With Christa, the Christmas Elf with a Plan – 10 December
Wrap up work projects before the holiday, is Christa’s End of the Year Planning Tip for today. It looks like she’s gotten herself a bit wrapped up as she is finishing up her work projects ahead of Christmas Eve. That looks like little rubber balls and lumps of coal. I wonder which will be in my stocking this year.
Not only is it important to make sure you’re on track with all the tasks that must be completed by the end of the year. It is also a good idea to document the current status of on-going projects that will continue into the new year. With many people taking extra time away leading up to Christmas and through New Year’s Day, it is good to make sure everything is planned out, not only for the rest of this year, but into early January, as well.
Preparing For The End of the Year and Holidays at Work
What you’ll need to verify to ensure you are ready work-wise for the end of the year, will depend your occupation and your role(s) in the organization or company you work for. Let’s look at a few specific areas that you might need to consider.
Personnel Related
Unless you are a solo entrepreneur, you need to make sure that any employees who report to you are aware of your scheduled time away and who they should report to, if necessary, during your absence. If you work for someone else, you will want to verify they have approved and recorded your planned time away. Depending on your tasks and how they are usually handled if you are away, you may want to ensure they have covered things so that you don’t come back to a situation that could have been avoided.
If you routinely work directly with clients, customers or contractors, you may wish to notify them of your planned time away from the office and provide contact information for your back-up. Speaking of clients and customers, they should be notified ahead of any change in business hours during the holiday season.
Project/Product Related
All projects with December or January deadlines should be reviewed to ensure that they are on track and will be completed on time. You should document the status of all on-going projects, even if they are not expected to be completed until later in the new year. This status should include current progress, upcoming tasks, issues and challenges, and dependencies on other projects. It may also include budget status and resource requirements. I would also look at projects with planned starts in January to make certain all planning for resources, etc. is moving forward on schedule.
Review orders for products or other deliverables to clients/customers scheduled for the remainder of the year and what is known for January. Ensure not only that the in-house work to fulfill these orders is on track to meet the agreed delivery dates, but that any materials or other resources will be available on time.
Business Administration Related
Some large businesses set their fiscal year calendar to end at a more feasible time for their business. In the US, they can elect to use their fiscal year as their tax year. Some businesses would not do year-end financial statements or inventory reporting at the end of December. For instance, Walmart’s fiscal year runs from 1 February – 31 January and covering the entire holiday season within one fiscal year. The US Federal Government’s fiscal year is 1 October – 30 September. Many companies that do significant amounts of business with the US Federal Government use the same fiscal year.
There are numerous end-of-the-month reports that are typically generated depending on the type of business. These same reports are typically generated to include data covering the entire year just completed at the end of the fiscal year. These include various financial statements, budgets, expenses, inventories and such. Regulatory compliance reviews or audits, if either are applicable, may be schedule on a different periodicity. For the December to January and holiday period, you should review plans for completing the necessary reports – either monthly and/or fiscal year reports – based on your companies fiscal year. Noting fiscal year reports and anticipated reviews/audits in the appropriate monthly plans or on a future log would be an excellent idea. Small businesses and solo entrepreneurs would be doing all the fiscal year reporting at the end of December.
Strategic planning is also typically by fiscal year. Most larger businesses or organizations try to complete their strategic planning a couple of months before the new fiscal year begins. This would be another task to note in your future log or monthly plans. Smaller businesses are possibly doing this in December, it would be like a project with a December deadline. As a solo entrepreneur, I do strategic planning for Sweet Ginger Designs as I am doing my personal goals for the new year.
The last topic is marketing. If you work for a business or company and marketing is your role, then you would handle this as a project or product, as described above. But if you are a solo entrepreneur, or a very small business, you need to plan out your marketing campaign and ensure it is ready and queued up for release.
Summary
Taking the steps to wrap up all of our work projects as we approach the end of the year, Christmas, and New Year’s Day can ensure we meet our deadlines, capture needed year-end information and set ourselves up for a stress-free start in the new year. The think that Christa’s tips are helpful not just for the end of the year, but are good planning tips for use throughout the year. I hope you enjoy these tips and find them helpful. Leave me a comment and let me know, thanks!
Happy Planning,
Linda
P.S. You can go back to Tip #1 and start over if you’ve missed any of Christa’s End of the Year Planning Tips. Just click here!
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