Five Keys to a Successful First-Quarter Checkup

Efficiency Goals

As your company went about its annual goal-setting activities together and you built out the vision of expectations, when did you decide to check in? Is now as good of time as any?

When we set out to solve issues that we faced, we should have spent a fair amount of time understanding whether the issue is related to a symptom or the cause itself. This distinction highlights whether the issue is due to an execution problem or a strategy problem.

Issues related to execution can generally be solved by looking at the process which allows the issue to exist. That is: what pieces of this process could be done better? What pieces of the status quo are regularly bringing in issues that we are not planning for? What adjustments should we make in order to move forward with more resolve?

Too often we treat the execution problem clinically as opposed to recognizing it as a symptom of a larger cause. We put resources together; time, money, and energy; rile up our constituents about the core identity of the problem; and build a fundamental idea of our organization’s incompetence to take action on simple solutions, we do this by investing in over-complicated reactions as opposed to strategic thinking.

What’s Next?

Have you achieved some of your first-quarter goals? All of them? This should prompt further questions for you with regard to outcome. If no, then why? If yes, then what did you learn from your successes? Is this a domino piece that can influence other places in the company’s growth model?

Compare the goals you’ve achieved and the ones that you’ve missed. Apply what you’ve learned through the achievement of some to the existing problems in other places where you could expect to experience more success. 

When we talk about success, we talk about a cookbook. A cookbook is built out of the daily, weekly, and monthly planned activities which lead to success for us in our business and personal development. Look for what went wrong in your cookbook and try to identify and eliminate the ineffective activities that are leading you to sacrifice time. Time is a limited commodity, we cannot make more of it, but we can take it back from ourselves for ourselves. Allocating the right resources in the right location are key to successful completion of goals.

What about the goals that seem like outliers? What are the goals that have no chance? Losing 100 pounds can be a realistic goal if the time frame is a year, but if the time frame is three months then it could be a shot in the foot, or a carving exercise to build the most optimal club to beat yourself with. The same holds true for business goals and without a comprehensive and relative understanding of what we want to see versus what we can do, we will only use goals as tools against ourselves.

Finances

By now you should have a firm understanding of your finances. Use the actual data you’ve gathered so far and get rid of projections in order to help you forecast for the rest of the year. If you’re seeing success and expect it continue relative to the first quarter then it may be time to develop a strategic growth plan and determine what pieces do you need to add into your business to experience success and ease the pain of growth.

If, however, you’re not seeing a trajectory that suits you or your model, you need to evaluate the behaviors that lead to new business or consider scaling back the expansion that you’ve done in order to focus on developing really good return for the clients you now have.

At this point in time we are capable and will make assumptions about how the year will go, and typically these assumptions will point to the three-month mark at the end of that first quarter. It’s time to commit to a comprehensive view that you’re aligned with and follow your own cookbook for success in order to gauge, whether, in two months, you’ll be correct. This exercise will validate your ability to move forward and highlight your understanding of risk and opportunity with regard to your business.

If we spend time looking at the assumptions we make for the coming year and actively reevaluate the present against the future then we will set ourselves up for success by recognizing what new opportunities we need to chase, what landmines we need to avoid, and where the core of our value and return for our clients lies.

Culture

How are you doing? How are your constituents doing? How has the culture of your company change or shifted in the past month? Is this a trend that will continue to move forward, or is it a sign of a problem that we need to address?

How is morale? If you want to achieve goals then you need to understand what drives your people and your staff and help them find that driving force within in order to motivate them to achieve their best. We won’t achieve our goals if our staff isn’t fully motivated, and we won’t understand why there is a lack of energy of motivation unless we ask.

Where From Here?

If you’re looking at this, wondering how you got off track and what you can do, don’t worry. Don’t make a podium out of your failures to beat yourself up publicly. Businesses and individuals miss goals from time to time. Not taking first is a reminder that there is more work to do until you can take first. Take the experience and feedback you’ve received over the last month and what work you have done related to these topics and commit to pushing yourself harder.

In order to move forward we need to understand and work on our ability to celebrate and our flexibility with solutions. We must celebrate within our organization and allow the positive that comes with that to build confidence moving forward. We must also stay flexible. Focused on the solution. We do not need to commit long term to the original plan—we need to commit to learning and adjusting.

Don’t stick with something that isn’t working and hope it gets better. Be intentional with the goals that you’ve set and evaluate them against the present you’re experiencing.
Your leadership impacts your business and your people. The people within your organization will mirror what you put out there. If you have concerns about your company’s culture, or the way people seem to be unmotivated, examine the mirror and tell yourself what you see. Learning and adjusting to the success we wish to create will lead us to success, but we must be cognizant and fight against the self-fulfilling negative prophecies that can lurk within our minds. Action can prompt change and growth; inaction allows both profits and how things are to stagnate. Work hard because the alternative is watch the status quo deteriorate.

So how have you done so far in the first quarter? How’s your business model or plan look? Reach out to me and let me know the issues you’ve solved or the issues you’re still having. If I have any suggestions or feedback I’ll send them your way.