2016 Year in Review

It’s hard to believe that another year has come and gone. 2016 is soon to be history and 2017 is right around the corner.  Could it be another sign of the aging process?  I know it is for me.

For many folks, the fact that 2016 is coming to an end is a good thing; they won’t have to listen to any more campaign speeches, although the rhetoric never really ends does it?  Others will look back at 2016 and say “where did the time go!”  Regardless of your point of view, this time of year presents all business executives with an opportunity to assess how you and your company performed in the current year.  It also provides an opportunity for us to start thinking about what we need to do in 2017 to make sure next year is an even better year.

The first place for us to start is to take the time to evaluate  our very own “Year in Review” just like the major media outlets do each and every year.  However, we recommend that you do not just reflect back on what did or did not happen in the current year, but use this review process to ensure that next year and all of the future years will always be bigger and better than the previous year.  In order to do this, you will need to take a long hard look at your current systems and processes, your people, and your current personal and business goals.  Most importantly, you will need to take a long hard look at yourself as an individual, and as a business leader, to see if you performed the way you expected to and if your performance had a positive impact on you, your people and your business.

One suggestion to analyzing your past year’s experiences is to perform the “ever famous” S.W.O.T. Analysis on your company.  Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.  More importantly is the need to perform that same S.W.O.T Analysis on yourself as an individual.

• What are your personal strengths and the strengths of your company?  How did those strengths benefit you and your firm in 2016?
• What are your personal weaknesses, (be very honest here!) and what were the weaknesses of your business in 2016?  What could have been done to counter those weaknesses?
• What opportunities did you experience in your personal growth and improvement as well as in the growth and improvement of your business?  How did you benefit from those experiences?
• And finally, what are the threats that you as an individual and your company encountered in 2016?  How did you respond to those threats and what positive or negative results were achieved as a result of identifying those threats?

I have always believed that as individuals we need to look ourselves in the mirror each and every day of our lives.  Who do we see in that mirror?  Do we see a person who is totally fulfilled, totally honest, totally in control, and totally happy?  The answer is, it depends on what day you look into that mirror.  “Stuff happens” and we are all victims of ups and downs in life.  How we react to those ups and downs will identify who we are and in many ways, how successful we will be in business and in life in general.

Another suggestion is for us to evaluate and reflect on what we accomplished, or did not accomplish in this past year.  There are several questions we all need to ask ourselves and these questions need to be asked on a quarterly basis, but certainly no less than during our own “Internal Annual Review.”

• What goals did I set for the current quarter or year and how successful was I in meeting those goals?
• Were my goals “feel good” goals, or goals that really had a positive impact on me as an individual and on my company?
• What is the single accomplishment I achieved this year that I am most proud of?
• If I could, what could I have done differently and how would that change have impacted me and my company?
• What were my biggest challenges and the biggest challenges my company faced in 2016?  How did I/we react to those challenges and what was the outcome?
• What people did I meet in 2016 that made a positive impact on me?  What could I have done better to have a positive impact on others
• Am I a better person now than when 2016 began?   If not, then why not?
• And finally, what is the most important lesson I learned in 2016?

As you can see, this process is a very comprehensive “self/business-analysis”, but one that we believe will be extremely beneficial to every business person regardless of the business they are in.  We’ve all heard the definition of insanity and that is “doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”  So to help us avoid prolonging insanity in our businesses and in our personal life, it is critical for each of us to perform this year-end review with a goal of ensuring that we continue to do the things that have a positive impact on us and our businesses and avoid the things that did not.

Next month, we will provide part two of this 2016 Review/2017 Preview with a goal of identifying major areas we believe all business executives should focus on to be successful in the coming year.  Here’s to a great and successful 2017!