Fresh thinking for the New Year

Welcome to 2011! Did you make any New Year's resolutions? While many of us make some personal ones - like eating healthier, getting more exercise, spending more time with family and friends - how many of us make business resolutions?

There’s something about the start of a new year that gives us a chance to pause and reflect on our accomplishments over the past year as well as our failings. It's a great time to start fresh and put a plan in place for the year ahead.

So in the spirit of the "New Year's resolution", we've scoured the web to bring you some of the best resolutions you can make for 2011 (in no particular order):

1. Focus on your people - it's been a tough few years for many, so if you're looking to hire or simply retain great staff here are 5 good questions to ask yourself.
2. Avoid short-term thinking - the proliferation of social media use in business and the availability of quick, DIY solutions for everything from research to building your own website, has given rise to a short-term thinking epidemic. Don’t compromise the long-term growth of your company for short-term gain.
3. Stop trying to multitask - it doesn’t work. Focus on one task at a time and remove distractions such as email and Twitter alerts, text messages and the like.
4. Experiment - try something new this year. It doesn’t have to be high risk. Test out a new theory or do something a different way. You might be surprised at the results. It’s what makes companies like Google and Amazon so successful.
5. Review and update your security policies - the lesson from WikiLeaks is to ensure you have the right security around sensitive information and that your employees are following proper procedures (like protecting sensitive data on mobile devices).
6. Work smarter, not longer - and cultivate that culture in your organisation. Ensure that both you and your staff have a proper work/life balance.

Whether you believe in making resolutions or not, we can all benefit from some fresh thinking for the year ahead.

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