After the indulgence of the festive season, January often feels like a fresh start and a new beginning. This time of year often inspires us to do something different and to consider changes we would like to make. We have had a tough couple of years with COVID, and the adjustments post the experience. As we head into a recession in the UK at the start of 2023, it feels like this roller-coaster ride is not quite over yet. It is more important than ever to take time to reflect and consider how we move forward. There is an ongoing debate about whether we should set goals or intentions, we could actually argue that we should be setting both. Goals provide us with a longer-term view of things vs intentions which are more focused on shorter-term goals and how we feel.
An organization will often spend a lot of time planning and setting strategic, SMART (Specific, Measured, Achievable and Timed) goals, with a strong focus on growth. There are definitely some trends emerging for organisations to focus on in 2023, including employee engagement, well-being, flexible working and employee retention. We often get approached by some of these organisations to help them to build a well-being strategy to support their teams. A well-being strategy may include anything from mental health awareness training and drop-in sessions to financial, nutrition or sleep workshops. Click here to read more about this topic.
So why is it important to set your business goals for 2023?
It is important to set business goals for 2023 because it helps to provide employee direction and purpose for the organisation. Of course, we would always advocate including well-being as part of how you wish to drive an organisation forward. Other goals include an increase in employee engagement and setting an effective hybrid way of working. A study in 2019 by Oxford University’s Said Business School and BT found that teams are 13% more productive if they are happy. As part of this process, we would then see the objectives cascading down the organization, translating into individual objectives and KPIs.
So as we head into 2023 with even more challenges to overcome, below, we wanted to share four tips to consider when you set your business goals for 2023, with a well-being twist, of course!
1. Reflect on 2022
Before we start to look forward, a good place to start is to consider the achievements and challenges of 2022. The business will define how we move forward in terms of growth ambitions. But how do we achieve this in the best way possible? What are our intentions to make this happen? Our intentions could be to be more organised in our way of working, to work more collaboratively or celebrate our milestones more. It is human nature to often focus on the negative. When I asked you to reflect on 2022, I bet one of your first thoughts
was to go to what went wrong! But it is also important to reflect on what went well and to build on that.
2. Practice empathetic listening
Listening is such an important skill to master. Not just from the perspective of ensuring you hear the instructions you are given or tasks a business wishes you to achieve but also from the perspective of supporting others. This helps you to build a connection with those around you. With COVID brought isolation for many, offering people the chance to be heard is so important.
3. Planning a work/ life balance
We talk about this a lot, and for some, this feels like an unachievable task. Start the year but defining what this might look like for you and those important around you. It could include ensuring you learn a new skill, build more self-care into your week or eating more freshly prepared home-cooked meals. If you are a parent, you could define this as being able to take your child to school three out of five days a week or picking them up from school on a Friday. If you live by yourself, it could mean visiting someone important to you once a week. Everyone’s definition of this will be different, it is worth taking some time to consider what it looks like for you and what, if any, changes you need to make.
4. Accountability
As with any goals or intentions, we need to ensure we quantify them to enable us to understand if we have achieved them or not. From a work perspective, this could include seeing an uplift in sales, engagement in a campaign or driving more enquiries. It is worth reviewing our internal systems and processes to ensure the organization is working as efficiently as possible as part of this review process. From a personal perspective, this could be progression in learning a skill, taking more exercise, getting finances in order or drinking more water. Ensuring you do whatever it is you define that you would like to is important.
If it is a big task, we may need to break it down into small steps. We may need help from friends or colleagues to hold us accountable and help us to achieve our goals and intentions.
In Summary
If you would like to learn more about the differences between setting our goals and intentions, click here. You would be surprised at how many businesses still do not include the well-being of their teams as part of their business goals. If one of your organisation’s goals this year is to put well-being at the top of their priority list and you would like some help in creating a well-being strategy for 2023, please get in touch.