How often do we hear in the after-game wash up a coach say, ‘we lost concentration, took our eye off the ball and it cost us the game’.

Sport is only a game; business is your livelihood.

Lifting your business game then becomes serious, sometimes requiring outside help, a coach if you like, alerting business managers to looming concerns or identifying areas needing adjustment.  Coaches - business mentors provide expert appraisal and analysis and make recommendations for remediation. Often problems are quite simple needing only an impartial business health check to pinpoint a problem enabling business to return quickly back on target.

If the way has been lost, even slightly, don’t pretend it’s not happening. Face the fact that the annual plan may have to be tweaked.  Not withstanding anything else, financial circumstances have certainly changed since July 2009.  As I have said before in this column not ALL problems can be foreseen; but if business plans have been monitored regularly most should have been avoided.  If the concern is not easily identified or remedied – again, seek help.  Businesses do lose their way and without direction can quickly become unprofitable.

It is vital that a business knows exactly where it is at this time of the year because at the time of going to press there are only about seventy days to next financial year.  What then still needs to be done?

Business managers will be conscious of working towards the current year’s goals.  What was to be achieved when setting out last July?  Is the business still on track?  Have all, some, none of the targets been achieved?  A quick revisit to the business plan will reveal if the eye has been inadvertently taken off the ball.

A worthwhile tactic at this time is to work backwards, that is envision the end of year goal, then organise what needs to be done to achieve it from where the business is now.  It is not too dissimilar to a batsman envisioning a century and working his innings in batches of ten runs at a time.

Both a long innings and achievement of year-end targets need firm foundations.  Are resources that are currently in place in the business able to provide that foundation to support progress to the end of financial year goal?  Again, if there is uncertainty seek a mentor’s help.

Hopefully none of the above will prove too traumatic and the business is ideally placed to move ahead in July because planning is well in hand for 2010/11.  Isn’t it?

Oh, and what about 2012, 2014, 2016?  How is the business to be situated then?