Top 5 professional New Year’s resolutions

As we leave New Year’s Eve behind us, many already aspire to do something different this year. As professionals, on the other hand, there’s always the inevitable pressure to do better, aim higher, and achieve more. So where does being hopeful for the future of our career stop and the stress of bringing in higher performance start? 

You will be surprised to discover how many of your employees might dread a “new year, new you” discussion, but it’s in your hands to guide them through growth. So, what’s on the top of their ideal professional New Year’s goals, and how can you help them?

 

Find the perfect work-flow

Working from home for almost half the week directly affects how people work. Research shows that people now struggle to work on a linear flow. They’d prefer to pause working for a bit and cook their lunch, walk their dog or pick up their kids from school. However, these new habits have not been standardised yet, putting pressure on the ones who choose not to work synchronically with the rest of the team.

It could be said that employees now have more freedom than ever. But still, you need to stand by them and offer assistance while they’re adjusting to the new state of things. For example, try co-curating their schedules to understand when they feel more or less productive while working from home. Why not tailor and share individual starting and finishing times so you can ease communication between team members with different working patterns? You can also propose a day for everyone to try to come to the office to help bring back a sense of community. It’s useful to understand that this might be a trial and error process until you establish the optimal work-flow for your team. But the important bit here is that you are making your people feel heard.

 

2. Pick the best place to work from

Hybrid working is a regular practice nowadays. But are working from the office or at home the only options out there? With energy bills increasing and the repetitive scenery of the living room becoming less refreshing for some, people have started exploring more imaginative places to work from. One recent study found is in pubs! Working from pubs has widened the spectrum of choices and makes people think of other alternatives where a team might be happy to work from. Maybe arrange for the team’s next meeting to take place at a National Trust destination, public library or that coffee place in the neighbourhood.

 

Support physical wellbeing

In every New Year’s Resolutions list, you’ll find something to do with fitness or physical well-being. There is evidence that too much screen time harms your health. So, how can we actively support our team towards this goal? Try cutting back on screen time, replacing zoom meetings with walking meetings. What about posture and exercise? Maybe it’s time to send out a weekly newsletter with some inspiration on stretching exercises or a cycle-to-work scheme.

 

Learn a new skill

Recognising people’s need to learn and the value this brings to the company is important. To support this, try to set aside specific weekly training hours to allow your employees to focus on their personal development. To broaden your team’s thinking, you can also provide inspiration on the possible areas they could work on, from time management to creativity, or an aspect of their job they are not yet involved in but would like to be.

 

Find a mentor

As professionals acquire more experience, they tend to forget they still have the right to ask for guidance. Giving them the resources and incentives can help change their mindset. Mentoring benefits everyone regardless of their career goals. It’s not only for entry-level people looking to put their career path in line but also for people who seek a promotion, are about to lead a team for the first time or want to work on their confidence.

After working for some time, another thing they might forget to work on is their personal branding. Encouraging people to talk about their job achievements on LinkedIn or on your company’s social media can make them feel proud of their work and appreciated by their team, while also boosting their morale, which will tell them to keep it up.

Overall, it’s essential to set goals and divide each of them into the smaller, achievable wins that will keep them going, and provide some timeframes on the tasks so anyone can keep track of their progress. Despite good intentions, trying to help your employees might sometimes seem like an extra burden on their schedule. The key here is to allocate the appropriate time they can use to fulfil any of the above goals and be sure to salute their efforts. Redeemable in-store or online at groceries.asda.com or george.com, the Asda For Business Gift Card is a great way to say “well done” and will ensure they will find the perfect way to celebrate every win, small or big, in their 2023 journey.