1 down, only 3 to go

sundial

How many times do we talk about, and hear from others, how quickly time flies?

In business, it can feel that the monthly reports you have to submit come around too fast. And that  before you know it, it’s the end of another quarter and review time again.

For many of you Q1 has just ended. Now is a crucial time to check if you’re hitting your milestones and that you’re on course.

The thing is, each quarter’s review should have a different focus and there one thing that you can do in a big way this early in the year, which will be almost impossible later…

You can drastically change course.

This is your best opportunity to do this; you’re well enough into your year to be able to measure your progress and not too far in to make it too late to change course if you have to.

View your first quarterly review of the year as the only opportunity make this change and still grow and achieve your aims. And the longer you leave it the harder it’ll become until soon after you reach a tipping point where changes will have a detrimental effect on your business.

It’s vital that you do this now before it’s too late. Companies have lost market share, customers, revenue and even fallen by the wayside, simply because they didn’t check they were on course or if the course they were on was in fact the right one, until it was way too late.

If you haven’t set aside the time to do this then check your diary and allocate the time now. Review the key metrics and indicators, that you’ve set, that show you if you’re on course. Are milestones being hit and the targeted results coming in?

As well as looking at measurements, talk to your people – do they understand the plan and their role in it? Have they got off to a good start? How confident do they feel? Do they have any issues?

The end of your first quarter is a vital time in your annual cycle. Don’t treat it as just another quarter-end, but take the time out to thoroughly assess progress so that you know for sure if your plan is on track to meet your goals or whether you need to change it before it becomes too late to do so.

More reading:

Is Your Business on Course

Quarterly Reviews – Last word

Why you should have quarterly reviews with your customers