We’ve noticed an increasing trend for individuals to shy away from making traditional New Year’s resolutions in favour of designating a particular word for their year – a way they intend to live, in other words. “Adventurous” might be one. Or “focused”. Or “joyful”. You get the idea.

In business, we might consider these guiding principles. While we don’t recommend ceasing to use objectives and key results (OKRs) in favour of a single word (!), we do think there’s value in setting a word to act as a guiding principle for your year. This is something that could be done any time of the year – it could fit in nicely with the start of your financial year, for example – but as we all drift back to work in the middle of the New Zealand summer, it does seem quite nice to use the slower pace to have a think about what your word of the year would be.

For New Zealand, we’re looking at a big year in 2023. It’s general election year, for starters! It’s also arguably the first year since 2020 that our decision-making is not being guided by the Covid-19 pandemic (might we get to stop using that word this year?!). It’s possibly going to be a great year for those in the market for their first home, and almost certainly a great year for those involved in the ongoing development of artificial intelligence applications. It would be disingenuous of us not to acknowledge that some people are gloomily bearish about the market, predicting recession. Whether that comes to eventuate or not, we are going to keep feeling a pinch as inflation continues to bite. However, on the positive side, this implies we’ll see an increase in amazing, qualified applicants for any role we may create or need to hire for during the year.

So given all this, plus any other factors relevant to your business, what will your word of the year be? Steady? Bullish? Excited? Proud? Back-to-basics? (Technically three words, but we’ll let you have it).

Here at Tactical.ly, we have spent the last few years really learning what small-to-medium businesses in New Zealand need and want from their business performance consultants and getting the fundamentals right. Now we’re looking forward to a year in which we are open. Open to doing more, doing things differently, working with different types of businesses. Open-minded – we’re looking forward to getting a little more experimental when it comes to low-stakes stuff. Open to identifying opportunities and open to identifying threats. Open to learning new stuff. Open.

How about you?

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If you would like expert advice on setting guiding principles for your business, objectives and key results (OKRs), or taking a look at your fundamentals to help you decide what a good word of the year might be for you, get in touch. We’re open to chatting with you!

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