You've invested the time to build a plan for your business. How can you make sure it doesn't become a Walking Dead plan? The one that shambles along with low energy and engagement.
Teams need regular, facilitated touchpoints to keep their dreams in motion.
I've led the planning process for dozens of teams. But what's the most straightforward, pared-down approach that can help most organizations?
I'm on it!
I combed through and curated dozens of wonky strategy resources and landed on a simple, accessible approach to the cadence of strategy planning for operating teams.
Meeting just four times a year in a series of workshops will help keep your plans in motion. To make it super simple, I created a brief agenda for each meeting.
I've used the following approaches throughout my career in all organizations - from product companies to non-profits.
These are the four "F's" to help your team mobilize your strategies:
Q4 | Frame Your Strategy
What choices will you make to win in a market?
Before the start of a new year, you should have a handle on your strategy. Strategies are the choices you'll make to reach your destination over the next three years. Use the compass of mission and vision as a guide, and establish a route forward.
Meeting agenda:
Review and refresh your organization's mission, vision & values.
Set or reset three to five 3-year strategies describing HOW you will achieve your vision.
Decide who and how to communicate and socialize your plan.
Q1 | Filter for Impact
What are the 1-3 most essential imperatives that, when finished, will make everything else easier?
New year team kick-offs are heavily centered around goal setting. A new year provides a blank slate of possibilities to refresh your business. In Frame, you set 3-5 strategic imperatives that will unfold over several years.
Now it's time to plan just year 1. Use post-it's and stickies to capture all of the things you could do, then filter for impact. What must be done in year one so that years 2 and 3 will flow easily. Set outcomes, goals, and a handful of metrics you'll track.
Meeting agenda:
For each imperative, write a statement of what "Year 1 done" looks like
Set 3-5 annual Goals for each imperative
Establish fewer than ten metrics to track
Assign a champion to own each imperative
Q2 | Focus on Your Future Growth Pipeline
What new products and projects will you begin work on now?
This is my favorite part of the year - when teams think about future growth, new ideas, and innovation. Depending on your organization, you may have varying levels of clarity around future products and projects. Great products can take years to build and release, so invest time in this step to build a portfolio that will capture growth in future horizons.
Growth pipelines are made up of new products, brand extensions, new market entry, pricing strategies, partnerships - anything that drives growth beyond your core business. You'll want to generate ideas, sort, and prioritize to create a cohesive approach to growth. Workshops like ideation, strategic prioritization & development frameworks are helpful facilitation tools.
Meeting agenda:
List biggest strategic future growth drivers (and enablers, like people or technology)
Sort and filter for impact (using scorecards, impact to effort matrix, or just a list!)
Curate a final, cohesive list of growth initiatives that make sense as a whole. This is your pipeline.
Pick three to start with, assign a champion and build a project charter to guide the work.
Q3 | Fuel Your Plans with the Right Resources
What will you invest in, divest, or shift to support your plans?
It's time to fuel your plans with a suitable investment in the right areas. At its core, Fuel is annual, collaborative, zero-based budgeting. Sounds simple, right? But how do you budget now? As a whole organization? Or in siloes?
Your team begins with a review of current and next horizon initiatives and a number to fund your plans. What's your target budget? You can get this by reverse engineering for a profit margin.
Edit, shift, and make investment decisions as a team. Essential things that don't fit in the current budget should go on a list of future investments in order. Knowing your prioritized "on deck" list of ideas can provide a clear pitch to boards, investors, donors, and partners.
"We can do anything, but not everything."
Zero-based budgeting as a team nudges leaders to compare alternatives and choose those that drive the company's growth furthest, fastest. Doing this as a team ensures that you are making the "highest and best use" of resources.
Meeting agenda:
Review past year's investments for effectiveness and ROI using a red, yellow, green scale
Have each functional lead "pitch" their budget for the next year
Grade aspects of pitches as essential, nice to have, or unnecessary using a green, yellow or red scale
Draw a "line" when your essentials reach your target budget. Rank order the rest of the list "below the line" as future potential investments.
That's it! Four F's. Four workshops to cover the four big pieces of annual planning with your team.
I used several resources to build this approach, including EOS, Corporate Executive Board, among others.
What resources do you use to keep plans in motion and avoid becoming a Walking Dead plan?