I can tell by observing my rose garden that a new season is upon us here in sunny California.  All 160 rose bushes in my yard have pushed out their final blooms of the year.  As the cold mornings help them fade away, they go into hibernation mode focusing their strength for their revival in April of next year.  Even roses know the power and necessity of taking the time to focus their energy for the sake of future seasons. 

 How about your business?  Are you  nearing the end of your current season or year?  Are you taking time to focus on the successes and disappointments of the past twelve months?  A lot of time, sweat and tears went into those experiences.  Will  you ask yourself, “What have we learned as a result?”  Those lessons will make great guidelines for you and your team next year.   Which lessons do you want to repeat?  Which do you want to avoid so you’ll never have cause to learn them all over again?

Are you starting to focus on the year ahead?  What objectives and goals will you set?  What focusing strategies will you implement to grow your business?  How about key initiatives or major projects that need to be completed in ‘08 in order for your company to progress closer and closer to your long term vision?  Do you know what they are?

 Like roses, you should do a little hibernating of your own and think deeply about these questions.  I have all my clients take a two day retreat with me at the end of each year so we can hone their focus and put together their annual goals and objectives for the upcoming season.  You can’t imagine how profitable it is for them to become introspective and evaluate their past year as they look toward developing a well aligned plan for the year ahead.  It invigorates not just the members of the management team who co-create the plan but it invigorates the employees when they hear the results of that focusing effort. 

 Taking time to focus on the new season that lies ahead is the most productive business activity one can do,  It makes you and everyone else in the organization more productive and more efficient by following your guidelines and  focusing your efforts on what’s truly important.