Each year at this time, talk turns to New Year’s resolutions. The turn of the calendar from one year to the next creates a natural “pause” between a moment of reflection and hope for the future. Then come the promises. Albeit, they are often unfulfilled.

While I am a big fan of continued growth and getting rid of what holds you back, today I want us to think of a different type of resolution. Rather than being selfish and making personal new year resolutions, let’s explore a new type of resolution – employee resolutions.

No, I am not going to ask you to hold a team meeting and ask each of your employees to give you a list of their resolutions for the year. While that may not be too bad of an idea to keep an emphasis on growth, there is a bigger opportunity sitting right in front of you. And there is no better time to start than with the New Year.

Today you can create employee resolutions, which are a firm determination to make your employees better.

These include specifically identifying what each employee could do better and then spending your time to make it happen. It is similar to your own new year resolutions where you identify an aspect of your life or leadership you want to be different. Then you work to create a new habit.

When I think about the need for employee resolutions, I am reminded of the chief executive who fired his head of marketing because he was not getting the job done. He was there for 10 months and just wasn’t cutting it.

Of course there comes a point, when you have to let an underperformer go. What happens before is what I want to focus on here.

In this story, the chief executive addressed the issue early on by telling the marketing head that sales wanted more leads and he wasn’t producing. He spoke in generalities about the problem, but did nothing specific to remedy it.

Why did this chief executive not address the specific issue, which was if your performance doesn’t improve I’m going to fire you?

He never revealed to his marketing chief that his job was in jeopardy because he was more worried about being popular than improving the performance. He thought if he made his intentions clear earlier on, the marketing head might not like him as much.

How do you think that employee feels now after being let go? I would say, the chief executive’s worries came true and he became unpopular anyhow.

When you make expectations explicitly clear and remind your employees of them constantly, then you do not have to fire many people or suffer mediocre performance. Having employee resolutions is being a tough boss, but in a positive way. You are working to help them to succeed.

Nearly every leader I have met recognises specific areas of improvement that their employees need to make to improve their performance. Recognising these and remedying them is very different. As a leader, you need to own the success of your team members; you need to work to make them succeed.

Be specific and avoid goal bingeing – it is too tempting to create a list of employee resolutions that is longer than a child’s list to Father Christmas. Employee resolutions are not bucket lists, they’re specific statements that focus on performance improvement. Therefore, choose one or two items at most, and focus on those.

This is what employee resolutions are about – being specific and helping your employees succeed.

The New Year is a time for looking back to the past, and more importantly, forward to the coming year. It’s a time to reflect on the changes we want (or need) to make and resolve to follow through on those changes. Apply the same diligence to employee resolutions and watch for improved performance throughout 2014.

Tommy Weir is a leadership adviser, author of 10 Tips for Leading in the Middle East and other leadership writings and the founder of the Emerging Markets Leadership Center