year in review, past year, year in review, analyze year, annual review, review of year, year-end review, end-of-year review, past year, business review

6 Resources That Can Help You Analyze the Past Year

Published on by Grace LaConte

How well did your business do this year?

Answering this question can bring up a lot of emotions, especially if things did not go as expected. You might feel the pressure of setting end-of-year deadlines. Looking back can result in guilt if we didn’t reach our goals, or anxiety about setting new ones.

Many business owners feel a tug-of-war between accomplishing daily duties AND stepping back to see the “30,000-foot view” of their company. But even though it can be really scary, doing a Year In Review is very helpful.  That’s why I recommend taking time to look back at what happened using data that is quantitative (numbers) and qualitative (experiences). Once you review the results (good and bad), you reduce the risk of failure by making adjustments to your plans for the next year.

Here are six helpful resources to guide you through the process.

Resource 1: The Basics

Whether or not you find it easy to look into the future, conducting a “Year In Review” has tremendous benefits. It gives you the space to see your business objectively, by removing the emotion and instead focusing on the facts of what has occurred.

A “Year In Review” is a fairly simple process that allows you to evaluate:

  • what happened (wins and failures),
  • how it happened (the quantitative and qualitative results), and
  • what to adjust (things to continue, things to get rid of, imagining an ideal future, set and schedule priorities).

The post How to Do a Year In Review explains how this process works. In it, I explain:

  • why the Post-Mortem Evaluation is so effective,
  • how to determine risk, and
  • which questions to ask when looking back at the past year.

Year in review, review of year, year-end review, end-of-year review, yearly review, yearly evaluation, year-end evaluation, retrospective evaluation, risk intelligence

 

Resource 2: Why It’s Important

If you’re afraid of the repercussions of sharing your business failures, this post is for you. You will learn about:

  • the psychology of our fear of failure,
  • why the unknown scares us,
  • underlying causes of our fear (“Imposter Syndrome” is one), and
  • the benefits of sharing your business highs & lows publicly.

5 Reasons to Share a “Year In Review” of Your Business

Year in review, review of year, year-end review, end-of-year review, yearly review, yearly evaluation, year-end evaluation, annual review, annual evaluation, retrospective evaluation, risk intelligence

 

Resource 3: Inspiration

I didn’t come up with this concept alone. Lots of other entrepreneurs and business owners have publicly shared their successes and failures.

You can read about their stories in 31 “Year In Review” Examples to Inspire You.

Year in review, review of year, year-end review, end-of-year review, yearly review, yearly evaluation, year-end evaluation, annual review, annual evaluation, retrospective evaluation, 31 examples, entrepreneurs

 

Resource 4: Perspective

Once in a while, the sky opens and money seems to flow in. Other years, everything seems to fall apart.

When things do NOT go well, we tend to avoid dwelling on it… but that’s not very effective at helping us to learn and grow. By evaluating why things did NOT go well, we can recognize the root cause and make adjustments.

Watch a video that explains what you can do to make the most of a terrible year:

In What to Do If Your “Year In Review” is a Disappointment, you’ll hear about:

  • the retrospective evaluation process
  • what a “bad year” actually means
  • how to see your leadership blind spots
  • the 4 steps in a “Disappointment Reset” (look at facts, acknowledge value, decide how to adjust, make a plan)

Year In Review, Disappointment, Annual Review, Crummy Year, Awful Year, Failure, Business Year, Disappointing

 

Resources 5 & 6: A Peek Behind the Scenes

There are many sections to include in a “Year In Review.” Here are the ones I recommend using:

  1. A Look Back
  2. What Went Well (Wins)po
  3. What Did Not Go Well (Failures)
  4. What I’ll Continue
  5. What I’ll Do Differently
  6. 3 Main Lessons
  7. Books I Finished (check out My Honest Review of the 21 Books I Finished in 2018)
  8. Favorite Quote
  9. Word of the Year

Check out the posts from my company, LaConte Consulting:

2017: My Business Year In Review

Year in review, review of year, year-end review, end-of-year review, yearly review, yearly evaluation, year-end evaluation, annual review, annual evaluation, retrospective evaluation

My 2018 Business Year In Review

Year in review, review of year, year-end review, end-of-year review, yearly review, yearly evaluation, year-end evaluation, annual review, annual evaluation, retrospective evaluation, 2018 review, 2018 year in review

 

I hope you enjoyed these resources! Have you published a Year In Review of your business? If you want, feel free to share the link below.

 

Interested in hearing how you can reverse a toxic workplace? Find out more here.

 

Grace LaConte is a business consultant, writer, workplace equity strategist, and the founder of LaConte Consulting. Her risk management tools are used around the globe, and she has successfully reversed toxic work environments for clients in the healthcare and non-profit fields. Grace specializes in lactation law compliance & policy development, reducing staff turnover after maternity leave, and creating a participatory work culture.

Find more at laconteconsulting.com, or connect with her on Instagram and Twitter @lacontestrategy.

Grace LaConte is a marketing strategist, writer, and speaker. She is the founder of LaConte Consulting, which offers guidance for manufacturing owners who want to improve their profit, growth, and value. Grace also helps accounting and finance professionals to become top-tier business consultants.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.