Why CFOs and Business Owners Should Zero in on Weaknesses and Threats for Year-End Strategy

As we were preparing our monthly media article, it dawned on me just how close we are to the end of the year. We effectively have just 3 months before businesses start their end of year shutdowns.

With the end of the year in sight, it is often difficult to introspect and maintain discipline but the growth-focused entrepreneurs and their supporting CFOs know that this is the ideal time to unpack and understand both your Weaknesses and Threats.

As a management team, you are probably starting to see the plans for the end of year function coming across your desk and even making your own December holiday bookings. It is not easy to get your head in a space where you are looking at potential negative elements for your business…. And this is why it can be an ideal time to do just this.

As an entrepreneur, there are many reasons to feel optimistic about the next 6 months. Two potential interest rate cuts, a bit of political stability, consistent energy supply, inflation coming down and a potential boost for the consumers who have been able to access billions of Rands from their pension funds due to the recent “two-pot” change.

If you look at all of the high-performance teams across the globe – sports or business – they have a relentless focus on their discipline and their systems.

At the CFO Centre, we continue our annual management strategy sessions and will often bring in an external moderator to help us extract maximum value from these sessions and prevent internal biases impacting our strategic decision-making.

We go back to our annual and quarterly plans and our larger strategic vision and we see how we are tracking against these indicators. We recognise that having a plan is not about predicting the future but about using it to track progress. This approach helps us understand and manage risks effectively, allowing us to navigate through uncertainties with greater confidence.

This reminds me of a quote by Peter Drucker who said that the greatest danger in times of turbulence is not the turbulence — it is to act with yesterday’s logic. While it may be tempting to wind down as the year draws to a close, I’d like to encourage you to really zero in on your weaknesses and threats. I’m sure you don’t want to take your negatives with you into the new year, do you?