Best practices for developing your 2021 action plan

Year-end brings about a time to reflect on the past and plan for the future.

As we count down 2020 and look toward the New Year, it’s only natural to be thinking about what went well, what didn’t go so well, and what we would like to change going forward. With all that has happened this year, there is a lot to consider. I’ve heard many say they just can’t wait for this year to end.

The New Year brings about the idea of resolutions. By definition, a resolution is, the act or process of resolving, such as the act of analyzing a complex notion into simpler ones.

With the speed of business today, specifically technological advances, it’s easy to become overwhelmed by the complexity of it all. That leads to burnout and then ultimately, surrender. Better said, we just give up. That’s what seems to happen to many resolutions: We make them. We blow it. Then we just give up.

Taking complex issues and simplifying them into action steps is the practice of goal setting. Without a solid goal setting framework, resolutions go unrealized.

In the wise words of the late British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, “Plan your work for today and every day, then work your plan.”

This article will help you:

Learn how to craft meaningful goals;
Understand how to communicate those goals; and
Schedule time to review goals.

Craft meaningful goals

The concept of SMART goal-setting has been popular for many years. In his book, “Your Best Year Ever: A 5-Step Plan for Achieving Your Most Important Goals,” publishing-industry executive turned author Michael Hyatt adds two more concepts that can make goal setting even SMARTER.

The slideshow above provides a closer look at the updated acronym for goal-setting.

One bonus item to consider including as you craft your SMARTER goals, or your New Year’s business resolutions, is to define what the reward will be for achieving the stated goal. Envision reaching your milestones and winning a prize for your trouble.

Communicate your goals

Success doesn’t come from simply writing out SMARTER goals. Turning goals into achievement requires effective communication.

With personal goals, you may share your goals with a close friend, your spouse or significant other, a business coach or mentor, or some other trusted advisor. You want their involvement as an “accountability partner.” These are the people that when things get tough, or you’ve missed a deadline or milestone, help you get back on track. Choose these confidantes wisely.

In a business scenario, you will want to communicate goals and progress to your team. This is critical to driving your business forward whether that’s with growth goals, system improvement goals, or transition goals. Keep the team involved from the start and you’ll realize results.

Schedule time for goal review

It’s important to schedule time to regularly review goals to maintain momentum. Remember back to the S for Specific and E for Exciting. Being Specific gives us focus and having goals that are Exciting, keep us inspired and motivated.

Too often, we start are year with a long list of resolutions with a year-end due date. To be more successful, goal achievement dates should be spread out across the year. This involves breaking annual goals into quarterly milestones or focusing on certain goals during certain quarters of the year.

A systematic way to review annual goals on a daily, weekly, and quarterly basis involves what Michael Hyatt calls the 3 x 3 matrix.

By scheduling time at the start of each week to conduct a review of the past week and identifying three big actions that need to be completed during the coming week, you systematically move your quarterly goals forward.

Once your three weekly objectives are defined, these get broken down into a “Daily Big 3” — daily actions that lead to the weekly objectives. They are the “Must Dos” for each day. Setting the right Daily Big 3 requires a daily review of annual goals.

Discipline and time management are required to master the concept of goal setting, communication to maintain accountability, and systematic goal review. By putting these suggestions into action, you can develop a routine that answers the age-old question, “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time!”

Continuous, incremental improvement

According to Aristotle: “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” Therefore, to become excellent, we must take action that leads to continuous, incremental improvement.

As you look to the New Year, it’s only natural to think about what went well, what didn’t go so well, and what to change going forward. These ideas then lead to resolutions.

To turn your resolutions into reality, use the framework outlined in this article to build your goal setting skills and systematically develop the habits that lead to excellence.

Best wishes for a productive New Year!

