{"id":46500,"date":"2025-11-28T23:40:04","date_gmt":"2025-11-28T23:40:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/isafespend.com\/?p=46500"},"modified":"2025-11-28T23:40:04","modified_gmt":"2025-11-28T23:40:04","slug":"stop-pretending-one-meeting-a-year-will-fix-your-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/isafespend.com\/?p=46500","title":{"rendered":"Stop Pretending One Meeting a Year Will Fix Your Business"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n\t\t Entrepreneur \t<\/p>\n<p>\n\tThis article is part of the America&#8217;s Favorite Mom &amp; Pop Shops series. Read more stories<\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<h2 class=\"tw:mt-0 tw:mb-1 tw:font-sans tw:text-2xl\">Key Takeaways<\/h2>\n<ul class=\"tw:font-semibold tw:font-sans tw:text-base tw:marker:text-blue-600\">\n<li>Post-mortems should happen after every major project, meeting, or incident, not just annually.<\/li>\n<li>Create a safe, no-blame environment with clear roles, checklists and documented feedback.<\/li>\n<li>Pre-mortems help anticipate challenges, improving planning, communication and future project outcomes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>It\u2019s that time of year again \u2014 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?<\/p>\n<p>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\u2019d 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.<\/p>\n<p>There should also be consideration to incident post-mortems, where there\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n<p><b>Related: Employees are Turning the Tables \u2014 How Entrepreneurs Should Change Their Annual Employee Reviews<\/b><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What a good post-mortem looks like<\/h2>\n<p>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\u2019s important to present a collaborative, \u201cno-blame\u201d atmosphere where participants know it\u2019s a safe place to give their honest feedback and opinions, and take ownership if needed, without any fear of punitive action or retribution.<\/p>\n<p>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\u2019t. 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.<\/p>\n<p>Ideally, for post-mortems that are outside the annual window, you should hold this session within a week of a project wrapping while everyone\u2019s takeaways are still fresh. It\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n<p>You\u2019ll want to designate a moderator, a note taker and the person who will be writing the actual post-mortem report. I\u2019d recommend rotating different personnel to fill these roles for each post-mortem, so it\u2019s not always the same person and there\u2019s a fresh approach to these key responsibilities.<\/p>\n<p>When the report is finalized, it\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n<p><b>Related: Why Startups Fail, According to Their Founders<\/b><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Consider pre-mortems, too<\/h2>\n<p>While reviewing a business year or an important project after the fact is essential, there\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>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 \u2014 whether it\u2019s next week or next year.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<h2 class=\"tw:mt-0 tw:mb-1 tw:font-sans tw:text-2xl\">Key Takeaways<\/h2>\n<ul class=\"tw:font-semibold tw:font-sans tw:text-base tw:marker:text-blue-600\">\n<li>Post-mortems should happen after every major project, meeting, or incident, not just annually.<\/li>\n<li>Create a safe, no-blame environment with clear roles, checklists and documented feedback.<\/li>\n<li>Pre-mortems help anticipate challenges, improving planning, communication and future project outcomes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>It\u2019s that time of year again \u2014 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?<\/p>\n<p>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\u2019d 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.<\/p>\n<div class=\"tw:justify-center tw:bg-gray-100 tw:flex tw:flex-col tw:sm:flex-row tw:rounded-lg tw:p-6 tw:align-middle tw:sm:text-left tw:text-center tw:mt-4 not-prose\">\n<div class=\"tw:flex tw:flex-col tw:justify-center tw:align-middle tw:mr-0 tw:sm:mr-16\">\n<p class=\"tw:text-sm tw:leading-5 tw:my-0 tw:font-sans\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe rest of this article is locked.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p class=\"tw:text-xl tw:text-black tw:font-bold tw:leading-5 tw:my-1 tw:font-sans\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJoin Entrepreneur<span class=\"tw:text-yellow-300\">+<\/span> today for access.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Read the full article <a href=\"https:\/\/www.entrepreneur.com\/growing-a-business\/stop-pretending-one-meeting-a-year-will-fix-your-business\/499588\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" rel=\"nofollow\">here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Entrepreneur This article is part of the America&#8217;s Favorite Mom &amp; Pop Shops series. Read more stories Key Takeaways Post-mortems should happen after every major project, meeting, or incident, not just annually. Create a safe, no-blame environment with clear roles, checklists and documented feedback. Pre-mortems help anticipate challenges, improving planning, communication and future project outcomes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":46501,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[32],"class_list":{"0":"post-46500","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-investing","8":"tag-featured"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.12 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Stop Pretending One Meeting a Year Will Fix Your Business | iSafeSpend<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Entrepreneur This article is part of the America&#039;s Favorite Mom &amp; Pop Shops series. 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