The Mid-Year Check-In: Strategy’s Secret Weapon

Mid-year strategy check-in

We’re halfway through the year, can you believe it?And if you’ve hit the six-month mark and your strategy is still sitting untouched in a binder somewhere, don’t wait until the fall to dust it off.

Summer is the perfect time to reconnect with your strategy.

The best leaders don’t wait until the end of the year to reflect. They treat summer like a pit stop: a chance to refuel, realign, and get clear on what’s working and what’s not. At Whitewater, we call it the mid-year reset. It’s a deceptively simple tool with outsize impact.

Here’s how it works.

Start with your scorecard.

What did you say you'd do this year? What did you actually do? Pull out the goals you set in January, and take a hard look at performance to date. Are you on track? If not, do you need to change the goal or change your approach?

Reconnect strategy with execution.

This is where many organizations stall. Big goals get lost in day-to-day noise. At your mid-year check-in, look at your key initiatives and ask: Are they still aligned with our strategy? If not, realign or cut. A strong finish starts with ruthless clarity.

Talk to your team.

Strategy doesn’t live in a spreadsheet. It lives in the choices your people make every day. What are they hearing from clients? Where are the roadblocks? What’s draining their energy, or lighting them up? You can’t recalibrate without their insights.

Embrace the power of agility.

According to Harvard Business Review, companies that revisit strategy quarterly outperform their peers in volatile markets. In 2024, McKinsey found that agile organizations were 1.5x more likely to report top-quartile financial performance than their less nimble peers. It turns out that “set it and forget it” isn’t a winning strategy anymore.

The takeaway: Mid-year isn’t just a checkpoint. It’s a strategic superpower. Use it wisely.

Ready to align strategy with execution?

Connect with Sean Ryan for a complimentary leadership consultation.

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