One of the best practices at our company is to bring the leadership team together to reflect on our successes and short-comings of the past year, then build on them. We find by aligning the key players we can hit the ground running in the first quarter. Below are our steps in setting goals and priorities.
As a team, meet to create an outline and discuss what’s working and what’s not? Divide a whiteboard in two. On the left, what’s working; on the right, what’s not. Analyze every department and critique both the successes and failures during the past year. Put everything down both large and small.
Next, take the top three to five items from each side and circle them with the overarching goal to implement more of what’s working and to fix or stop what isn’t. From these top three to five issues develop an action plan for the next year.
After you’ve compiled your next year’s goals, break them into quarterly milestones – sub goals, so to speak. Assign specific goals to different individuals with the mindset of prioritizing. You can’t do it all.
Once you have your quarterly goals, individuals leave to create their own quarterly plan. Using this strategy, the entire team is on the same page, knowing their expectations and responsibilities. Success will come as you hit the ground running the first week of January with the alignment of your team.