3 Effective Strategies to Achieve Your Business’ New Year’s Goals

With a new year comes a new start, but less than 10% of people see their New Year’s goals come to fruition. To get the most out of employees and drive business success in 2025, we need to help staff establish clear objectives and action plans for the new year. Here are three critical elements of goal setting that will propel your staff and interiorscape business performance in 2025.

Manage New Year’s Goals Holistically

Most people don’t abandon their New Year’s goals because of a lack of motivation or discipline. Rather, it happens because some competing priority or unexpected hurdle arose that they didn’t expect or prepare to manage. For instance, it’s easy to stay disciplined with nutrition when one can shop, meal prep, and have control over what and when they eat. But when travel, kids, social events, or other obligations interfere, abandoned plans are common.

Gallup has done extensive research on well-being and determined the five interdependent areas in which people experience well-being in life. When it comes to goal setting for yourself and the employees of your interiorscape business, one must have conversations that holistically incorporate alignment, competition, and impacts across the following areas:

• Career well-being: What do I do each day for work? Do I like it and does it play to my strengths?
• Social well-being: Do I have strong relationships and love in my life?
• Financial well-being: Do I have the economic resources to do what I want to do in life?
• Physical well-being: Do I have good health and energy to live life each day?
• Community well-being: Am I involved with the area in which I live or causes I care about?

It’s important to actively engage employees in these conversations, asking questions tailored to their roles and personal goals to ensure alignment with both their well-being and the company’s objectives. This collaborative approach fosters a deeper connection and commitment to achieving shared success. Only goals that satisfy desires for well-being in all five areas are achievable and sustainable. Because they are interdependent and a change in one affects all the others, it is not possible to set goals in only one silo of well-being.

Break Down the Action Plan

An aspirational goal, even if it’s meaningful and well-defined, doesn’t really help in the day-to-day work of moving toward its realization. Whenever I help someone with a sales goal, we always break down the steps to the most basic daily activities that will result in success.

For example, if we want to sell 15 contacts, we need to send 45 qualified proposals. Sending 45 proposals requires meeting with 90 qualified prospects, which means talking to 135 buyers. Reaching 135 buyers means dialing the phone 675 times, and if we want to meet this goal within three months, we have 60 working days to make those 675 calls. Now we know that if we can dial the phone to sales targets 12 times per day, we’ll hit or exceed our goal. By focusing on this manageable daily number, the larger objective becomes achievable.

For interiorscape professionals, this method could apply to securing new maintenance contracts, expanding client portfolios, or increasing recurring revenue. But regardless of the industry, long-term, consistent effort—rather than short-term, extraordinary gains—makes goals achievable. Without daily behaviors to track and manage, it becomes impossible to know if we are on course or not.

Build a Support System

Going it alone makes achieving any goal far more difficult. In fact, the simple act of writing and sharing objectives publicly with those whose opinions we value makes us more dedicated to their achievement. What’s even better is assembling a system of support around goals. We need support partners who will help us with the things we can’t do to achieve our objectives. It may be accountability, motivation, or complementary strengths we gain from a partner, but they’re all required to achieve great outcomes. How well do you support employees and coworkers in reaching their goals? Do you receive an equal amount of support in return, and what steps can you take to build stronger systems of collaboration and mutual success?

When I take up a new goal, I work with a coach who’s there to guide me in the right direction. Several years ago, I hired Coach Rick Muhr to help me run the Boston Marathon. As a non-runner, I had no idea what to consider. Coach Rick helped me focus on the right metrics, build the right action plan, and concentrate on the right items to make a difference. I learned to ignore the noise around the commercialization of running equipment and various training plans, techniques, and trends because I had a coach to lead me. Focus, accountability, and guidance are all reasons I always hire a coach, and as an interiorscape professional, you can apply the same principles to your team. Whether it’s training plant technicians, improving sales strategies, or tackling installations, guidance from a coach ensures your employees and business are on the path to success.

Hold Yourself Accountable

In 2025, it’s imperative we follow through and better help ourselves and those around us accomplish our New Year’s goals. By doing so, not only do we experience growth within ourselves, but within our employees and business as well. What steps will you take today to set goals, support your team, and ensure a successful year for your interiorscape business?