By Mark Wright, OD, FCOVD,
and Carole Burns, OD, FCOVD
Dec. 15, 2021
Each year your practice experiences hits and misses in business investments and management strategies. Here is how to determine what worked in 2021, and what needs to be changed for a better 2022.
It’s time to look back over the past year and make two determinations: (1) what activities were successful and (2) what activities were unsuccessful. The reason for this analysis is that it helps focus your plan to get ready for next year. Our plan for next year is that we want to do more of what was successful and less of things that were unsuccessful.
To accomplish this analysis, look across the major activities of your practice. There’s a chart below to help you. You do not need to answer each one. Choose only the activities from your perspective that will impact your practice the most.
The activities below are not listed hierarchically, but you should prioritize them after you have completed this exercise as you plan for next year. This chart is offered as a starting point for your analysis. Please feel free to modify it to make it meaningful to you. You can add or delete topic areas if that helps you.
For the successful activities, you have two choices: (1) repeat them next year exactly as you did this year since you know they work, or (2) increase the time, effort and/or money put into the activity next year in an attempt to make it even more successful.
Other Articles to Explore
For the unsuccessful activities, you have two choices: (1) delete them next year since you know they didn’t work this year, or (2) modify them for next year to make them more successful.
Positive changes only occur if you make positive changes, so take this as an opportunity to plan for positive changes that will improve your practice next year.
