Mid-Year Reset to Simplify

Every year, we do an strategic planning and set a vision and goals for the year. But we all know that all plans don’t go according to plan so as Morgan Housel says it best in his book, “The Psychology of Money,” in his chapter of “Room for Error: The most important part of every plan is planning on your plan not going according to plan.”

And that is why every year, mid-way through the year, our team does a check-in and reset based on how the year is going and how we hope the second half will be.

We ask ourselves questions like:

• What is working?

• What should we continue?

• What should we start doing?

• What should we stop doing?

The last one tends to be the hardest because sometimes it’s easier to stick to the plan than to change it. Sometimes, it’s easier to grow than to simplify. But sometimes, that’s just what we have to do.

If the back of the house team is getting smaller, then our menu or offerings might have to get smaller so that we do not to compromise quality and can keep up with production. If the front of the house team is getting smaller, then execution of service must get more efficient and how we empower and educate customers may have to change so we can continue to provide the best possible great service. Another option is you can grow the team again, but that will take time to find, recruit, train, and retain the right people before they are up to speed to where you currently are, and so may need to make temporary changes so not to burn out your team still with you.

A reset is defined as to set again or differently. And a reset may be just what you need to reflect and refocus. And if it’s still too much, then maybe it’s time to simplify your options.

“Better one handful with tranquillity than two handfuls with toil and chasing after the wind.” -Ecclesiastes 4:6