With the year 2022 only a few weeks away, business leaders are already planning how their organizations will move forward in the coming year. A business should always strive to improve. The ultimate objective of being “the best” at something is incremental, requiring many modest modifications over time.

1. Take time for self-reflection: Leaders must set aside time to reflect on the previous year’s goals, activities, values, accomplishments, and, of course, the greatest failures of 2021. Taking time to reflect allows leaders to assess what has been accomplished and what has not, as well as to halt and consolidate experiences in order to learn and focus on achieving more of what is desired in the coming year.
2. Rejuvenate and Reinvigorate: Most high-impact and ambitious leaders are great at setting professional goals, but they fail to schedule time for rejuvenation. Use this holiday season to rest, take a vacation, spend time with family and friends. This will ensure that you are physically and mentally balanced and ready for 2022.
3. SMART goal setting: It’s critical for leaders to set SMART goals when planning for the new year. SMART goals are strategic, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound. Goals are something you’d be proud of achieving. The most successful goals include benchmarks and key performance indicators to track progress.
4. Be Ready To Give (And Take) Feedbacks: Workers should be able to receive feedbacks about their performance and also give feedbacks to their employers. Employers could ask questions like “What are my top leadership strengths?”, “What are my top weaknesses?”, “What are my growth opportunities?”. So as 2022 kicks off, be generous with your feedback and be open to criticism yourself.
5. Have a Team Review: Gratitude is the starting point for new year’s planning. It is important that employers host a team review meeting to discuss major highlights of the year and to ask the team, “Where do we go from here, and what work do we have to do?” Employers must be conscious of the fact that it’s their team that led them to success so far, hence, it is important to work together with these individuals.