Stop Pretending One Meeting a Year Will Fix Your Business

It’s that time of year again — time for the holiday parties, the client gifts and the annual post-mortems where we analyze what went well over the course of 12 months, what failed, and what we can take into the new year. Every time this comes around again on the calendar, I always have one question: Why do we do this just once a year?

Annual traditions should be left to Christmas, Hanukkah and birthdays, not one of the most important parts of assessing your business and its strengths and weaknesses. While an annual recap is a necessity, I’d also go as far as to say that any time a big project wraps up, you should be doing a post-mortem. Any time an important meeting with stakeholders is held, you should do a post-mortem. Pitches and partnerships are also key times to be debriefing and putting together your formal thoughts.

There should also be consideration to incident post-mortems, where there’s a proper evaluation after something goes awry. Really, this formality should be a best practice for any occasion when considerable time and resources are involved.

Related: Employees are Turning the Tables — How Entrepreneurs Should Change Their Annual Employee Reviews

What a good post-mortem looks like

At the heart of a post-mortem is the communal meeting where key parties come together to discuss the year, the project or the incident. During the meeting, it’s important to present a collaborative, “no-blame” atmosphere where participants know it’s a safe place to give their honest feedback and opinions, and take ownership if needed, without any fear of punitive action or retribution.

Having a checklist and a note-taker is essential. This ensures you have a record of all feedback. You can return to the document later if needed. Key areas to discuss include: the original goals of the year or project, what was accomplished, and what could have gone better. Review the methods that worked well and those that didn’t. Identify key problem areas and any technical or technological difficulties. Consider tools that could have improved the project. Discuss the financial impact and takeaways for the future. Finally, outline any new responsibilities that result from this discussion.

Ideally, for post-mortems that are outside the annual window, you should hold this session within a week of a project wrapping while everyone’s takeaways are still fresh. It’s also a good idea to send a survey or checklist to participants (and even employees who may not be in the meeting). This provides a wealth of responses upfront that will help you create a proper meeting agenda. Share this with all attending so they know what will be discussed and can give extra thought to the specific items ahead of time. An agenda will also keep the meeting on track.

You’ll want to designate a moderator, a note taker and the person who will be writing the actual post-mortem report. I’d recommend rotating different personnel to fill these roles for each post-mortem, so it’s not always the same person and there’s a fresh approach to these key responsibilities.

When the report is finalized, it’s a good idea to share it company-wide so that everyone feels equitable and in-the-know of company developments. After all, an effective post-mortem can lead to improved morale, more streamlined processes and also boost communication.

Related: Why Startups Fail, According to Their Founders

Consider pre-mortems, too

While reviewing a business year or an important project after the fact is essential, there’s also a case for using this framework in the planning stages, too. This is where the pre-mortem comes in. The same questions and checklists can be utilized, but thought of through a preliminary perspective.

So, what might the challenges be that could come up? What are some tools that might help tackle the job more effectively? What may be the financial impact, etc? Giving analytical thought to a project before it kicks off can actually prevent some of the shortfalls that would otherwise end up in a post-mortem. It also gives license to stakeholders and employees to air any worries or concerns they have ahead of time, further mitigating a bad result.

In the end, the goal is always about having the best learning opportunities and opening up the lines of communication so all of that knowledge can be applied in the future — whether it’s next week or next year.

It’s that time of year again — time for the holiday parties, the client gifts and the annual post-mortems where we analyze what went well over the course of 12 months, what failed, and what we can take into the new year. Every time this comes around again on the calendar, I always have one question: Why do we do this just once a year?

Annual traditions should be left to Christmas, Hanukkah and birthdays, not one of the most important parts of assessing your business and its strengths and weaknesses. While an annual recap is a necessity, I’d also go as far as to say that any time a big project wraps up, you should be doing a post-mortem. Any time an important meeting with stakeholders is held, you should do a post-mortem. Pitches and partnerships are also key times to be debriefing and putting together your formal thoughts.