New year – new plans

There is lots of speculation about what 2009 will look like. Some are saying “how can we plan – if we have no idea what the economy will be doing?”.

The question I ask is, would you rather be a driver of your destiny, or take what you are given?

We run online surveys on the home page www.redballoon.com.au and we asked the question this week: “Do you have a new year’s resolution?” The results were as you would expect:

• Be more healthy, 39%.
• Spend more time with family/friends, 16%.
• Get more organised, 15%.
• Do more, eat more, rest more, 11%.
• New year’s resolutions are made to be broken, 16%.

I wonder what the answer would be if we asked business type questions… say:

• Be more profitable?
• Spend more time understanding my people?
• Get more organised – and manage more efficiently?
• Do more with less and get a better result?
• Plans are made to be broken?

Each year at 11.00am on 31 December my husband and I sit and outline our plan for the year; what we want to achieve professionally, personally and as a family.

This year I have set some challenging tasks for myself, from learning mediation to developing a new business initiative. So even though we have no idea what the world might look like at the end of the decade, I plan to be in the driving seat.

For me, plans are the road map – so I know where I’m going and more importantly I remind myself why I’m doing it.

Have a wonderful time creating 2009.

Naomi is the 2008 National Telstra Women’s Business Award winner for Innovation. Naomi was also a finalist for the Australian HR Awards and a finalist for the BRW Most Admired Business Owner Award in 2008. Also in 2008 RedBalloon achieved a 97% Hewitt employee engagement score.

One of Australia’s outstanding female entrepreneurs, Naomi regularly entertains as a professional speaker inspiring middle to high-level leaders on employer branding, engagement and reward and recognition. Naomi writes a blogand has written a book sharing the lessons from her first five years.