We're getting to that point in the year when I start hearing a familiar phrase in coaching conversations.
"I think I'll leave that until after Christmas."
Sometimes that's a perfectly sensible decision. People are busy, there are holidays coming up, and not everything needs to be resolved before the end of December.
But sometimes I find myself asking a slightly uncomfortable question.
What is actually going to be different in January?
Because if the problem is that you're too busy, you don't have enough information, or there's a conversation you'd rather not have, there's a good chance those things will still be waiting for you when you get back.
And you'll have lost another six or seven weeks in the meantime.
The conversation you're hoping will go away
One of the coaching conversations I've been reflecting on recently involved a business owner who knew she needed to review what she was charging her clients.
She'd done the work. She'd identified clients whose fees no longer reflected the time and effort involved in looking after them.
But she hadn't actually had many of the conversations.
When we explored why, she explained that she was hoping to reach a point where she'd done such a good job that the client would almost recognise the need to pay more without her having to ask.
The difficulty was that her work was ongoing. There was never going to be a moment when everything was completely finished and she could confidently say, "Right, now I've earned the increase."
She was waiting for a moment that wasn't going to arrive.
What interested me wasn't really the pricing issue. It was the thinking behind it.
She knew what needed to happen. She understood the commercial implications. But having the conversation felt uncomfortable, so she kept finding reasons to wait.
I see variations of this regularly.
An owner knows a member of the team isn't performing but decides to leave the conversation until January.
Another knows they need to change how responsibilities are divided but doesn't want to disrupt things before Christmas.
Someone else has been meaning to review their prices, their sales process or the way they spend their time.
There's always a reason why next month might be better.
The question is whether that reason is genuine.
Before you plan next year, look at what actually happened this year
There's another part of the end-of-year planning process that I think business owners often overlook.
We spend a lot of time talking about what we want to achieve next year, but not always enough time understanding how we achieved this year's results.
Take business development.
You might have spent the year attending networking events, posting on LinkedIn, following up enquiries, asking for introductions and trying different ways to attract new customers.
But if I asked you where your last ten new clients actually came from, could you tell me?
And, more importantly, could you identify which of those activities genuinely contributed to winning their business?
This is a question that comes up in my coaching work because it's surprisingly easy to confuse activity with progress.
You can be very busy generating leads without knowing which activities are producing profitable customers.
One useful exercise is to look back at the clients you've won over the last twelve months and identify where each relationship originated.
Was it a referral? An existing relationship? An event? An online enquiry? Something else?
Then look at the time and money you've invested in each activity.
You may discover that the activity taking up most of your time isn't delivering the results you assumed it was.
Or that a source of business you've been treating almost as an afterthought is actually responsible for a significant proportion of your new customers.
That's useful information to have before you decide where to invest your efforts in 2027.
Otherwise, there's a risk that your new business plan is simply a more ambitious version of the old one.
Waiting isn't always the wrong decision
I don't believe every outstanding decision needs to be made before Christmas.
In some cases, waiting is exactly the right thing to do.
You might need a clearer cash flow forecast before committing to a new employee. You might be waiting for information that will materially change a decision. Or there may be a genuine commercial reason why January is a better time to act.
That's sensible management.
But there's a difference between deciding to wait and simply allowing something to drift.
If you're deliberately postponing a decision, you should be able to explain why, what information you're waiting for and when you'll revisit it.
If you can't, it might be worth asking whether you're avoiding something.
What could you do before Christmas?
We're not talking about transforming your business in the next few weeks.
But there's still plenty of time to make useful progress.
You could have the conversation you've been avoiding.
You could review where your best customers came from this year.
You could look at which activities produced results and which simply kept everyone busy.
You could identify one or two changes that would make a meaningful difference to how the business operates next year.
And you could decide who is going to be responsible for making those changes happen.
None of those things requires a grand new strategy or a lengthy planning exercise.
They just require you to give them some attention.
January won't magically make things easier
I understand the appeal of a fresh start.
There's something reassuring about the idea of coming back after Christmas, opening a new diary and tackling everything with renewed enthusiasm.
But the calendar changing doesn't automatically change the business.
The same people, processes, customers and challenges will still be there.
What can change is how prepared you are to deal with them.
So, if you catch yourself saying, "I'll sort that out after Christmas," it might be worth asking one more question.
Am I making a deliberate decision to wait, or am I just hoping this will be easier in January?
Because if it's the latter, you may already know what you need to do.
And there's no particular reason why you can't make a start now.
Book a call with me and let's take that first step together.
P.S: One of the biggest factors in building a business that can thrive without you is having the right people and leadership in place. How effective are you at bringing out the best in your team? Take my High Performance Leadership Scorecard to discover your leadership strengths and identify where you could become an even more effective leader.
