Happy New Year everyone! I’m not a big fan of New Year’s resolutions, to be honest, at least in my private life. But it could be a good idea to take some resolutions at work, and maybe even better to make them public. Let’s see if you, our readers, will remind them to me in a few months…

New Year, new start! prb10111 - awol on Flickr http://bit.ly/fkYkc2

1) I promise to take the time to do the things I should do in a correct way. Or, to be concrete: when tired or too busy, it happens that I don’t spend much time on the articles I write for the Parliament website. Not that I want to go home, but more because I’m interested in other things… like thinking about our Facebook strategy or looking for nice tweets. Quality matters, it’s an everyday challenge that should be reminded regularly.

2) I should learn to say “no”. I have tremendous difficulties to do so, therefore I have so many things to do that I don’t do them all properly – that’s also link to the first point. Narrower focus at work means better production and more satisfaction in the end.

3) I/we should stick more to the news when writing for the Parliament website. Of course, this is not something I can decide on my own. However, I can push for more reactivity in our agenda setting: usually, we write about something once the Parliament has debated or voted about it. This is logical but, unfortunately, it always happens a few weeks too late, when everyone’s attention is focussed on a new topic. Good communication is on-time communication, and there is space for improvement. Let’s try to change mentalities!

Good communication is on-time communication, and there is space for improvement.

4) Be more direct on Facebook. The best posts are often the most spontaneous ones. Sure, we can not post whatever we want, we have to find a “parliamentary angle”, we have to write proper English and we’d like to stay creative. However, when something is in the news, we should put it on Facebook as soon as possible and in a very direct way so that people react spontaneously. With the last rise of fans, we saw new people on our page who aren’t necessarily very informed about Europe. Let’s give them the opportunity to join the debate and let’s avoid making them tired too quickly…

5) Last but not least, I should be more creative, on the Parliament’s website as well as on other social media (Facebook, Twitter). It’s so easy to become stuck in a rut and produce what we’re asked to produce as civil servants… I’m better in managing a project, meeting deadlines or organizing things than in thinking “out of the box”. It needs time and a certain disorder, as Jean Monnet mentioned in his Mémoires. Let’s try to go a bit against my character!

For those who would like to check whether I stick to these resolutions or not, you can read the Parliament’s website in French, our Facebook page and the French Twitter feed… I’d be happy to have some feedback!