The Ultimate Business Review: 2021 Edition
Your current reality is determined by your current patterns. An annual review is designed to illuminate patterns in your business so that you are clear on what’s working and what’s not. This then allows you to make a plan to double down on the things that push the needle to make 2022 your best year yet. I believe all CEOs should complete an annual review and that’s why I’ve created the actionable blueprint below - so that you and your leadership team can conduct your own business review.
Before you get started...
🧑🏻🤝🧑🏻 If you have a team, perform the annual review together
⌛ Block out a day or two half days in your calendar for this
🤫 Find a quiet space where you (and your team) won’t be interrupted
📵 Turn off your mobile and wifi - don’t get distracted by the day-to-day
🔥 Be open, honest and bold
Exercise 1: Wins & Lessons Learned
“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.” - Steve Jobs
➡️ Answer the questions to help you reflect on your wins and lessons learned
⏲️ Est. Time to Complete: 30-60 minutes
We start the annual review by looking backwards, with a retrospective. Here we’re looking to answer the following questions:
1. What happened in your business during the past 12 months that deserves attention or celebration?
2. What struggles or disappointments occurred in your business during the 12 months? What did you learn from them?
Exercise 2: Starfish Retrospective
➡️ Reflect on what you want to do more of, less of, start doing, stop doing and keep doing in 2022
⏲️ Est. Time to Complete: 30-60 minutes
🔼 More
🔽 Less
▶️ Start
⏹️ Stop
🔁 Keep
Exercise 3: 2021 Assessment
“Without reflection, we go blindly on our way...and failing to achieve anything useful.” - Margaret J. Wheatley
➡️ Assess your business to understand current performance
⏲️ Est. Time to Complete: 60-75 minutes
1. Financials: What were your 2021 financial results?
Revenue
Profit
Gross Margin
Cash
2. KPIs: What were your 2021 KPIs? Did you achieve them?
3. Goals: What were your 2021 goals? Did you achieve what you set out to achieve?
Exercise 4: 2022 Intentions
➡️ Define what you want your business to achieve in 2022
⏲️ Est. Time to Complete: 60-90 minutes
1. Financials: What are your financial targets for 2022?
Revenue
Profit
Gross Margin
Cash
2. KPIs: What are your KPIs for 2022?
3. Goals: What are your top three goals for 2022?
Exercise 5: 2022 Planning
“If you don’t know where you are going, you’ll end up someplace else.” - Yogi Berra
➡️ Goals without action are meaningless. Determine your plan to create momentum in 2022.
⏲️ Est. Time to Complete: 45-60 minutes
For each goal, answer the following questions:
What does success look like for this goal? How do I know when I’ve completed it?
How long will it take to deliver this goal? (You can write this as hours or days or months.)
How much will it cost to deliver this priority? (E.g. if you need to hire help or get a new system in place.)
How will you accomplish this priority? Map out what needs to be done (tasks), who needs to do it (owner) and by when (deadline).