Turn annual goals into quarterly action plans

Kick things off by pulling up your annual plan and walking everyone through it. Make sure your whole team is clear on where you're headed for the year before you start mapping out the quarter.

Take your big annual goals and split them into smaller, more focused areas your team can actually tackle in the next three months. It's much easier to make real progress when you're working on bite-sized pieces.

Always keep your budget front of mind when you’re putting the quarter together.
Did you come in over or under budget last quarter?
Do you need more resources to hit this quarter’s benchmarks? Make sure everyone on the team knows where the budget stands so nobody gets caught off guard later.

For each focus area, work out the specific actions your team needs to take to hit this quarter's short-term goals. Get everyone in the room, talk it through, and nail down exactly what needs to happen.

Give your team a specific timeline to follow for the quarter - and if you can, build it directly into your work management tool. When everyone knows what's due and when, it's a lot easier to stay on track and keep the most important work moving.

Everyone on your team needs to know exactly what they’re responsible for - and what their closest colleagues are working on too. Put it all in a shared doc or calendar so there’s real accountability, or track it in your work management tool.

What does winning look like for each focus area? It's going to be different for each one, so work through it with your team and write it down somewhere everyone can find it. That way, you've always got a shared reference point to check back on as the quarter progresses.