Shedding pounds and getting fit after overindulging in holiday fare are popular New Year’s resolutions—but they don’t just apply to individuals wanting to get back into shape. Improving “corporate fitness” is a resolution that leaders should consider making as well.

Here are New Year’s resolutions for leaders who want to maintain momentum by keeping their people ready and fit for success in the year ahead.

Control your weight: Increase your organization’s lean muscle mass, and don’t let excess weight drag you down. Meet the tough challenge of confronting non-performance head on, using the Predictive Index® to identify the best ways to motivate individuals to improve. Also, keep your options open and don’t hesitate to shift people into new roles, or take other decisive actions to keep your organization in shape. Identify every individual’s unique behavioral strengths, and provide the right coaching, mentoring and training to keep people working to their maximum potential.

For instance, give a high-D, low-A employee a concrete plan of action with a specific schedule of check-ins to monitor achievement of key milestones. Support a high-B, low-D colleague with a great deal of face-to-face coaching.

Tone up: Strengthen the muscle of your organization by identifying high-potential employees, and spend time developing them. Provide them with “strength training” goals that are attainable, and challenge their current levels of experience. How do you match the right employee with the right goals? Consult his PI® again. A technology wizard with a high-A, low-B pattern, for instance, may thrive on opportunities for complex problem solving. Challenge the employee with new products to develop, technologies to adapt for new uses or processes and systems to streamline. At the same time, give him many problem-solving opportunities at his current level so he can consistently succeed while reaching toward new heights. 

Offer employees the chance to stretch and tone muscles they may not even know they have. One of our rapidly expanding clients began using the Predictive Index to identify and develop their colleagues’ leadership and management skills. Through incorporating the PI into their strategic planning and executive coaching, they have gained awareness of their natural behavioral strengths—and learned how to build them up to be more successful.

Improve cardio-performance: Your organization must have stamina to be able to make it over the long haul, so avoid the common mistake of organizations that run full-blast all the time—and burn employees out in the process. Instead, promote a variety of different “workouts” to prepare your people to meet any challenge. Intersperse long runs with wind sprints—involving high-intensity projects with cool-down periods. Don’t avoid steep hills—but plan to attack some of the most difficult inclines as part of the regular work routine.

How do you adapt individual employees’ “cardio training” to keep them energized? Emphasize “sprints” with low-C employees who like to accomplish more goals in quick blasts. Put your higher-C employees on longer-run projects that require a consistent pace. Help colleagues plan for events that may fall outside their central tendencies. Keep their energy up by easing them into activities they are less likely to seek out on their own.

Embarking on a new year is the time for leaders to make “corporate fitness” their mantra. Retain your fittest employees through new opportunities to flex, stretch and tone. Pump up your team with varied and challenging workouts. With a strong, well-aligned group, you’re sure to build a winning organization with the muscle to meet every challenge.

Post by PI Worldwide.