With June coming to a close, we are officially entering the second half of 2016. As we look back at the past six months, it’s important to review the accomplishments you achieved and how your annual goals are shaping out. Just as a basketball team goes into the locker room at the halfway point of a game to discuss their game plan, it’s important for companies to take advantage of this pivotal point of the year and have a halftime review.
View your team’s original plan.
To conduct a successful halftime review, begin by taking a look back at the annual plan and goals your team made at the beginning of the year. If you have dry-erase boards or flip charts, take a minute to write out the top five goals you wanted to accomplish this year. Hopefully, this isn’t the first time you and your team have discussed these goals since January, but if so, go through each one and discuss why those goals were chosen and what they mean to the company. Once you’ve taken a look at what you wanted to accomplish, it’s time to evaluate where your team is reaching those goals.
Evaluate what has worked.
Celebrating your team’s success is one of the best motivational tools for finishing the year strong. So, take a moment to discuss what your team has done right in the pursuit of each objective. Allow your team to discuss openly what was accomplished so far and what they feel was done correctly. This is a great time to give kudos for employees who have gone above and beyond to help the team achieve specific goals. After you facilitate conversation for the success of each topic, it’s time for constructive criticism.
Evaluate what hasn’t worked.
Sometimes the purpose of a halftime in sports is to figure out what the team is doing wrong and change the game plan in order to have success in the end. The same goes for companies at the halfway point of the year. If what you are doing hasn’t helped or has had a negative effect in reaching your goals, it’s important to acknowledge those habits or practices. Encourage your team to be open and honest about what they or leadership are doing that isn’t working. Be sure to contain this, not let it become a venting session or a blame game, but a chance for growth. After you lead your team through each goal, pinpointing what hasn’t worked, it’s time to discuss changes that need to be made.
Decide what needs to change.
There are two instances where you may decide change needs to be made. The first comes on the heels of discussing what hasn’t worked. If the original course isn’t helping reach your goals, have your team brainstorm ways to change the tide in your favor. Maybe you need to delegate work better, or maybe you need to change your overall approach. Encourage your team to be transparent and creative about what they think would work.
The second instance in which change needs to occur is when you have already achieved an annual goal. Successful teams don’t rest on their laurels—they keep striving for that next goal. If this is the case, take this moment to develop a bigger goal for the team to reach by year’s end.
Halftime helps build buy-in.
Engaging your employees in a halftime review is not only a great way to ensure your company achieves its goals by Dec. 31, but it’s also a foolproof way to build employee buy-in. These techniques allow your team to share in the overall success of your company by including them in discussions on what is going well, what hasn’t worked, and what needs to change. Leading by listening helps morale, engagement, and retention. Take advantage of the halfway marker this year by participating in a halftime review with your employees. It may just be the game-changer you need to enjoy a championship season this year.
What do you do to ensure a successful halftime review? How has a bi-annual review helped your company achieve its annual goals? Let us know in the comments section below!
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