WATER COOLER DEBATE: SHOULD BUSINESSES MAKE NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS?

YES

By Paul Foley

THE fact that you are reading the business pages on January 1 means you are the kind of person with a passion for business - and very, very sad.

The Christmas break has already been too long for you and you can't wait to get back to the cut and thrust of wealth creation. Before you do, pause and take stock. Now your head is a little clearer of both business and booze, surely there are some things that your business needs to do better.

Everyone is going to come back to work ready to ease in slowly. What better way to kick-start business than with a set of new resolutions to get people fired-up and doing things differently? How about some time out for the senior team to think ahead, re-setting the activity targets with the sales team, getting the appraisals finished by the end of the month, putting those networking meetings in the diary.

Of course, we are all guilty of breaking New Year resolutions. We either want immediate results or we are not really confident that giving up nice things now will deliver what we hope for later. It's the same with our business resolutions. Do we want the possible benefits of getting out and networking more than the certainty of getting that crisis off our desk today?

People only keep resolutions if they truly want to and believe they can be successful. Why not challenge your folk to come up with some business resolutions that can benefit them as well as the business, and which they know they can deliver on?

Another reason why this is a good time is that the new financial year is coming along in a few months. Too many businesses wait until close to that time to pull together their business plans, and then wonder why it takes so long to get them up and working. From now until then is the ideal time to experiment with those new business resolutions, weed out the duds and get next year's resources behind the ones that do work.

Paul Foley is a director of change management consultancy Kynesis

NO

By Iain McGregor

I DON'T think businesses should make New Year resolutions. I think that the start of a new year is an emotive time and life is seen through a distorted alcoholic haze.

This is not a time to resolve to do anything other than survive the excesses.

When I have made New Year resolutions it is depressing to find that they are the same as last year and I have, in fact, not achieved any of them. Everyone else is still thinner, fitter and richer than me. So I realise that I have failed in my resolutions and get a bit morose about it.

Being confronted by your own failure over last year's resolutions is not the best way to start the new year.

The University of Washington web site suggests that you develop a coping strategy for when you haven't achieved your resolutions. Oh please, get a life. Don't put yourself through this.

Why should business resolutions be any different? It may be a laudable idea to resolve to do something new or better with our business at the start of the year, but let's face it, it is doomed to fail.

A resolution will only be successful if there is a deep desire or need to make it work. And if that deep desire is there, why wait until the new year?

Throughout the year we should be setting business goals and creating a good strategy to achieve them. This needs to be done in a clear, articulate, focused and coherent way.

Also, resolving to do something doesn't have to be at the start of the year, in fact it is better if it isn't. The start of the calendar year is completely artificial, the start of your financial year is better. Actually, any other time is better.

So get real. Enjoy all the festive eating, drinking and partying. Recover from your hangovers, and, when your liver can't take any more, go back to work. Once back at work set your goals and go about achieving them.

Me? I'm off to the gym.

Iain McGregor is managing director of Vested Interest Design

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