A real mid-year review takes half a day and changes the trajectory of the second half. Here's how to run one.

Start With What's True, Not What You Hoped

The first part of a useful mid-year review is getting honest about reality. Revenue versus plan. Profitability versus plan. Key priorities — what got done, what didn't, why. Not to beat yourself up. To see clearly. You can't make good decisions about the second half if you're operating on a distorted picture of the first half.

The Three Questions That Matter

What worked? What drove the results you're most pleased with? Where did you exceed your own expectations? These are signals about what to do more of.

What didn't work? What did you commit to that didn't happen? Be specific about root causes — not "the market was soft" but "we didn't follow up on proposals consistently" or "we lost two months to a hiring process that didn't close."

What's changed? What do you know now that you didn't know in January? New opportunities. Changed competitive landscape. What does this mean for your H2 strategy?

Reset the H2 Plan

The most important output of the mid-year review: a revised H2 plan. Not a stretch from wherever you landed in H1 — an honest plan given what you now know, with the three most important priorities and specific owners.

What would make H2 a success, even if H1 was disappointing? Name it specifically. Give it to one person. Track it weekly.

The Calendar Block That Changes Everything

Schedule the mid-year review before you think you need it. Put a half-day on the calendar for yourself and your leadership team at the end of June or early July. Protect it. This is the most valuable planning time of the year — because you have six months of real data to work with.