December Tips for a Great New Year

As the calendar draws to a close it's a great time to look forward by looking back. What do I mean? You can use data from past performance to identify opportunities for future improvement. And none of this requires a lot of time, which probably sounds especially good during this holiday-infused, busy time of year. Let's take a closer look at several ways to “pay it forward” with your data.

FY Milestone Reviews: December is often the fiscal year midpoint or year-end for many organizations. We usually think of these milestones as a chance to look back and evaluate performance against targets, and check for trends, positive or negative. The data is definitely useful in that way, but the findings can be inspiration for new improvement initiatives.  In this sense, we use the insights gained from analysis of past performance as the starting point to plan one or more process improvement efforts designed to deliver better results in future.  An outside facilitator can ensure this work gets off to a great start with some careful planning, preparation, and unbiased facilitation.

Planning a Customer Knowledge Refresh: As the year draws to a close, give some thought to whether or not your customers’ needs and expectations may be changing. This may be the result of some new developments in your market or industry, but for many, the holidays are also a time to re-center and reflect.  That alone may lead to changing expectations or rearranged priorities.  This makes December a good time to consider, and begin planning for, a fresh round of customer research to take place early in the new year.  The beginning steps include formulating research objectives, selecting the best listening post (survey, interview, focus group, etc.), and taking early steps to create a data collection plan, all of which can be done with relatively little time, even less with a little help from someone with research experience.

Strategic Initiatives Prep: While you're taking a little time to think about your customers and their needs it makes sense to step back and evaluate your strategic plan against measures. Are the tactics achieving the anticipated results, or might it be time to re-evaluate any of them?  And how is it going with tactics implementation…are they on schedule?  Lastly, if your Strategic Plan calls for initiating a new service or product, the start of the new year (after the holiday rush) will be a much easier time to focus attention and resources.  Whether you need an expedited look at a new opportunity (Feasibility Study) or a more thorough and comprehensive path to follow (Business Plan), a little planning now will go a long way toward a strong start after the holidays.

These are just a few examples of how time spent in December can set you up for real progress in January, and beyond.

If I can be of any help in these closing weeks of the year don't hesitate to contact me.

Happy Holidays!

Jeff