We are almost at the end of the year and a few weeks into the fourth quarter. We hope that you are succeeding in meeting your business goals. If you have had a challenging year so far,  it’s not too late to get your goals back on track. Careful planning this quarter will determine how you end the year and set the pace for the coming year. 

Here are some tips to help you get started preparing for the fourth quarter.

• Review the Past Quarter

Reviewing goals at the end of every quarter is a healthy business practice. It informs you of your successes, failures and introduces you to new opportunities that can grow your business. Sitting down with your team to evaluate what worked and what did not work in the past quarter informs your decision on what the next quarter will be like. Successes give you the motivation to achieve even more and they introduce you to other opportunities within and outside your organisation. Failures might discourage you and your team but evaluating them and strategising on how to be successful next time is what you should focus on.

We are currently conducting our virtual Q3 review meetings with all the team members. We are reflecting on our past goals and aligning on what we need to be successful in the fourth quarter and finish off the year right.

• Set Realistic Goals

 It is so easy to set goals but it might not be the same when it comes to implementing them. Having fewer realistic goals is better than having a pile of goals that you and your team will fail to achieve. This might cause frustrations and make you feel like you are not getting anything done when the problem isn’t you or your team, but your goals!

Using your review from the last quarter as a guide, determine which goals will take priority. Rank all the other goals in order of their priority and assign each goal to the people responsible for achieving them. No matter how few your priority goals are, resist the pressure of adding more goals which you can’t come close to achieving. 

• Measure Your Goals

Now that you have set the right goals, use metrics like new leads, retained customers, revenue and market share to measure your goals as often as you can. To make measuring and alignment of goals even easier, hold weekly or monthly departmental meetings to measure and reiterate goals. This way, it’s easier to break down your quarterly goals and keep them on track.

• Make your Team Accountable

Accountability ensures that your team members take ownership of the role they have to play in meeting organisational goals. Assigning goals to specific people in the organisation gives you visibility of which team members are working towards meeting the goals and those who are lagging. To get the most out of your team, ensure that each team member clearly understands their responsibilities and expectations. Make use of the weekly or monthly check-ins to evaluate how each team member is fairing. Give kudos when a team member is making progress and give the necessary help to those who are still struggling. Continuously track your team’s performance for the quarter.

Now that you know what you need to be successful in the third quarter, start planning for what the quarter could look like and remember to review the second quarter. If you would like to discuss how you can improve important aspects of your business to meet your goals, talk to us!