2023 is already halfway through, how can we conduct a semi-annual review?

How was the work plan formulated at the beginning of the year executed? Did it meet expectations? To judge whether the work was done well, you need to "review". The author of this article explains from the perspective of three corporate roles how different dimensional roles should review. Let's read on.

June is coming to an end, and 2023 is already halfway through. How was the work plan made at the beginning of the year executed? Did it meet expectations? To judge whether the work was done well, we need to "review".

There is a difference between reviewing and summarizing. Summarizing is the conclusion drawn after an event is completed, and it focuses on the final result. Reviewing not only requires analytical conclusions, but also requires deducing the entire process, discovering problems, learning from experience, finding the root cause, and reflecting on and summarizing the rules.

So to put it simply, doing a good review can bring three major benefits.

First, avoid repeating mistakes

"Avoiding repeating mistakes" is the first goal of reviewing. In the process of reviewing, looking back and finding the problem can help us learn from our mistakes and avoid repeating them, thus increasing the success rate.

Second, find the right direction

If you are heading in the wrong direction, you will not reach your destination no matter how hard you try. The process of summarizing and reviewing is actually a process of correcting errors in every link, just like constantly checking the GPS while moving to correct whether your trajectory is on the correct route.

Third, establish a methodology

Reviewing is to sort out and think about what you have done in the past. After deep thinking, you can string together all the experience points. Over time, you will form a set of thinking system and work methodology that you are familiar with. The next time you encounter the same problem, you can avoid pitfalls and improve efficiency.

Everyone needs to review, but not everyone's review content is the same. Bosses, managers, employees, because of their different roles, naturally have different dimensions of review.

Now let’s talk about how to review different roles one by one.

1. How does the boss review the situation?

As the head of a business, you are responsible for the overall development of the company and need to consider corporate growth and profitability, as well as the development of the team and employees.

Therefore, the core of the review should start from three dimensions: this year's operating goals, achieving cost reduction and efficiency improvement, and team optimization.

First, we need to review the business situation in the first half of the year. Is it an increase or decrease compared to last year? What are the main reasons? This process requires in-depth discussion and analysis by the company's core executives.

Then, based on the review, what are the business goals for the second half of the year? Think about all the methods, strategies and paths to achieve the goals. There are several key issues to consider:

• Is it necessary to develop new products?
• How much sales profit do old products need to increase?
• What are the key businesses and core competencies?
• What new collaborations are possible?
• What new areas need to be expanded? (e.g. private domain, paid membership)

This review process requires the joint efforts of senior executives from each department, especially the financial director, to analyze the expenditure and profitability of each department this year and whether optimization can be performed. For example:

• Sales department: How much profit can each sale bring on average? Can it be increased if sales performance is increased?
• Product department: How much does it cost to develop a new product? How much profit does it bring?
• Channel Department: How much business growth can be generated by expanding new channels?

Strategy is the boss's fantasy. The only thing to see if the strategy is right is whether the boss has a team to implement the strategy. The team is the foundation. This review needs to be discussed in depth with the head of the human resources department and analyze the human efficiency. The key points to consider are:

• How to optimize positions in various departments?
• Which positions need to be filled?
• Which employees need to be eliminated?
• How to improve the job promotion system?

The above are three things that bosses should consider carefully when conducting a review.

2. How do managers review?

For business managers, it is particularly important to conduct an internal review of the team, which can clearly understand the work situation of employees and facilitate their own goal setting and planning. At the same time, it can also allow employees to understand each other's work content and facilitate cooperation at work.

In order to enable the team to achieve effective review and achieve the purpose of subsequent advancement, the "three-stage review method" is recommended here, which includes 3 stages:

1. Phase 1: Preparation

The manager will hold a review meeting based on the team's work content in the first half of the year and design the format of the review. There are several things that need to be notified to department members, including: the time of the meeting, the location of the meeting, the participants, the content of the meeting to be reported, and clarify the purpose and expected results of the review.

