Year-End Habits for Success and Growth

By Lloyd Franke & Gary Lewis

“Be not afraid of growing slowly. Be only afraid of standing still.”

—Chinese Proverb

I have a poster that states “Time flies whether you’re having fun or not!” From the business perspective, one could say “Time flies whether you are achieving your goals or not!”

At this time each year, we typically look back to evaluate our performance for the past 12 months by asking questions such as:

How did the business do this year? Am I satisfied with the results?

If not, what changes must take place to do better?

How will these changes be implemented next year?

Are you resolved to make changes and improvements to do better next year? If so, the following brief overview of some year-end routines will help guide your business progress in 2006 and beyond.

Develop and Follow a Strategic Plan

Many small business owners dismiss formal strategic planning as unnecessary because they think they know where they want to go and will direct their managers and workers to get there. This works fine…until the company reaches a level where further growth is stalled due to lack of delegation of responsibility and authority. To grow beyond this, a management team must be established and given responsibilities and performance measures that are aligned with top-level goals. This frees up time for business owners to focus ON the business versus fighting day-to-day issues working IN the business.

Here are key steps to creating and executing a Strategic Plan:

~ Follow a Planning Process

Follow a formal process to complete the annual evaluation. (Large companies can take three months or more to complete the process of information gathering, evaluation, prioritization, budgeting, project planning, and communication throughout the organization; in smaller companies, this planning cycle may be completed over several weeks.) What’s more, this process should have started by the time the clocks are set back in the Fall.

~ Evaluate the current situation

Where are we now? What are the results for the year? Did we meet our goals? Has the market changed? What is the competition doing? Are there new opportunities that should be explored? Do we have the right resources in place? Are there new options we should consider? Answers to these questions require some research and must be completed first.

~ Decide where you want the company to be – do the “Vision thing”

Is there a clearly defined vision of what the company is striving to become? Does the company have a mission statement and know how to execute it? This is essential.

~ Identify actions to close the “Gap”

The difference in where we are now and where we want to be is known as the “Gap”. To reach our ultimate vision, we must identify those action items that are needed to close the gap.

~ Prioritize and focus on three action items

Why three? By creating only three items, you can focus on the high priority tasks needed to close the gap. If you can accomplish those three items, you will have made significant progress. And, if you get them done early, there are always more waiting for attention.

~ Communicate and evangelize

It is important for each person in the organization to both buy into the vision and understand how their work contributes to achieving the overall goals of the company. To achieve buy-in at all levels, plans and goals must be written, “evangelized”, and cascaded to lower levels to ensure that all managers and employees are working toward the same end and understand how their daily actions impact internal and external customers and ultimately the company’s greater success.

Lloyd Franke is an independent consultant focusing on performance improvement in construction contracting companies and other owner-managed businesses. He has over 15 years experience assisting companies to increase profits through continuous improvement programs and business and strategic plan development and implementation. Gary Lewis is co-owner, with his wife Melissa, of Management & Associated Services, Inc. (MASI) located in Wilmington, Massachusetts. He has been assisting contractors with their financial and business management needs since 1984.