Looking forward, looking back

You’ve sorted your Out of Office message, changed your voice mail and turned off the computer for the last time in 2019. 

There’s one more thing you should do before you slip into holiday mode.

And that’s look back at the Good, the Bad and the (hopefully not) Ugly of your year with an annual review.

There’s no need to groan – it doesn’t have to be a formal process with charts and figures. Just pour yourself your favourite drink, grab a notebook and pen and put your feet up.

What’s the point of an annual review?

As Winston Churchill once said, “Those who fail to learn from history are condemned to repeat it.”

An annual review makes you think about what went wrong and what worked well. And once you know what’s not working, you can make a note to change it next year.

What do I need to do?

There’s no right or wrong way to do an annual review. Sure, there are lots of templates available if you want to fill in boxes, but otherwise, make it easy on yourself.

Think back over the year. What went well? What didn’t? Make some notes of what you’ve learnt and how you can improve next year.

These questions may give you a starting place.

1.       Did you have cash-flow problems? What can you do to smooth out the bumps for next year?

2.       Do you have enough financial information to make the right decisions? Do you need better reporting?

3.       Did your marketing and advertising efforts pay off? Should you change your approach next year?

4.       Which products or services went well this year, and which didn’t? Do you need to change your offers?

5.       How are your insurance policies? Are your current policies covering you for what you need?

6.       Did you have any process issues? What could fix them? Do you need to tighten your employee or client onboarding processes?   

Once you’ve jotted down some notes of how your year went, put it away and then come back to it fresh next year.

The notes you’ve made can be a great starting place to set yourself up for good habits and feed into your business plans for a successful in 2020.