Learn how to get your business back on track and finish the year strong.
2020 has presented a multitude of challenges that can throw your business off course.
Although the economy has begun reopening and things are shifting towards a new normal, there are still many unknowns. Many leaders are still operating in the grey, and as some states are seeing a backslide of COVID-19, the road ahead may remain unclear.
As a result of the unprecedented year, many business owners needed to adjust their original goals for 2020. Fortunately, when things go awry, it’s almost always possible to problem solve and get your business back on track for a successful future.
We have pulled our resources together to help you solve some of your toughest challenges. In this post, our business advisors share a few key takeaways, including:
- How to conduct a midyear review and identify how this crisis has affected your goals
- How to identify high-impact items so that you can prioritize your goals moving forward
- How to use effective problem solving to work through challenges in your business and overcome them
With these resources, you’ll have the tools you need to evaluate your business and prioritize your goals to ensure you finish 2020 strong.
Mid Year Review
The first step in getting your business back on track is to review the past. A mid-year review is a great way to take stock of how your company is really doing. It opens your eyes to past achievements, as well as some areas you can improve. 2020 has thrown many businesses for a loop. Some owners have had to make pivots or abandoned their initial goals to instead focus on the reality ahead, while others had circumstances that allowed them to thrive. But as things begin to regulate and you can start looking forward, a review of the past six months can tell you exactly what you need to know to make informed decisions for your business.
1) Review the Past six months
What has changed in the past six months? The global pandemic affected many businesses differently. Did you lose business? Did your business expand? Did you hire new team members? Maybe you decided to downsize. Whatever happened, reviewing the last six months helps give you data points you can plan for the rest of the year.
Look at the data you’ve collected over the last six months. If you have a team, ask around, what went well in each department? What didn’t go well? Get specific. Capture all of that information, take a moment to analyze it on a company-wide level, and ask yourself, how can we build off this momentum?
2) Remeasure Your Goals
It’s important to remember where you’re headed and why. Although things may have shifted over the last few months, your vision is still your vision. The timeline may have extended, but you should still be working toward the same end goal.
By the middle of the year, you should have the data to indicate where you are in relation to the goals set at the beginning of the year. This is an excellent time to reevaluate your goals and decide if you will still achieve them this year or if you need to extend your runway.
To do that, you need to look at your macro goals and break them down to reflect your updated timeline.
The purpose of conducting a mid-year review is to give yourself a baseline and help you identify some of the challenges your business is facing going into the latter half of the year.
Leading Indicators
Before you can begin problem-solving, you need to identify the leading indicators for your business. As Co-Founder of Cultivate Advisors, Dan Gramann, explains, leading indicators are the areas of your business you can control to dictate performance and success in your business.
Once you’ve identified the top leading indicators in your business, you’ll see where you should focus your attention to create the biggest impact.
Problem Solving Process
Every business faces unique challenges— it’s how you deal with them that matters. The key to problem-solving is to identify the root of the problem versus treating a symptom. Finding a true fix instead of a band-aid to problems will solve issues more effectively long term. This leads to happier employees and a stronger business foundation, which yields higher returns.
When it comes to problem-solving, at Cultivate Advisors, we rely on a 5-stage process to successfully identify the root issue and establish an action plan to move forward. We call this process SIRON:
S – Symptom
I – Information
R – Root Problem
O – Options
N – Next Steps
Using SIRON, you start with the symptom, and you gather information until you can dig deeper to find the root problem. Once you have identified the root cause of the challenge, you can develop options and build a plan to move forward.
Developing a plan for your business is a necessary way to break your goals into digestible, achievable actions to keep your business on track. Apply this framework to your company and see how much simpler your big audacious goals feel.
If you’re not sure where to start, you don’t have to go at it alone. Schedule a free two-hour session to dig into your business to uncover bottlenecks and develop a roadmap based on where you are in your business and where you would like to be. With this roadmap, you’ll have a tangible plan you can implement to reach your long-term goals.
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