How Do You Find Focus As You Reflect and Prepare for the Coming Year?

As the end of the year approaches, for many this is a time for rest, reflection, and preparation for the coming year. At WLH, we have found it useful to guide our reflection and preparation using a structured approach that provides direction and focus.

In the spirit of sharing best practices and with the benefit of much experience, allow me to present our REFLECT framework to help you plan and prepare more effectively for 2023:

Review appropriate business analytics and reports to evaluate performance, identify trends, and undergo a data driven, evidence-based approach.

• Where did your team exceed, meet, or fail to achieve desired results?
• What key insights is the data revealing?

Evaluate if you accomplished what you set out to do in your business/account plans.

• If the answer is yes, what are the biggest drivers of past success that could accelerate future results?
• If no, acknowledge how the team and individuals overcame roadblocks; especially working virtually.
• How can these lessons learned be applied going forward?

Focus on the critical few priorities.

• Were the priorities clear at the outset?
• How did they change?
• Will what seemed important before remain critical going forward?

Learn from your experiences. Determine what worked, identify where you fell short, and leverage these learnings going forward.

• What were your critical priorities?
• What did you learn about your marketplace and about specific customers?
• What did you learn about your team and your ability to support each other?
• What did you learn about yourself and your ability to adapt and be agile?

Embrace the fact that things are changing quickly in the healthcare marketplace and will continue to evolve. Acknowledge that your organization has or will shift strategic priorities to deal with the new business environment.

• What changes did your organization undertake this past year?
• How can your team’s agility be improved?
• What do you need to do to become more agile and adaptable going forward?
• Where could more proactive scenario planning and strategic thinking lead to better results?

Commit to conducting regular reviews and recalibrate plans.

• How often and when should you review plans?
• How do you review progress against your plans?
• Who do you need to involve in the discussions?
• What processes are in place to update your manager and others on plan success?

Thank all the people who worked hard throughout the year to achieve business goals.

As you prepare for the New Year, it is important to take time to reflect on your own personal growth and successes. Take a moment, and ask yourself:

• What do I need to stop, start, and continue in 2023?
• What support will I need?
• How can I maximize my contributions and successes?

Capture these thoughts and discuss with your manager, or your team members during year-end performance and 2023 planning sessions. Use our REFLECT framework to help you plan for and continue to “Change and Thrive” in 2023.

Please feel free to contact us for more information about our Strategic Change, Commercial Excellence, and Leadership Development practice expertise, and our custom tailored, blended learning solutions.

Best of luck for a healthy and productive 2023!