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If I ask you how 2012 was for you and for your business, what would you say? Great? Good? Brutal?
The reason I am putting this out is that this is the time when the pundits all begin their lists of the “Best of 2012” and we somehow feel if we do not do the same, then the year does not end correctly.
Businesses will look at their balance sheet or their sales targets to decide if 2012 was a good year. Personally, we look at our goals from January 2012 and where we are now and begin the slog of judgment. Did we do well, did we miss out, and what do we do for 2013?
I want to focus for a moment on the most important thing you can utilize while sitting and reviewing the year’s results for wither your business or yourself and that would be PATIENCE.
It is very easy to make snap decisions. Whitewashing the year as good or bad just based on a few numbers or examples. Look at the whole year through the lens of the last few months. What I recommend is to sit back and take each department at a time and make a list of good and bad. Think of it as the naughty and nice list.
If you are honest, you will have items on both sides of the ledger. Remember that blame is not a good barometer for ongoing success. Make sure to take emotion out of it. Focus on process and execution as two separate issues.
In terms of management process, make sure you look at each step of the process as well as then making sure the team has been properly trained. Next look at execution. Were there any issues that impacted execution that may have been outside of the team’s control?
Lastly, just because something became a focus in month 12 does not mean people were not paying attention all year long, it may have been that the process or execution changed during the year. Make sure your inspection and results match reality.
Remember if your business is open, then something had to go right. What was it? What can you look at on your balance of success and failure to give you or the team a sense of accomplishment?
We tend to focus on many things that went wrong. We missed sales, we did not do “x” or “y”- but do you spend as much time anchoring in the things that went correctly? Building ongoing success for the next year will depend on first making sure that success will be repeated before you tear into fixing what did not work for you.
I wish everyone a very joyous end of 2012 and may 2013 be filled with success.
Glenn Pasch is the current COO of PCG Digital Marketing as well as a writer, National Speaker and Trainer. Glenn will be speaking at the upcoming Digital Marketing Strategies Conference in Orlando FL. February 5th-7th