The end of the financial year is a busy time for the property management team. Closing off maintenance, ensuring maintenance is invoiced, running the trust EOFY and issuing owner statements. This time of year is also a good time to reset the business goals and review the achievements of the business over the previous twelve months. Let’s look at some of these.
The annual business plan is the focal point of the business. It ties together the mission, vision and value statements and the actions that drive these values deep into both your team and your customers. Each year we review the year behind us and plan for the year ahead. The best way to do this is to hold an annual offsite planning day with the team. Taking the team offsite allows everyone to disconnect from the day to day and come together in collaboration, to build out a plan for the coming year. Having your team involved in this creates an enormous amount of buy-in and also aligns them to the business strategy and assists in implementing key initiatives.
Falling out of the business plan is the strategic plan. The strategic plan allows the business to action the tasks in the business plan. The plan breaks up the individual tasks and allocates them to the appropriate team member. They can then be prioritised for action throughout the year. It’s appropriate both the business and strategic plans be reviewed each quarter to ensure the business doesn’t need to pivot in order to achieve its desired outcomes for the year. The lower level action within the strategic plan should be reviewed as part of the weekly team or department meetings to ensure all is on track.
Having a financial plan is critical to ensuring the business has adequate funds to execute on both the business and strategic plans. Anything financial aligns with the EOFY so this is a great opportunity to revise your current financial plan. In the same format as the business plan, revise how you went last year and document any changes or realignment in your plan to ensure you continue in the direction as documented in your business plan. This allows you to allocate new resources such as extra team members, a new growth strategy or equipment upgrades.
Throughout the year the business leaders would have been having regular one-on-one catch ups with their team. The EOFY is also a good time to review what each team member has achieved over the year and plan for the coming year. This may include opportunities to build on their career, learn new skills or contribute to the business strategic plan. While this can be done at any time during the year and should form part of the regular catch ups, EOFY is a natural point to review this, ensure each team member is getting the support they need to perform at their maximum potential and enjoy their role.
Use the end of the financial year to not only reset your customers but reset your business, realign the team and charge through the new year with a fresh plan.