Chaim Berkovic

President – Skyscraper Insurance

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Commercial P&C Insurance

Commercial Office Space Set for a Strong Comeback

The sustained increase in demand for office space across the nation since late 2022 suggests that the market has moved past its lowest point, according to insights from the real estate technology platform, VTS. Demand for office space began to rise in late 2022 and continued into early 2023. Since then, the office market has experienced a period of stability and growth, supported by favorable economic factors, indicating a market rebound. This conclusion is drawn from the VTS Office Demand Index (VODI), which tracks unique new tenant tour requests for office properties in key U.S. markets. The VODI serves as an early indicator of future office leasing activity. According to the index, demand for office space has grown consistently over the past 12 months, closing the second quarter with a 17% year-over-year increase and a 34% rise from the VODI’s lowest point in December 2022. A significant shift in office-based employment patterns further supports the belief that demand for office space has stabilized. After reaching its peak in August 2022, office-based employment declined by 3.9% in early 2024. However, this trend has since stabilized, and employment growth has remained steady. Additionally, a recent decrease in work-from-home rates has fueled the renewed demand for office space. “They say you can only recognize a market bottom after it has passed, and the office space market is no exception. Following what we now see as the bottom, the national demand has gradually increased, though it remains susceptible to economic challenges,” said Nick Romito, CEO of VTS. “However, the growth observed in VODI over the past 18 months, coupled with positive trends in the office-using workforce, suggests that the market has reset, and the worst is behind us.” It’s important to note that this national trend does not impact all local markets equally. Cities like Los Angeles and New York City have seen healthy growth in office space demand, while markets such as San Francisco and Washington, D.C., have experienced prolonged stagnation. In Los Angeles, office space demand surged in the second quarter, briefly surpassing pre-COVID levels, driven by an increase in the average size of office spaces sought by tenants. New York City followed a similar overall pattern, though with some softness in the second quarter. Conversely, San Francisco’s demand for office space remains unpredictable, largely due to its tech-focused workforce, which continues to favor remote work more than other industries. “Markets heavily dependent on the tech sector, like San Francisco and Seattle, are on a markedly different post-COVID recovery path compared to more diversified markets like Los Angeles and New York City. It may take some time before we see office demand in San Francisco and Seattle return to pre-COVID levels,” added Ryan Masiello, Chief Strategy Officer at VTS.

Cyber Liability

Global IT Outage Puts Business Interruption Insurance in the Spotlight

In July, a global IT outage had a significant impact on business interruption insurance policies, overshadowing the effects on cyber insurance coverages. “This incident wasn’t a result of a malicious attack, which is why typical cyber insurance policies may not have been activated,” explained Peter McMurtrie, a partner in West Monroe’s insurance sector, in an interview with PropertyCasualty360.com. “Where coverage was applicable, factors like deductible amounts, waiting periods, and coverage limits played a critical role in determining the extent of exposure,” McMurtrie noted. “Standard policies for small businesses were less likely to offer coverage, while more complex policies for mid-sized companies and Fortune 500 corporations may have included broader triggers for non-malicious outages caused by third-party software issues.” The outage was triggered by a software update on July 19, 2024, by cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, which affected organizations worldwide using Microsoft Windows. This interruption had far-reaching consequences, including disrupting hospital systems, media outlets, financial institutions, delaying thousands of flights, and halting daily business operations. McMurtrie emphasized that while the initial impact of the outage was similar for both large and small businesses, the ability to recover operations and whether insurance covered the loss of business income varied. “Larger companies are more likely to have advanced disaster recovery plans that ensure service redundancy following unexpected outages,” he added. “Their insurance programs also tend to cover a wider range of incidents.” According to Microsoft, the CrowdStrike update error affected over 8.5 million Windows devices globally. The incident highlighted the interconnected nature of our global ecosystem, including cloud providers, software platforms, security services, and their clients. “It’s a stark reminder of the importance of prioritizing safe deployment and disaster recovery across the tech industry,” the company said in a blog post. McMurtrie pointed out that the outage’s widespread impact was largely due to its effect on organizations that are critical to societal infrastructure—sectors like agriculture, airlines, banking, energy, government, healthcare, manufacturing, and retail. “Insurance companies base their risk appetite on their ability to understand and price risks appropriately. This becomes increasingly challenging with emerging threats,” he said. “However, I anticipate that insurers will respond by clarifying policy language, refining risk selection criteria, and possibly developing new products specifically designed for this evolving exposure.”

Best practices for developing your 2021 action plan