Happy 2023! We all join in wishing you a successful and productive year.

The priorities for HR activity for the coming year will, among the typical array of activities to satisfy the strapline of “HIRE! FIRE! INSPIRE!", place particular emphasis on designing organisations that are fit for the future as well as staff engagement and strategy on mental health. For those of you who did not see our end of year blog, this can be found at https://www.integratedresources.co.uk/blog/goodbye-but-not-good-riddance-to-2022‍

It is to be hoped that, through adversity, we have increased our learning. Having read Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman and our continuing experience of coaching senior directors and managers, I continue to hear about the importance of self-discipline as well as the breaking of tasks into smaller pieces (How do you eat an elephant? Cut it into small pieces).

Undoubtedly, self-discipline and self-management are critical. People get stuck on these two areas as well as settling for second best; it is often the case that the inability to give up or let go of something, (even if that something is not actually beneficial but perpetuates the status quo) is the thing that holds us back.  

So, rather than encouraging writing objectives for the year, I prefer to focus on the development of key skills  - resilience, self-discipline and working out what we are afraid to give up in order to move forward.