How to Set Appropriate Quarterly Tasks for your Business?

Every business seeks growth, and it can only happen when there is adequate planning done before execution. In line with this thought process, quarterly planning is one of those processes that can steer a business in the right direction. It means planning for the next 3 months, and as a subset of this process, there is the practice of planning for recurring tasks throughout the year, with a focus on the next 3 months, or 1 quarter.

With that said, there is always the inquisitiveness about what can be included in quarterly tasks that can make sense to a business owner. This write-up seeks to interest business owners who are keen on adopting a quarterly schedule for tasks but are looking for the right kind of information.

Now, let’s focus our attention on how to go about accomplishing quarterly tasks in a step-by-step fashion:

Step 1: Visualise the Big Picture

This has to be the long-term goal that needs to be accomplished in a year. This could be about setting sales targets, finding new customers, or improving production output by certain percentage points. Restrict yourself from going beyond a year, as there are chances of the goals becoming vague by increasing the span of time.

Step 2: Create Quarterly Segmentation

Once the goals are in place, it is time to divide them into four parts, with each part representing a quarter. Along with this, one can set milestones for each of the four quarters, consisting of specific action items, the person responsible for the action, and the reasonable deadline within which to action needs to be accomplished.

Step 3: Plan Weekly Milestones

For making action items or tasks more feasible, there can be a creation of weekly milestones specific to each action item. Before allowing your team members to take up the task, it can be a good idea to conduct a 15-minute meeting before the beginning of the work. It can ensure everyone is communicating at the same wavelength, and are guided by a common purpose and working towards the same goal.

Step 4: Keep a Check

As a business owner, it can be prudent if you can have an impromptu chat with your team members once every two weeks at their workspaces to understand their perspective. Such meetings can provide a lot of insights into the difficulties and concerns the team members encounter during execution. Overall, the leadership has the responsibility to conduct projects openly and transparently, and such meetings can help immensely in expediting tasks.

Step 5: Pivot when Necessary

The best-laid plans are the ones that can be altered. In line with this saying, one needs to anticipate unforeseen circumstances, or Black Swan events, and pivot accordingly. However, it is necessary to evaluate all options before making a decision. Remaining up-to-date on trends and events in the industry will allow you to make an informed choice before venturing into any kind of course correction.

Step 6: Review and Reassess

Before the beginning of each quarter, make it a point to identify skill gaps, communication hindrances, teamwork issues, and motivational problems that plague the team. A quarterly review of tasks will allow the team to approach their tasks with renewed vigour and enthusiasm. With reviews, the team would be provided with feedback on what’s working and what’s not, with an emphasis toward on-the-job performance by both performers and non-performers.

Recurring Tasks to be Dealt on Quarterly Basis

Now that we understand how to go about Quarterly tasks, it is time to delve into what can be the specific tasks to be done quarterly, here it is:

1. Review Recurring Expenses

As a business owner, you may be having a bookkeeper, it is always a good idea to check on expenses that are incurred regularly. This can be done weekly, or monthly, and can be cumulated as a quarterly report. By doing this at regular intervals, you would be able to eliminate unnecessary expenses, helping save costs in the long run. By making it a regular exercise, you can be assured of the fact that you are spending on the right things.

2. Review of Offers and Pricing  

You might have clients that have remained with you for a long period of time. And, you might have realised that it has been a long since you reviewed your pricing. Hence, it is recommended that the pricing review must be on top of your agenda every quarter. A quick way of doing this is to compare pricing between new and old clients. If there is a significant difference that is negatively affecting your bottom line, then it is the right time to make that call to the client for the re-evaluation of pricing. As a business, it can be a best practice to review the pricing every quarter; it may not bring the intended response, but it is always effective to convey the message to the client.

3. Current Goals & New Ones

As a business, you will be driven by business objectives both in the short and long term. Hence, it can be prudent to accomplish short term goals and analyse how it feeds into your long-term goals. Most short-term goals should have a maximum time span of a quarter, and it should be framed in such a way that it makes the long-term goal achievable. A quarterly review can be a best practice in business to set deadlines for multiple short-term goals. It can also be the ideal time to set new goals, while making long-term goals achievable and measurable.

Conclusion

Although goal setting is a conventional way to accomplish business objectives, it can be given added thrust if goals are reviewed every quarter and broken down into 4-parts to make them more achievable. Every business that seeks robust growth must adhere to this process of quarterly tasks to improve focus on task completion while laying down the expectation and responsibility among team members to accomplish the task. Overall, it is both pragmatic and effective if tasks are conceived and executed with a quarterly time frame.

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