How do you approach end-of-year planning?

One of my clients is planning to spend time thinking about her plans and creating a forecast for next year, and she asked me if there were any questions she should think through to prepare for that exercise.

Here’s what I sent her:

1. Thinking about what your team’s worked on this year, what areas of work would you like to do more of? Less of?
2. Thinking about the clients your agency engaged with this year, which of those would you like to do more with? Less with? Can you think of some clients “like” the ones you want to do more with?
3. Are there new directions, offerings, services, or markets you would want to move into in 2024?
4. As a firm, who would you need to be/become to attract the work you want to do with the clients you want to do it with?
5. What initiatives could you and your team engage in that would move you closer to being that firm?
6. As a leader, who do you need to be to lead that firm?
7. How would that leader be spending their time? What would that leader focus their attention on?

But I know you are all a lot of smart business leaders, so I wonder, what questions do you use to reflect on the year gone by and to try to establish your focus and direction for the coming year?

Hit reply and tell me what you’d add (or, better yet, a different approach that you take); I’d love to learn from you all!