The company party was a success, clients were feted, venders gave you more liquor than you will drink in all of 2015, vacations are over and people are settling back into their work routines. If you have not already done so, now is an excellent time to think about and set your company goals for the coming year. In addition, this is a good point in time to get input and by-in from your advisors, key people and employees.
This time of year is a window of opportunity, because, it is human nature to use milestones (i.e. the New Year, birthdays, anniversaries, holidays) as an occasion for people to look at themselves. They reflect on where they have been and set goals for where they want to go. They see these recognized, fixed points in time as a place to start anew, wipe the slate clean or correct past mistakes.
An effective manager will utilize this knowledge of their employee’s behavior and mindset. He will use this insight to create focal points and manage the employees towards the company’s goals. He takes advantage of people’s natural inclination to use a milestone as a starting place and rallying point.
Concerned that you missed the 1st? Don’t be, it doesn’t matter; there are other milestones to use instead. While the focus is usually on the New Year it does not have to be then – people can and do reflect, start fresh and commit to a goal at any time. What matters is that it has a defining starting point.
Therefore, launching a new set of goals can be at the beginning of the fiscal year, the company’s anniversary, the July 4th picnic or Labor Day. Monday is the most popular day of the week for people starting new goals and is shown to be the best day for kick-off, and benchmarking, meetings.
A successful manger will learn about and use his knowledge of human nature to reflect and direct. He will use people’s natural proclivities for milestones (and benchmarks) to set and meet goals for the business. As Warren Bennis (a pioneer in the field of leadership) once said, “Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality”.
