4Q13

The Excellerator 4Q13 Get Excellerated!

Welcome to the final Excellerator of the year!  2013 sure went out with a bang… a cold, frigid, icy bang for those of us in the GTA.  Hopefully the worst is past us and we can now get back to business and for the next few days at least relax and enjoy the winter break.

As you do so keep in mind that EA is here to help you achieve your targets for 2014.  Be it an organizational review to get the most out of your staff, a finance restructuring to reduce the cost of debt, an acquisition to fuel growth, or the recruiting of a key player to your team, Excellerated Analysis has the resources you need to get where you want to go.

Have a Happy & Excellerated 2014!

Thoughts on Goals and Targets…

For many of us this is the time of year when we ask ourselves if we achieved our business goals.  Were sales in line with forecasts?  Did expenses come in on budget?  Are margins up or down compared to last year?

Setting goals and targets are an important aspect of everything we do, be it in business or our personal lives.  It is possible to be dejected if the numbers don’t come in favourably.  To regret the past year’s lost opportunities, the missed sales, the cost overruns, and all the little things that added up to the numbers staring back at you.

Even if the numbers are good, the question still lingers how do we beat these next year.  How do I push the team further?

When it comes to setting goals and targets, the journey travelled to achieve results is just as important as the results themselves.  It’s the lessons learned along the way that when leveraged begin to add up and have a material impact on overall success.   As they say, the definition of a fool is to do the same thing twice and expect a different result.

As well, the targets for the year should be viewed in the context of the long term plan and the business strategy.  Even if the numbers were short this year, is the business still on course to hit the five year plan?  Perhaps the foundation for growth was laid this year and next year is a breakthrough year.  Of course, if at this point you’re asking yourself… 5 year plan, what 5 year plan???  Remember what Alice said in Wonderland, “If you don’t know where you want to go, then it doesn’t matter which path you take”.

The point is to see the silver lining and rally the team around the good news.  Emphasize what worked well and what can be built upon, while ensuring what didn’t is being reviewed, rethought, revised and re-launched.  From a check-up perspective it’s what we at EA refer to as The OASES Approach™ namely; Observe, Analyze, Strategize, Execute, Simplify.

So if the numbers didn’t make the cut this year, make sure you walk away from 2013 a little wiser.  And if they did and all is well, now is the time to make sure your targets are in line with your successes…Aim high, there’s lots of room!