Welcome to Part 3, the final installation in my 3-part series on annual strategic business planning to kick off the new year.
Part 1 focused on the foundation, 5 ways to build trust and Part 2 focused on the steps for creating your best strategic annual plan in times of uncertainty and change.
Today focuses on setting your team up for success, implementation and carrying your plan out, even when things go awry - which they will!
You have a plan - NOW WHAT?
The reason goals get lost or fall by the wayside is that visioning and goal setting is really just the beginning of the planning process. Now you need to follow through on the steps that will carry your vision through the year. The next steps are prioritizing projects; sharing the plan & getting input; and having a plan for status updates and recovery planning.
1. Prioritize goals and projects. This is a step that often gets deferred or stays murky leaving everything feeling like a priority. I get it. I’ve been there, looking at the list of things we want to get done for the year, knowing it’s ALL critical and thinking there’s nothing to take off the list.
The reality is you have to prioritize and create differentiation. The problem with too many priorities is none of them get the attention they need to get accomplished and it leads to a lack of clarity.
The better you are at identifying your true priorities, the more successful you’ll be. Research studies back this up time and again. Covey, McChesney and Huling, authors of The Four Disciplines of Execution, found the following:
With 2-3 priorities, you’ll likely achieve them all with excellence
With 4-10 priorities, you will likely achieve only 1-2 with excellence
With 10 or more priorities, you will be unlikely to achieve any with excellence
Jim Collins of Good to Great says “If you have more than three priorities, you don't have any.” For sure, when it comes to priorities, less is more.
2. Share the plan. Everyone needs to know the goals and key initiatives for the year. They need to know how they individually support the goals.
3. Communicate a schedule ahead of time. This is when you will come together to review and assess the plan. Look to have transparent discussion about what is working and what is not working and decide what you have to do differently to reach your goals.
Do not rely on regularly scheduled meeting. These meeting already have their own purpose. It takes away from the importance of the topic and more importantly adds an unneeded time crunch as you try to handle both day to day business and this review. And it’s too easy for the big picture to get lost when you are reacting to everyday needs.
4. Be prepared to make changes. For sure things can and will change. To start, the economy is ever changing and can drive changes in the marketplace. Team / staff changes (people quit, get fired or get promoted, etc.) can influence what and how you take on projects. Despite our best thinking and planning the unexpected can happen. Your goals don’t necessarily change but how you are going to reach them or what the goal looks like this year can evolve.
5. Be prepared to make the tough calls. You are the leader. It’s your vision and goals that the team are working towards. There are times when you need to be direct and share that you’ve “made a decision.”
Remember, you shared and promoted the plan, you got input from your team and key stakeholders and made changes to strengthen the plan based on what they see and experience in their roles. Your team is vested in their projects and are working really hard to get results. All of this can make it hard when something needs to change (again). There are extreme times (e.g. the onset of COVID and a worldwide pandemic or slightly less extreme example is a merger with another company) that make the need to change obvious and necessary. However, most of the time, an internal change or a market shift, a new joint venture, or a new big opportunity creates a need to shift a goal or project. Often this happens more gradually and doesn’t feel as pressing or worse can feel like an unwanted change to some on your team.
Bottom line, when the need for the plan to change happens it can be hard on the team. Be aware – some people have a need for more information and detail than others in order to move forward. Be prepared to explain why in extra detail and share what you are doing instead. Don’t forget to reiterate what you are not doing.
The take away from this series -> Including your team in all stages of your annual planning is vital to your success.
Let me know what resonated for you.
Have you shared your plan and priorities for the year with your team? Are you getting input and feedback from the team? I’d love to hear from you!
