If you’re not in the habit of conducting a business evaluation at the end of every year, you should be! Sitting down to reflect on your business accomplishments and lessons learned is a great way to determine your path for the new year. It can be a crucial part of setting better goals and overcoming future challenges.

It’s also a way to organize and restructure your business if needed. When you recognize your victories, you can create more of them. When you acknowledge your challenges and failures, you can learn how to improve and change what has held your business from success in those areas.

Celebrate Your Big Wins

Doing an evaluation can be daunting, so the best thing to do is to start from the highest point. Pick 3 to 5 moments where your business really customer, outperformed your projections or otherwise shone like a star.

Don’t just think in terms of your whole business either. Make sure you give credit to specific teams who knocked the ball out of the park and praise them for carrying the company forward.

Assess Your Weaknesses

Once you’ve handed out praise for all the great work of the year, it’s time to get honest about areas where you may still be struggling. Which projects didn’t go as planned? Which teams were unable to hit their benchmarks?

It’s also a great chance to get down on the floor and meet with your staff to discuss their concerns. Were there any factors that hindered their progress through the year? Put this information in writing and brainstorm some solutions to be addressed in the new year.

Your team members can be an excellent agent for positive change if you take the time to listen to their thoughts and open the floor to creative solutions.

Set Fresh Goals

The best goals are those that push you just beyond your comfort zone but are totally achievable if you just go the extra mile. Now that you’ve assessed your strengths and weaknesses from the previous year settle on a goal for the new year that builds upon your successes.

Your new goal may require you to address some of the issues that previously popped up before you can achieve it. While you may choose one goal as a singular focus or theme for the new year, it’s also helpful to set milestones and smaller short-term goals that address things like budgets, staffing and other issues you need to overcome along the way.

An end of year assessment is a great way for businesses to slow down and determine whether they’re on the right path.

Instead of forging ahead into the new year blindly, take the time to meet with your team members and get a strong sense of what is working and not working.

Use this information as a tool to help guide you to make productive changes and improvements throughout your company.

Happy New Year from United Western Insurance Brokers. We’re happy to help you access your insurance needs for the upcoming year.