2. Phase 2: Reporting

The order of reporting is divided according to different departments or projects, and the reports are made in the order of specialists, supervisors, and directors from low to high. In order to unify the logic of the review, the summary can be made according to the GRAI review method , as follows:

• Goal (review goal): What are the goals and expectations at the beginning of the year;
• Result (evaluation result): What are the highlights and shortcomings compared with the original goals;
• Analysis: Summarize the reasons for project success and failure, including both subjective and objective aspects;
• Insight (classification summary): Through the above analysis, we can find more efficient and regular methods and measures that can be taken in the second half of the year.

For example, a company opens a new media account. Take the supervisor's perspective as an example:

1. Review goal : newly opened accounts should reach 100,000 followers;
2. Evaluation results : The account only reached 50,000 followers after one year of operation;
3. Analyze the reasons : Is the account positioning wrong? Is the operation method wrong? Is the operation not strictly in accordance with the plan? Analyze the specific reasons based on the data such as the opening rate and sharing rate;
4. Classification summary: Is the topic wrong? Should we optimize it? Is the positioning wrong? Should we make adjustments? Draw conclusions on the work requirements for next year.

The key to this stage is to summarize experiences and lessons, propose a process for follow-up action plans, and clearly distinguish between rewards and punishments, rather than focusing only on the good or bad aspects.

3. Phase 3: Advancing Work

After the review is completed, the review results will be sorted out, and the reflection findings, action plans, and management improvement suggestions will be sent to relevant team members. The documents and materials will be uploaded to internal documents for employees to review and use later.

After the new measures are implemented, the effects will be evaluated at regular intervals, and follow-up improvement measures will be discussed based on the actual situation. The results of the review will be truly implemented to ensure the positive development of the team.

The above is the review method for managers. As a manager, the success of the team is the real success, so you should pay more attention to the development and improvement of individual employees.

3. How do employees review?

The employee review needs to highlight the actual work content, clearly present the process, results, and data, so that the leader can quickly understand what you have done and what you have accomplished. Do not use ambiguous words and results without data.

Here you can review according to the CVMA method:

1. Compare: Review goals and results

First, reorganize the work of the whole year according to the work project, and see which links you participated in. Then list the specific work done for each project, including the goal, the work in charge, the results of the work, and the completion of the goal. For example:

• Project: Tik Tok account operation;
• Goal: To increase the number of followers by 100,000 within 1 year;
• Responsibilities: 20 scripts written per month;
• Work completed results: 15 scripts written per month;
• Target completion status: Increase followers by 50,000 within 1 year.

You can fill in the listed tasks in the table below to compare goals and results more intuitively.

2. Value: Evaluating value and key steps

The second step is to evaluate the importance of the work you are responsible for and summarize the highlights and shortcomings. You can answer the following questions:

• What value does the work I am responsible for bring?
• Which processes have been optimized?
• What costs were saved?
• Which channels have been expanded?
• Which steps were not done well? How can they be improved in the future?

For example: I am responsible for script writing in the Douyin project. I established a script sop process, which improved the writing efficiency by 20% and made it easier for newcomers to use. I established a content library of 100 related scripts, which improved the efficiency of script editing. There are some shortcomings in topic selection, and I will analyze 30 accounts in the future to select suitable topics.

3. Method: Discovering patterns and finding commonalities

The third step is to summarize the experience through the process of comparing the target results and evaluating the value, so as to apply it to the next work or project. You can answer these questions:

• What can we learn from this work?
• What practices can be maintained or promoted?
• Which processes can be optimized or iterated?

You can list the reasons and experience summaries for each task according to the table below.

4. Apply: Summary, reflection and scenario application

After summarizing the rules, we need to think about how to apply this rule to other work scenarios. We need to think about:

• What work can use the rules I summarized?
• How can we better carry out the next step of work?
• What resource support is needed for optimization work?

When you review each task carefully and reflectively, and use the conclusions from these reflections to improve subsequent plans, you will definitely achieve tremendous improvement.

4. Final Thoughts

Confucius said, "I examine myself three times a day." In fact, he was talking about reflection and review. Although there was no such concept in ancient times, people were already aware of the importance of reflection.

The greatest progress of a person comes from reviewing and summarizing daily work, planning, and having an open mind. Without reviewing, people will make the same mistakes over and over again without accumulating experience. Only by constantly reviewing can you make continuous progress.

Author: Yan Tao

Source: WeChat public account "Yan Tao Sanshou (ID: yantao-219)"