9 Important Mid-Year Questions
Sara Wilson, CPCC |
Mid-calendar year, a-l-r-e-a-d-y. I hope you’re enjoying summer cook-outs, Frisbee golf, and vacations to new and exciting places. I just got back from a wonderful week in Mexico!
But summer isn’t all fun and travel. Maybe your kids are home and you are juggling their activities and schedules. Maybe yard work is taking up a lot of time. And looming over everything is WORK. Fall is just around the corner and then before you know it, the end of the calendar year will be here.
It’s natural at this time of year to feel worries swirling in the back of your mind about the progress you’ve made on your annual goals, how much money you’ve raised, and the state of your organization’s budget. (I know you Leaders…you are asking these questions much more frequently than once every six months!)
Now is a good time to get these questions out of your head by having everyone on the team (staff and board) discuss the same questions. Here are nine important mid-year questions:
Where are we today?
- What does our financial forecast look like? Are we on track?
- Are we delivering on our promise of service to the community? Are we delivering the programs to achieve the mission?
- What is the status of our Annual Work Plan goals? Both staff and board can use a simple dashboard of green (good), yellow (behind), red (not started or stop) to report progress. Share across the organization.
Where are we headed?
- What are the top three priorities for the rest of the year?
- What should we stop doing and why?
- Am I spending time on the right things? Where do I need to adjust?
- Number 3 (above) for the staff and the board.
- In the next two quarters what is one thing I commit to doing to increase camaraderie among the staff? Among the board?
- (Hint: this is not a question. Read out loud): This is a marathon with a need to sprint sometimes. Modeling self-care and work-life balance is important. What will I do to sustain myself for the marathon?