The holidays are upon us, full of hope and expectations. It’s the perfect time to grab an adult beverage and reflect on the choices made over the past year and set goals for the coming year. Of course, the past year was not an average year and next year will have challenges because we are not yet done with lockdowns, quarantines, supply chain challenges, and staffing issues. Let’s think about how to evaluate what we have experienced and make a practical plan for 2022.

No matter where your company sits in the communication supply chain, sales plans and general business plans made for 2021 execution may have needed tuning during the year. As we started, we weren’t sure if we’d go to full opening and put the challenges of 2020 behind us, or if there would be on-going issues to manage. It was the latter for most of us. For sales team members, dealing with customers required interesting adventures in online video calls, tight safety protocols for site visits, and intense scrutiny of every order to fit it into the supply chain, production, and staffing puzzle, not to mention delivery on completion.

What did you learn? Did you have spectacular successes because you planned and executed as needed? Did you have sales that were challenging to fulfill? Take the time now to evaluate what worked and what didn’t because the indications are that 2022 is going to look much like 2021, and there may even be a few new challenges. Start with this self-evaluation list: