2 days Ago By Guardian Nigeria
Asking the right questions at year’s end isn’t just a formality—it’s a powerful tool for driving growth, improving culture, and positioning your business for success. By reflecting on what worked, what didn’t, and what’s next, you can close the year on a high note and set the stage for an even better year ahead. So, gather your team when you resume and ask the following questions.
1. What Were Our Biggest Wins This Year, and Why? Identifying wins boosts morale, reinforces effective strategies, and builds momentum for the future. People thrive when their efforts are recognized.
When Starbucks introduced its reusable cup initiative, it not only saved costs but also gained significant positive PR. By analyzing why this worked—timing, customer sentiment, and sustainability trends—the company could scale similar projects. When Salesforce closed its highest-ever deal in 2022, the company celebrated publicly and internally, using the win as a rallying point for the next year.
Gallup research shows that companies that recognize achievements have 31% lower turnover rates, 31% higher employee engagement and 21% higher profitability. Call To Action – You can host a team meeting to celebrate achievements, big and small. Document successful projects and the factors that drove them.
Create a “Year in Review” newsletter for employees and stakeholders.Use insights to create a “success blueprint” for next year. 2.
What Didn’t Go as Planned, and What Can We Learn? Failure is a better teacher than success. Reviewing missteps helps leaders avoid repeating them. Understanding failures is just as important as celebrating wins—it’s where the lessons lie.
In 2014, Target’s expansion into Canada flopped spectacularly. By analyzing the failure, they realized poor logistics and underwhelming product offerings were to blame, lessons that informed future initiatives. In 2020, Peloton faced backlash over its controversial holiday ad.
Instead of shying away, the company analyzed its misstep, adjusted its marketing tone, and emerged stronger. According to Harvard Business Review, organizations that learn from failures are 23% more likely to innovate successfully. Call To Action – Encourage teams to frame failures as experiments, not catastrophes.
Conduct post-mortems for failed projects without blame. Identify patterns and root causes in setbacks with actionable lessons so as to avoid repeating them. Encourage teams to share lessons learned without fear of blame.
3. Are We Aligned With Our Mission and Vision? Misalignment between day-to-day operations and organizational purpose can dilute efforts and demotivate teams. Inconsistent alignment with core values can erode trust among employees, customers, and stakeholders.
For example, Flour Mills of Nigeria (FMN) continuously aligns its business operations with its commitment to local content – like deployment of innovation in driving localisation of wheat production, aggregating over 8,000 tonnes of wheat grain in 15 collection points across three (3) Nigerian states and investing about 3.5 billion Naira on CSR projects, donations, and other interventions. Companies with strong mission alignment see 58% higher employee retention rates (Harvard Business Review).
A Deloitte survey found that 73% of employees who feel aligned with their company’s mission are engaged at work. Call To Action – Review strategic decisions to ensure they reflect core values. Revisit your mission and values—are they reflected in your actions? Communicate the mission in all your internal messaging.
Identify any areas where you strayed from your principles and ddjust processes or initiatives that veer off course. 4. How Did Our Customers Feel About Us? Happy customers are loyal customers, and they’re often your best source of new business.
As a matter of fact, customer satisfaction is the ultimate business KPI. If you’re not adding value, you’re losing relevance. At the Africa Nxt Conference 2023, Executive Head of Content & West Africa Channels, MultiChoice Nigeria, Dr Busola Tejumolan said “In Nigeria alone, we have over 250 tribes and ways of living, and stories for days.
We can tell 250,000 stories in a year, and you won’t repeat any of them. There is just uniqueness and diversity in our stories. As a brand, we are not just jumping on a trend with indigenous stories.
We’ve told these stories for over a decade through our Africa Magic Yoruba, Igbo and Hausa channels. As much as we believe that local content that appeals nationally is good, we know that people want to see themselves represented on screen.” Arguably, this commitment to making viewers see themselves representeed on screen has led to the continuous growth of Multichoice Group despite very challengeing macro-economic conditions.
According to Zendesk, 87% of customers will recommend a company after a positive experience, but 58% will never return after a bad one. HubSpot reports that companies prioritizing customer experience see 1.7x higher customer retention rates.
Call To Action – Analyze customer feedback to identify trends. Analyze customer satisfaction scores (CSAT) and Net Promoter Scores (NPS). Collect feedback through year-end surveys or focus groups.
Highlight and share stories of positive customer impact. Identify areas for improvement. Develop an action plan to address unresolved pain points and communicate planned changes to customers.
5. How Did We Empower and Engage Our People? Your people are your most valuable asset, and disengaged employees cost businesses billions annually in lost productivity. A thriving workforce therefore equals a thriving business.
Leaders must prioritize employee growth and well-being. TVC Communications deployed a company-wide training on emotional intelligence in 2024. As a result, the media company witnessed increase in team collboration, employee wellbeing and enhanced leadership effectiveness.
Jaiz Bank Plc embarked on a culture transformation project in 2024. In addition to remarkable growth in its financial metrics as a result of the culture transformation, the bank also witnessed signficant improvement in employee engagement and retention, enhanced staff productivty and stronger customer relations. The bank is soaring high.
LinkedIn’s Workforce Learning Report found that 94% of employees would stay longer at a company that invests in their development. According to Gallup, ‘highly engaged teams are 21% more profitable’. Call To Action – Review training and development budgets—did you spend it wisely? Highlight promotions and growth stories from within the team.
Conduct an anonymous employee engagement survey. Act on feedback, even if it’s tough to hear.Recognize top performers and ensure all employees feel valued.
Engage us in CHAMP to empower and engage your workforce as we did with TVC Communications, Jaiz Bank and other peak performing organizations. For Questions 6 – 14, visit www.tppafrica.
com About Dr. Abiola Salami Dr. Abiola Salami is the Convener of Dr Abiola Salami International Leadership Bootcamp ; The Peak PerformerTM Festival and The New Year Kickoff Summit.
He is the Principal Performance Strategist at CHAMP – a full scale professional services firm trusted by high performing business leaders for providing Executive Coaching, Workforce Development & Advisory Services to improve performance. You can reach his team on [email protected] and connect with him @abiolachamp on all social media platforms..
