What’s the Plan?

Posted by / January 12th, 2015 / No responses

I have to admit, I actually really love January.

Why, I hear you ask? – what is there to love? After all,  it’s cold, it’s dark, everyone has given up drinking and started diets and gruelling exercise regimes. Everywhere we look, people are moaning about having no money, being tired, feeling fat, wanting a new job or a holiday or a lottery win.

Not me. I love January. I resolve not to have any resolutions, because I believe in having goals all the year round not just for one month of the year. Plus I’m a big fan of “everything in moderation” so I don’t really understand the concept of “Dry January” or cutting out chocolate. Given that January is such a cold and dark month, it seems to me to be the ideal time to drink red wine and eat rich food in front of the log fire.

BUT – January is a great time to plan. To dream, to plot and to vision.

Here at Serenwood, we purposefully scheduled a detailed planning meeting for our first week back in January. We’ve had a little rest over Christmas and are feeling rejuvenated and ready for fresh challenges.

We had a great time…reviewing our client portfolio, setting our targets for the upcoming quarter, and developing some new products which we will be launching in the Spring. We ate cake and scribbled ideas on scraps of paper and got a tad over-excited about madcap plans.

We’ve got projects starting with 3 new clients this month, which we purposefully lined up to kick off in January.

Because from the perspective of a business, January is an all-important time for taking stock, reflecting and planning.

For many UK companies it is now Q4 and represents the start of a busy period in finance and accounting terms – and setting the financial targets for year ahead.

The new year represents a great time to analyse, plan and set company and team objectives.

Attention turns to recruitment and marketing campaigns and to commencing projects which were put off or postponed in December. It represents an opportunity to reflect on what is working well within the business and what needs to be fixed.

It’s an ideal time to engage with your teams and get them motivated by agreeing shared agendas and a clear direction for travel. Look out into the market and see what your competitors have planned. Talk directly and openly to your customers and your suppliers and understand what each relationship needs in order to flourish.

Meet with your advisors and make a plan for engagement of specialist input to strengthen delivery of strategic aims. Identify those thorny issues which need tackling and appoint the team which is going to make it happen.

What’s not to love about January?