We’ve now passed the middle of January, the first month of the New Year. So, how are you getting along with your New Year’s resolutions?
The chances are that you’ll be starting to flag, and research shows that over 80% of resolutions fail to make it to February. The noise and demands of day-to-day living, the lack of accountability and the failure to properly make the time to achieve your resolution all contribute to its failure.
Business change is not so different. Chief Executives report that over 60% of business transformations fail to achieve their goals. And the reasons for failure are similar, too: poor planning, insufficient organisational alignment and ineffectual follow-through.
So, here are my Top 5 tips to help you and your business achieve your goals and resolutions:
- Focus – and don’t sweat the small stuff. As the Japanese saying goes, you can’t chase two hares. Instead of trying to do everything, all at once, what are the one or two critical actions and initiatives you need to pursue at this time?
- Think big, start small. Similarly, don’t try and change the whole organisation in one go. Instead, pick a single department, team, warehouse, store or another operating unit. That way you can set big, ambitious targets and learn quickly without risking the entire operation.
- Drive accountability. I like the work of Chris McChesney and others who talk about creating a cadence of accountability – using weekly stand-up team meetings to review progress against your goals and agree on next-step actions.
- 80% ready and go! You’ll never have the perfect solution, and it’s dysfunctional waiting until you find one. If your solution is 80% you’re far better to get going and learning and adapting as you implement.
- Results, results, results. Don’t overly worry about the process, but focus, instead, on results. Are your actions turning the dial on the KPIs that matter? If they are, drive delivery harder. If not, review and adjust accordingly.
I wish you all the very best with both your personal and business goals and resolutions and hope that you have a fantastic 2023!
Off The Record: Turn! Turn! Turn! by The Byrds
This morning, I woke up to the sad news that the guitarist Dave Crosby, from The Byrds and Crosby, Stills, Nash (and Young) had passed away. So, here are some lyrics from my favourite Byrds song, Turn! Turn! Turn!, written by Peter Seeger.
A time to build up, a time to break down
A time to dance, a time to mourn
A time to cast away stones
A time to gather stones together
The Chief Officers’ Breakfast Club, 2023
The aim of the Breakfast Club is to provide senior and chief officers with a place to meet, gain new ideas and insights and learn from each other and our guest speakers. At the same time, the £500 membership fee has allowed Club to financially support 12 high-potential young athletes through our partner charity, SportsAid.
Over the past year, our special guests have included Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson, Sir Will Adderley (the deputy-chairman, ex-CEO and majority shareholder of Dunelm plc) and Ian Filby, formerly the CEO of DFS plc.
I will be sharing more details about the 2023 programme in the next few weeks, but if you’re an executive leader of your organization and would like to join the group, please contact me at stuart@morgancross.co.uk or call me on 01636-526111. It would be great to have you join!