HOLIDAY REVIEW

By the time you read this, we’ll be approaching Christmas, New Year, and the good old Kiwi holiday at the beach. Many business owners use this time to reflect on their business and what they need to do differently in the new year, so I thought I would take a break from the four primary management practices (three down, one to go) and provide some suggestions about structuring that reflection time.

The first thing I suggest you do, is forget about it. Most likely, your business has driven you crazy over the last few weeks. You didn’t get everything done you wanted to, and for the first few days of your holiday, you’ll be in recovery, de-tox, and stress reduction mode. This is not the right time to start trying to plan for the future. Remember there are more important things than making yourself fabulously wealthy. Relax. Read, fish, go to a concert, socialise, swim, snooze, whatever floats your boat. Never fear, your brain will be surreptitiously sorting through all the factors you need to include in your thinking about your business. Ever marvelled at the way you get a sudden flash of inspiration about something you haven’t been consciously thinking about? Hunh.
 
After 3-4 days, you can start to think constructively about the future. Now’s the time for a bit of note-taking while those insights burst out. Supplement them with some reflection on these questions:

• What do I want from my business? Is it the same as it was, or has it evolved?
• Does my business have a competitive advantage? Is it clear to my customers why they should buy from me instead of my competitors?
• Is the business culture where it should be? Is it a great place to work for the type of people I am trying to attract?
• Is my team optimal? Do I have enough people and are they the right people?
• Are we executing? Did we make progress last year?

 
Collate the answers to those questions with the insights you recorded earlier. Sift through it all, and carefully come up with the THREE most important projects you need to complete in 2019. Big chunky projects that will take most of the year, are challenging yet achievable, and which you would be delighted to complete. Write them out in full, making it clear exactly what is required. Share them with your team when you start back, and assign accountabilities for leading and contributing to each priority action.
 
In closing, I’d like to wish every reader a Merry Christmas, and a very happy and prosperous 2019. God bless you all!