When I run strategic reviews with executive teams, I've noticed something interesting happen when people come into the room having already done their own reflection beforehand.
They arrive a bit closed off. They've already landed on their view of the year, and they're really just waiting for their turn to say it. So what you end up with, especially around an executive table, is six people each presenting their own conclusions one after the other. And what's missing from that picture is everything that could have been discovered together.
I want to be clear, there's absolutely a place for quiet, individual reflection. Some of your best thinking happens on your own, away from the noise of a group. But when it comes to reviewing a full financial year and using it to shape what comes next, I think group reflection does something individual reflection simply can't.
This is part of why I love facilitating these conversations rather than just being handed everyone's individual notes beforehand. My job in the room isn't to collect six separate opinions, it's to help a group find the insight that none of them would have landed on alone.
So if you're heading into your own end of financial year review, I'd encourage you to think carefully about how you structure it. Individual reflection has its place, but don't let it replace the conversation that happens when good people sit down together and actually think it through, out loud, as a group.
