As you get ready to step into 2024, business owners and their leaders are facing new challenges and opportunities. It's time to reflect on your goals and aspirations, and if you're like most entrepreneurs, you want more time, less chaos, greater focus, and better control over your company.
Here are some of the top things you can focus on in 2024 to create greater clarity, along with some things you can do to roll them out.
1. Vision
Don't just have an idea of where you want to take your company - SHARE IT! Start with sharing why your company is in existence today. Talk about your core values and how you use them as a filter to make decisions throughout your organization. Lastly, be sure to talk about the one big goal you are all working towards over the next 5 or so years and how each department and individual plays a critical component.
2. Plan
Layout the Strategies & Goals that will get you where you want to go. You're a small company, which means you need to have great focus in order to have a great impact. Get everyone on the same page with your strategies and goals for the year and update them each quarter with what your focus will be.
3. Execute
Get the right stuff done each day the right way. From meetings to commitments to processes, delivering consistently on the little things will help you reach the big things. This starts with the leaders of every company so be sure to teach by example and overcommunicate what your expectations are.
4. Measure
Measure what matters and make informed decisions with this data. By keeping a close eye on the key numbers in your business, you will know the direction you're trending. More importantly, you can be proactive and make changes when needed. Identify 5-10 activities that give you a pulse with how your entire business is running and track them weekly.
5. People
Get the right people and the right structure in place to accomplish what you want. Without the right people in place, your growth is limited. Make sure those people are in the right seats where they have the skills, drive and time needed to succeed. Don't just share their accountabilities with them, share them with the entire company to help create clarity and reduce complexity.
Got it? Great!
Once you've rolled these out, regularly visit them with your leadership team. This is not something you do once and call it good. Your business is ever evolving so you need to continue to review where you are at in each of these, and where improvements can be made.
If you feel stuck and not quite sure where to start, grab some time on my calendar and I can provide you some insights based on where you are at today.