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New Year Resolutions for Local Leaders
With 2020 FINALLY behind us, the new year is something that inspires hope, change, and new possibilities. The calendar turnover allows people to try something new, get out of their comfort zone, or make changes where they feel it is necessary.
But new year’s resolutions do not have to apply to just people. They can apply to almost anything, whether you are a put of a small business, a local government, or a non-profit organization. New Year’s Resolutions can work for you too! Below are the top 4 leader resolutions going into the New Year. Resolution #1: Oil Open-door Policies Open-door policies are becoming more of the norm for organizations to use (when staff are not working from home). Comfort with sharing feedback and believing that you will be heard are important concepts to have for an improved working environment. The flow of ideas and the connection between employees soar with effective open-door policies in place. The biggest issue with such policies is that people forget to revive the energy that goes into them. For example, when someone tries to display an open thought/idea, and the response they get back is a generic gesture such as a “yeah”, “okay” etc., it is hard to become equally motivated to continue sharing. Also, if you consider yourself to have an open door, but only a small number of employees who use it, then consider barriers you may be creating inadvertently. Inject additional effort into open-door policies! Resolution #2: Delegate More Everyone has a particular way they would like something done. But the concept of equifinality is a beautiful thing. Equifinality is the theory that there is more than one way to do something and get the same end results. Use this theory to your advantage. No one can do everything (we sure do try…but too much is pushed back and important tasks are deprioritized)! Ensure that you are using the resources available to you. Use coworkers, higher ups, or third parties to bounce ideas off of. Engage with team members and make sure you are delegating the stack of tasks at hand. Resolution #3: Recommit to Stronger Connections Investing in your connections sounds easy enough, but there is always room for improvement. Host a team building event at least once a year, or a give a paid hour or two a month to allow employees to connect, play some games, relax a bit and make deeper associations in the group. Encourage them to do it by being involved in the planning and actually showing up for the entire time. Demonstrate it is important. By investing in the bond between employees, the workplace will become more positive and productive. Resolution #4: Frame Failure as Peak Performance Last but not least, embrace failure. Failure happens to every single person on the planet in one way or another. In the world of work, failure can be devasting. The embarrassment that comes with not being able to pull off an event, task, policy, etc. can be the biggest reason why someone is afraid to push something new. But failure is an attempt at success. One can only succeed if they make attempts. The more attempts, the more failures AND successes a team will experience. Failure is about learning and growing. Without it, you will always be in the same place you were before. Use unsuccessful attempts as key performance indicators of building a culture that is getting it right. Conclusion: Keep your head up, invest in the relationships with people you work with, do not be afraid to take a leap of faith, and keep the door open to greatly expand your mind and thoughts. Wishing everyone the best year yet! |
"A community that doesn’t smell like fresh paint or sound like nail guns has cancer."
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For more information on how Cobalt can help you adapt and thrive in the changing demographic, economic and social environment, visit the Cobalt website or reach out to us by email. Let us know if you need anything at all for benchmarking or research data; we are here for you.
Cobalt Community Research is a national 501c3 nonprofit, non-partisan coalition that helps local governments, schools and membership organizations measure, benchmark, and affordably engage communities through high-quality metrics, mobile geofencing data, surveys, and dynamic population segmentation. Cobalt combines big data with local insights to help organizations thrive as changes emerge in the economic, demographic and social landscape. Explore how we can help by calling 877.888.0209, or by emailing [email protected].
Cobalt Community Research is a national 501c3 nonprofit, non-partisan coalition that helps local governments, schools and membership organizations measure, benchmark, and affordably engage communities through high-quality metrics, mobile geofencing data, surveys, and dynamic population segmentation. Cobalt combines big data with local insights to help organizations thrive as changes emerge in the economic, demographic and social landscape. Explore how we can help by calling 877.888.0209, or by emailing [email protected].