Month in Review

By using this tool, stories and performance continue to develop and thrive.

Why This Matters

This practice matters because it turns fleeting effort into lasting evidence. In fast‑moving organizations, yesterday’s work disappears unless someone captures it. A Month in Review:

• Protects your team’s contributions from being forgotten

• Gives leaders a shared, factual view of progress and problems

• Turns vague impressions (“We’re busy”) into clear patterns and decisions

• Builds a living archive you can use for budgets, reviews, and future planning

Like the layered coils of Succulent, each monthly document adds another ring of memory. Over time, those layers reveal not just what you did, but who you are becoming as a team. It’s a reminder that your story as a team isn’t fixed; each month you’re still unfolding into a more resilient form.

Documenting Makes It Real

When actions and results are documented, they become real — and the record proves they matter. Ask yourself:

• If it’s not documented, do you really know what happened?

• Do you know the impact or the results?

• Can you describe the outcome in specifics?

• What was your role?

• What happened last week, last month, or last year?

In high‑paced environments, leaders are often trained to forget yesterday and move on to today. I disagree. Of course I do — I built a life around documentation (see Reimagining Westin, Parts 1 & 2). That same coda lives here in this blog: If it’s not documented, did it happen? In those high‑heat environments, a simple record becomes the water a team can draw from when things get dry.

In the Succulent series, I’m sharing a few tools for documenting team and individual growth and transformation. The first is a simple but powerful practice: the Month in Review.

The Month in Review – Intent and Purpose

When I returned to hotel operations in Orlando and joined the monthly Owners Meeting, my role was mostly to answer the Asset Manager’s questions about the prior month’s Profit & Loss. I quickly learned that most of the meeting focused on Sales, Marketing, Revenue Management, and Food & Beverage — areas led by my peers on the executive committee.

Our hotel complex was an innovation factory, including the areas I led: Rooms, Security, Engineering, and Recreation. We had stories to tell and progress to show. But when I tried to share them in the Owners Meeting, the General Manager shut it down. In his view, less was more when it came to what we communicated to the owners, who officed inside the resort.

So I quietly began my own documentation each month. That “side project” became essential for VP operational visits, yearly budget reviews, and annual performance reviews. It gave shape and memory to work that would otherwise have vanished into the rush of the next day.

Appreciating the Many Benefits of Documenting Monthly Performance

Later, when I moved to Dallas as Hotel Manager at one of the largest hotels in Texas, I worked with a General Manager who believed in a more transparent relationship with the owner representatives. His mantra was simple:

• Where we were

• Where we are

• Where we are going

At this hotel, the Month in Review became our way to live that mantra. It was a collaborative effort: the leaders who reported to me prepared a monthly review of their achievements and key metrics tied to annual performance goals. It created a sense of monthly accountability. Like the old adage: What gets measured; Gets done! Looking back across months, you can see how your team didn’t just survive tough stretches, but adapted and thickened, like a succulent stem after a long dry season.

Month in Review – The Information We Reported

Each Month in Review was a PowerPoint document that included these types of elements:

• A cover with the logos of the groups we served that month (this could be a visual bombshell during busy periods — a real statement of accomplishment for Sales, Events, Revenue Management and Operations)

• A calendar showing group names and occupancy by date, highlighting sold‑out nights and big “turns” (arrivals, departures, etc.)

• A summary of guest satisfaction and event satisfaction metrics

• Labor, revenue, and other key financial performance measures

• Updates on areas of need (labor or linen shortages, maintenance and capital projects, etc.)

• Group highlights that might affect satisfaction scores

• Food & Beverage promotions or menu changes

Over time, this document became more than a report. It was a shared story of the month.

The Benefits of the Month in Review

As the practice matured, department leaders began presenting at the monthly Owners Meeting. This created:

• A development opportunity for leaders

• A record of innovations, successes, and focus areas

• A way to show progress month over month

Through shared stories, the owners’ representatives bought into our plans, and the partnership strengthened. We used the Month in Review to:

• Track progress toward key metrics tied to annual performance reviews

• Articulate plans and actions to meet annual targets

• Report activity levels, successes, and key learnings

• Document responses to unforeseen events (power outages, weather, norovirus, etc.)

• Communicate capital needs to improve guest satisfaction

• Generate innovative ideas and cross‑department collaboration

• Recognize successes and celebrate teams

• Memorialize performance and create a record for planning the same month next year

• Provide a platform for leaders to communicate with, and be seen by, owners

At year‑end, we compiled the twelve Month in Review documents into a Year in Review. That summary supported annual performance reviews, Regional VP reviews, and historical comparisons.

Applicable Beyond Hotels

Later, in Senior Living, I used the same approach. The Month in Review helped me and my leaders prepare for:

• Monthly Operations calls

• Community Board Meetings with the regional support team

• Resident Association Board Meetings

• All‑Resident monthly meetings

• Resident Newsletter content

Monthly Efforts Pay Off

Documenting monthly activities codified efforts, successes, and action plans. It turned a busy year into a visible story of progress. This doesn’t have to be elaborate; even a modest, consistent Month in Review is enough “water” to keep your story alive.

Honestly, sometimes, it could be like pulling weeds in your garden of succulents when digging in and following up with leaders to write their content as everyone is “too busy.” But the results pay off. Being diligent and getting the team leaders aligned comes in super handy when annual performance reviews need to be written and tangible accountability and results are already documented.

Call to Action: Make the Month Visible

If you are a leader, consider this your invitation: Don’t just “move on” to the next month. Design a simple practice that knots together data, transformative stories, and growth.

Ask yourself:

• What did we actually learn this month?

• Where did we quietly excel, and where did we quietly struggle?

• If someone looked back a year from now, what would they need to see?

When you’re ready to make the month visible, you can:

• Create a Month in Review with key metrics, moments, and lessons.

• Share it with your team and leader, and invite their additions.

• Coil those pages into a Year in Review that shows not just results, but the story of how you got there.

Other Tools for Success in the Succulent Series

The Month in Review is the first coil in the Succulent series of tools. In the next post, I’ll share how to build Your Book — a simple binder filled with work samples, projects, results, certifications, and guest letters that, together, tell the story of the value you bring to your current or future organization.