Does it seem to you that the first half of the year just flew by? Let’s seize the moment by doing a spot check to analyze your progress towards this year’s goals.
Start by identifying your accomplishments. You can get as granular as you’d like, but you’ll benefit the most by looking at your top achievements.
Look at these successes and see if you can identify any patterns related to how you completed them. This gives you the time to reflect on your processes as much as the actual results. You may discover that you’re doing something slightly differently than in the past, and you want to capture those nuances.
What didn’t you achieve? In particular, look at those goals that you didn’t start or make measurable progress towards. Reevaluate these goals and determine if they still make sense in the macro view of what you want to achieve this year.
Often, goals that have been essentially ignored for six months may not have the same importance that you thought they would when you set them. If they no longer make sense, delete them. Dragging them along as incomplete goals is not helpful. It could be that it’s just a timing issue, and if that’s the case you can add them back at a later time.
Think about what came up in the first half of 2021 that could be added to your goals. Are there particular initiatives or small projects that could make a difference to your overall results this year. If they make sense and don’t overburden you, go for it!
To summarize, (1) Identify your accomplishments, in particular the processes that led to their achievement. (2) Get rid of goals that don’t make sense at this stage of the annual cycle and add dead weight to your efforts. (3) Selectively add new ones that support the goals that are working.
Although you will obviously benefit from this exercise, it can have a ripple effect in your company or department when your employees follow suit. You might have an informal staff meeting where you focus on everyone’s accomplishments and share how you got there.
This mini spot check is good for a quick assessment as well as accountability. It gives you a quick review of the year to date and helps to position you for a successful second half of the year.
