It’s Q4 and companies are working hard to reach their goals before the end of the year. With that in mind, there are four quintessential things that small businesses should consider the latter half of the year.
Recap!
Take some time to recap your first, second, and third quarters with your team. You can do this by looking at the goals set for each quarter, and what was accomplished. When recapping you want to ask yourself three important questions.
- What goals did we set?
- Did we accomplish those goals?
- What were our strengths and what were our weaknesses?
Recapping, simply said, is the act of reviewing your company’s performance. Recapping is important to do toward the end of the year because it allows you to see areas of opportunity and work to develop them. In addition, you will be able to take advantage of the time you have left in the third and fourth quarters to push to accomplish the overall goals your company has set for the year.
Rethink!
Rethinking should happen once you have taken some time to recap the past few quarters with your team. Rethinking is when you take what you have learned and your company’s performance thus far this year and strategize ways to increase your team’s overall performance. Key questions during your time of rethinking should be:
- Based on what your company knows after recapping, what strategies can be implemented to increase performance?
- How will these strategies benefit your team?
- What are some best practices to increase your team’s overall performance?
During the rethinking phase, asking these questions can help your team devise a plan to accomplish your fourth-quarter goals. Remember the focus is to finish quarter four strong!
Reorganize!
After rethinking, you may find you need to reorganize some of the things on your daily schedule or the priorities of your team. Reorganizing is a sure-fire way to create the kind of environment necessary to succeed. Any time you rethink or replan, you have to be sure to reorganize around the new plan and new strategies implemented in order to accomplish your goals. During this reorganizing phase, take some time to prioritize projects and set yourself up for success.
Relaunch!
Once you have taken the time to reorganize, it is time to relaunch. This means it is time to execute your new plan and implement the strategies you have identified as necessary to accomplish the goals you have set for the fourth quarter.
Recapping, rethinking, reorganizing, and relaunching should be taken seriously and performed thoroughly to ensure you are able to implement the plan set forth to accomplish your company’s goals more efficiently and effectively as you near the end of the year. We hope you find this valuable and thought-provoking exercise as useful and necessary as we do!
Need help working through these exercises? Contact us for a consultation.