The new year is upon us, and with it a new decade. There’s something distinct about this particular transition, however, taking us from the earliest years of the new century into a more mature time, marked by upheaval in nearly every industry.
It’s a time of change, which always has its victims, but also its opportunities. Now is the time to begin making resolutions for the future of the business, letting go of anachronistic holdovers and embracing what the future has to offer.
Transitions always offer the chance to step back and get a little perspective, which makes them especially well-suited for defining goals and reassessing established practices. If you haven’t already thought up a plan of action for doing the kind of house-cleaning that’s such a good fit for this kind of transition, here are some basics to get you started:
Improve your workflow
Do projects get stalled every step, making their way through multiple approvals? Do teams find themselves unable to advance while they wait for input? This is a good opportunity to take a step back and look at where efficiency bumps are. It can be tough to reassess the established order. One way break the mold and get the creative juices flowing is by shifting projects or teams into new categories and seeing what it would take to make them belong. Most of time you won’t implement the changes, but considering what such drastic re-definitions might look like can prompt new ideas and uncover surprising possibilities.
Embrace digital
If your office is still sending around dozens of email to set up meetings, struggling to set up conference calls or get everyone on board with a project timeline, there are digital solutionsOpens a new window . It’s time to embrace them. If you have been holding back on adopting some of the solutions offered by new programs or platforms, now is the time to let go of old superstitions and start testing out what’s available on the market (a lot). A few things to keep in mind: An outside eye can be a great help for identifying opportunities for a digital fix, so don’t shy away from having a consultant come on board for a short assessment.
Whatever you decide to implement, make sure you’ve tested it on a small scale before pushing it out across the company.
Chart your path
Nothing gets done without defining goalsOpens a new window , and then breaking down what’s necessary to reach those goals and the timeframes for each step. As with any transitional period, now is a good time to revisit the grand plan and make adjustments to ensure it’s still fresh and relevant. Although you’re probably frequently visiting plans for the month or the year, now is one of the rare moments to go back to the peioe plans and measure progress.
Talk with colleagues about these goals as well. That way, they stay fresh in the company consciousness.
Make choices about what to keep
There’s no need to get rid of anything that doesn’t have a futuristic sheen. But if you’re still upholding business practices that have a long history, take a good look at them and make sure you know why. There are lots of traditions worth keepingOpens a new window — a face-to-face meeting, for example, still doesn’t have a replacement in many cases — but make sure that if you’re keeping something around, you know exactly why you’re doing it.