Read This Before Your Next Quarterly Review

It's the end of Q2. You are getting ready to do a quarterly review with your team. This blog helps you check off the key boxes in preparing for it.

So, you’ve got your ideas, goals and actions laid out in a long-term strategic plan, perhaps a medium-term business plan or simply in an annual operating plan. Fantastic! But how do you make sure that you are actually doing what you set out to do? All plans are useless if you are not able to implement them. How do you ensure that your plans are being implemented as envisioned? And if not, are you taking any corrective actions? You would not know the answers to these questions if you are not accustomed to quarterly reviews.

Here are 8 things you should know before doing your next quarterly review.

1.    What is a quarterly review?

MAKE IT A PART OF YOUR OVERALL PLANNING.  In simple words, quarterly review is part of your organization’s overall planning process but it focuses on your actual performance for the last three months only.  It’s an opportunity to reflect on the past quarter, to celebrate the successes and learn from mistakes. It allows you to identify gaps and find ways to improve your organization’s performance on a short-, medium- and long-term basis.

2.    Why should you do it?

 IT’S ALL ABOUT REFLECTION, REALIGNMENT, AND REFOCUSING. By becoming aware of the gaps and identifying ways to fill them, your organization can become more resilient to changes around it. Quarterly reviews allow you to take a closer look at your organization’s actual performance, evaluate progress of your goals and be realistic about how each goal will be achieved in the subsequent quarter.  It’s an awesome opportunity to modify your goals based on what you observed during the last quarter. This is the time of reflection, realignment and refocusing!

3.    What are the components of a quarterly review?

 POWER TO THE PEOPLE…ALSO, NUMBERS DON’T LIE. Your organization is made up of and run by people, so do not go any further but start right there. Ask your people how they felt about the past quarter in terms of your organization’s performance, including their own accomplishments. Then have a look at what was achieved as a collective – compare financial and non-financial metrics to get a holistic understanding of what went well and what did not. Following this, look at plans for the upcoming quarter and have an open discussion about that with your people. During these discussions, ask your people about their skills and expertise, and how it can all be strengthened to support your organization’s objectives for the coming quarter.

4.    What data need to be collected?

 ASK YOURSELF-WHAT HAPPENED? To understand your organization’s quarterly performance, you need to analyze financial and non-financial information side-by-side. Relying solely on one can be misleading. If you have a website for your organization, look at the traffic that it draws on a month-to-month basis because this tells you that people (customers or not) are interested in what you have to offer. Similarly, evaluate the engagement that you garner on various social media outlets on a periodical basis. These two methods help you understand how external engagement of your organization is either benefiting you or not. To understand internal engagement, you need to analyze your people and how they engage. Start with your timesheets and see how much time you have put in as an organization to different projects and clients that you serve. Look at one-on-one meeting your people have had with their direct managers and coaches. Finally, consider looking at your organization’s financial statements, income statement in particular, to understand the revenues and expenses you have incurred for the past quarter. 

5.    The financial components of a quarterly review

If your accounting systems are set up appropriately and you use technology to record financial transactions of your organization then you have nothing to worry about. Locate the income statement in your accounting system and filter it to provide you data for the quarter you are in process of reviewing. When you get that then have a look each line item on your income statement starting with revenue followed by expenses and understand the story behind each item. If you did your budgets at the start of your fiscal, then compare the actual quarterly figures with the budgeted to get a sense of the variance that exist in your organization. Whether the variance is favorable or adverse, it’s worth understanding the reasons for it and taking corrective actions where necessary.

6.    The human components of a quarterly review

 KEEPING PEOPLE ENGAGED - As mentioned before, your organization is made up of and run by your people. If you value them then you talk to them and keep them engaged on a daily and weekly basis. Quarterly review is an opportunity for you to assess how each person within your organization has contributed to your goals as well as their own personal and professional development. Start by looking at the time they put in on various projects and initiatives, including the time they spent on developing their professional skills and expertise. Ask them about how they feel about the organization’s progress and what could be done better or differently. Ask them about their own skills development and how they see the upcoming quarter unfolding. Key is to keep your people engaged in the process of evaluating the last quarter as well as planning for the upcoming one. 

7.    Looking forward: how do you set up for a successful quarter to come?

VISUALIZE THE BIG PICTURE. - By spending quality time on unfolding the progress you made during the past quarter is the first step in setting yourself up for a successful subsequent quarter and remaining year. Assess each and every system that you have in place, be it financial or non-financial and evaluate what worked as well as what did not in the previous quarter. Use the learnings to make adjustments to your goals and priorities, and start applying that towards the plan for the upcoming quarter.  When planning for the upcoming quarter, make sure that you visualize the big picture and your organization’s long term goals. Create monthly and weekly segmentation of workload based on the progress you made during the previous quarter. Also important is to communicate with your people and define how often you’d be meeting to check on progress as well as collaborate. Convert all of this in a simple quarterly plan and stick to it but pivot when needed. Finally, conduct your monthly assessment, make adjustments and report back to create accountability.

8.    Common mistakes to avoid when doing a quarterly reviews

While information is power, avoid solely relying on your information management systems. Get feedback of people around you and engage them in reviewing and planning quarter because with their input you risk the chances of getting their buy in. Also important is to identify relevant metrics to measure on a regular and consistent basis. Focusing on wrong metrics can be misleading and a waste of time. Finally, when looking at metrics, do not just rely on financial metrics. They are important but they do not define you as an organization. What defines you as an organization is what you do, why you do it, how you do it, who helps you do it and when you do it. Find metrics that help you answer these questions when conducting quarterly review and planning for your organizations.