Hitting "Reset" on 2020 Plans
Many of us came into 2020 with high, high hopes! This was going to be our “best year yet!” Some of us have been blessed by incredible growth, but some of us have taken a beating the past few months. I’d put my team somewhere in the middle. So, this piece is to all the business owners and leaders who are taking a look at 2020 and saying, Wow! This year isn’t going to be quite what I hoped for.
A few weeks ago, I pulled out my Strategic Plan that was written in December 2019, when 2020 was looking like a year of endless opportunity for growth. I smiled as I reviewed our lofty goals and compared them to where things currently stood as we were nearing the end of the second quarter. I asked myself some tough questions and got about the painful but necessary business of re-setting our course for the remainder of the year. Here are three questions that guided the revision process:
If Growth is one of our core values, what does that mean for 2020?
I always operated by the philosophy of “You are either growing or your dying” in business. The easiest metric by which to measure growth is in sales and/or profit margins. I looked at our original target number and realized that in order to hit that goal, we would likely push ourselves to the breaking point to make up for lost time. In doing so, our customer service would be at risk as would our sanity. Money has never been the most important thing to me (although being profitable is essential to being in business). I realized that growth could come in the form of professional development, improved processes, better service to our customers, and better service to our candidates (many of whom are newly unemployed). Through discussions with my amazing teammates, we agreed that those were the growth metrics we would focus on in 2020. What creative ways can your team grow in 2020?What new goals do we need to put into place that weren’t even on our radar six months ago?
The world looks a little different these days. Turns out that there were some opportunities to serve that weren’t even on my pre-COVID radar. One area that jumped out was how things have changed for job seekers. As a team, we all agreed to give extra time to unemployed job seekers that we talk to. Give them job search advice, give them resume tips, encourage them, listen to their stories. Normally, we have targets for the length of time spent on phone screens or phone interviews; those metrics are temporarily suspended as we strive to offer hope in what can be a tough time for many people. What new opportunities does your team have to serve customers, each other, or the community during this time?Am I “giving up” by rewriting this plan?
As a goal driven individual, adjusting our 2020 targets felt a lot like failure. Proverbs 16:9 came to mind: “We can make our plans, but the LORD determines our steps.” I didn’t have a crystal ball that allowed me to see that 2020 was going to be a year of unprecedented events. Reflection on the resources that God provided and the blessings that came the past few months brought about a sense of peace. The world does not operate according to our plans. The world does not follow neat 12-month cycles. This revision of goals was about “resetting” in light of new information and new situations. Adjusting course wasn’t failure, it was about accepting that plans are to be held loosely and embracing the path we’re currently traveling. Are you giving yourself the grace needed to reset your plans for 2020? What needs to change in your business in light of all the changes in the world this year?
If you haven’t taken the time to revisit your 2020 plans, I would encourage you to carve out an hour to do so. If you didn’t make a plan for 2020, it’s not too late. We’ve got six months to improve our businesses, serve our teams and clients better, and grow in ways we did not imagine six months ago.