The start of a new year is a natural moment to take stock of your business, but if you were too busy over the festive period and didn’t quite get to make your plan for 2026, there’s still time! 

Many business owners take time out on a regular basis to set priorities for their business that support their wider ‘life’ objectives. This kind of strategic planning involves stepping back from day-to-day work to consider the bigger picture and is about deciding where you want your business to be and how to get there.

The initial steps…

A practical approach to creating your strategic plan for 2026 should involve:

• Reviewing your aspirations: What do you want to achieve both in the business and in your personal life? Where would you like to be in twelve months, five years, ten years? What will it take to get you there?

• Reviewing the previous year: What went well and what didn’t? Which of your products or services performed best? Which customers were the most profitable, or perhaps nicest to work with? Which staff showed potential to take on more responsibility? Questions like these can help you identify what might be possible in the year ahead.

• Setting objectives: This involves setting some clear and measurable goals for the next twelve to twenty-four months. These might relate to sales and revenue, reducing certain costs, new product launches, training, or investment.

• Identifying key actions: Each goal needs to be broken down into concrete steps. You can then assign responsibilities and set timelines for those steps, often working backwards from the end goal.

• Monitoring progress: Over the year, you should regularly review progress against those actions and adjust as you need to.

It’s not just about the business!

As you work through these steps to create your plan for 2026, it’s important to keep your personal goals clearly in mind as well as your business goals. The two need to work in harmony, not against each other. 

For example, while looking at where you want your business to be financially in the next twelve months, consider how the profits could support your personal plans, such as saving for a home, investing in a pension, or taking more time off. If you make your personal plans first, you can ensure the business is in a position to support those plans, which usually makes for a much happier private life! The same can be true if your personal requirements are for more cash, perhaps for new cars, a new home or similar, or to have more time to spend with families or on hobbies.

How to start…

Strategic planning is difficult to do while dealing with the day-to-day demands of a business. The best way to start is often to block out some dedicated time where you are free to think about your aspirations and objectives. This doesn’t have to be days on end, but could just be a couple of half hour slots over a few days, with a mug of coffee and some peace and quiet.

You might also want to involve key team members as you review 2025 and consider what could be possible for 2026. Keep in mind though that if you simply repeat what you did in 2025, the result is likely to be very similar!

If you’d like a sounding board for any of your plans, do get in touch. This is part of the process we carry out with our Outsourced FD clients, so we’ve got a broad experience of helping different businesses get clear on their action plans, whether for the year ahead or the longer term. We’d love to help!