize key objectives for success. Each team member can play a role to make these goals happen.
To help get you started, consider including these New Year’s resolutions to enjoy a more successful business:
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1. Resolve to better motivate employees.
The No. 1 driver of what keeps employees engaged at work is their relationship with their immediate supervisor.1 Highly engaged and efficient employees treat the business like it’s their own. In fact, employees who are engaged in the workplace are 87% less likely to leave the company.2
To create a highly motivated team, it’s essential that managers and supervisors learn how to be effective leaders and understand how to build relationships with team members. Just as new employees need training, managers need training to identify and develop their leadership and managerial skills. -
2. Strive to properly train employees.
Owners and managers depend on employees to help keep the operation running smoothly. New employees need proper training and education for a smooth transition into the workplace — also known as onboarding. Veteran employees also need refreshers on animal handling and other operating procedures.
Finding time in a busy workday to properly train employees is difficult but essential to improve business performance and reduce operational risk. Training programs that increase employee engagement can boost performance by 20%.2 In addition, companies with high employee engagement have a higher operating income and margin, higher productivity, higher return on equity and higher return on assets.3-5 For business owners, there is a clear financial incentive to ensure proper training this new year. -
3. Define a direction for your business.
This year, take steps to become more profitable and more productive. Ask yourself, “Where do I want my business to be?”
Organizations that use strategic planning are more profitable and last longer.6,7 A strategic business plan serves as a necessary and cost-effective way to improve stability during volatile times, which can be frequent in the agricultural industry. It also helps ensure consistency throughout the operation and outlines important business objectives. Planning can unify a team and helps you reach your goals sooner.
Changing old habits and developing new ones won’t happen overnight, but by establishing business and employee management goals now, you can set yourself up for increased productivity and profitability throughout the year. Visit GrowPeopleFirst.com for more ways to improve your business or operation in the new year.
Editor’s Note: Nicholas Buttars is the PeopleFirst™ business solutions manager for Zoetis.
1Sysco Foods. Engagement Study, 2008.
2Corporate Leadership Council. Driving performance and retention through employee engagement. Available at: www.mckpeople.com.au/SiteMedia/w3svc161/Uploads/Documents/760af459-93b3-43c7-b52a-2a74e984c1a0.pdf. Accessed Dec. 1, 2013.
3Towers Perrin. 2007-2008 Global Workforce Study. Available at: http://c.ymcdn.com/sites/www.simnet.org/resource/group/066D79D1-E2A8-4AB5-B621-60E58640FF7B/leadership_workshop_2010/towers_perrin_global_workfor.pdf. Accessed Dec. 1, 2013.
4Watson Wyatt. 2008-2009 WorkUSA Survey Report, Driving Business Results Through Continuous Engagement.
5O.C. Tanner. Performance: Accelerated. Available at: http://d26f1zbt4c3e98.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/White_Paper_Performance_Accelerated.pdf. Accessed Dec. 1, 2013.
6M3 Planning. 2006 Strategic Business Performance Study. Available at: www.m3planning.com/report.pdf. Accessed Dec 1, 2013.
7Terri Zwierzynski. Top 10 Business Plan Myths of Solo Entrepreneurs. Available at: www.solo-e.com/articles/business-building/business-planning/top-10-business-plan-myths-solo-entrepreneurs-64.shtml. Accessed Dec. 1, 2013.
