“All things are created twice. First mentally, then physically. The key to creativity is to begin with the end in mind, with a vision and a blueprint of the desired result.” – Stephen Covey

The only reason to plan is to improve your condition. A plan is your strategy to take your organization from where it is today to where you want it to be by leveraging your competitive advantages.

– Lack of commitment.

– Lack of budget.

– Lack of focus.

A great plan overcomes each of these difficulties.

What Makes A Great Plan?

A great plan delivers in three key areas. Don’t worry. You don’t need a complete plan to start benefiting from planning.

Clarity

– Purpose: The altruist reason your organization exists. How are you making a positive difference in the world?

– Core Values: The rules your team will follow as you pursue your vision. Your core values define your culture, your culture defines your brand and your brand drives your profits.

– Competitive Advantage: What your customers value most that you can deliver better than anyone else.

– Vision: The inspiring future state that your organization is chasing.

– Focus: What are the vital few objectives that the organization must achieve now? How will each team member contribute to meeting these objectives?

– Operational Excellence: While chasing the vital few objectives, the organization must measurably perform and improve in these key areas.

– Finance: High-growth companies suck cash. Cash is oxygen for your business. Margins drive cash. You must have a plan to engage your entire team to win by the numbers.

– Customers: Businesses do not exist to make a profit, but to meet a human need. The better we meet that need, the more we get paid. By maximizing the value you create for your customers, you will maximize the value of your organization.

– People: Your team members are the only ones who can deliver amazing products and services to your customers. You must attract, retain and engage the best.

– Leadership: The only people who can engage your team are your leaders. People quit their leaders, not their companies. You must be able to grow great leaders to attract and retain great people.

– Execute What Matters: The execution process is more important than the plan. Plans fail. A great execution process provides the agility to improve the plan and keep moving forward.

– Focus: No team or individual is given more than two vital objectives in addition to their normal duties. Each person or team knows what objective is No. 1. They will always choose to deliver on the No. 1 objective over No. 2 if a choice must be made. All objectives must further the top objectives of the organization.

– Leading vs. Lagging: Lagging indicators tell you if you met your goal. Leading indicators predict goal accomplishment. Deliver on the lead measures to drive goal accomplishment. Example: Calories consumed vs. burned = lead measure. Weight = lagging measure.

– Data: We cannot manage what we cannot measure. Agree on how key indicators will be measured and define the win.

– Reporting Rhythm: At least weekly, team members report on the commitments they made to achieve their primary objective. Each week, new commitments are made that will most impact the lead measure. Daily wins lead to weekly, monthly and yearly wins. The more often you measure, the quicker you can make the changes needed to accomplish your objective.

– Scoreboards & Celebrations: Once the win is defined, have the team create a big, impossible to ignore scoreboard that tracks leading and lagging indicators. Celebrate milestones throughout the journey.

– Trust: Organizations execute at the speed of trust. Purposely grow and measure trust inside and outside of your organization.

How Do I Get Started?

You don’t have to do it all to benefit from planning. Next week I’ll walk you through a technique called the “Strategy Sprint.” It is a great, quick way to get started planning and executing.

If you’d like to start the process, we’d love to help. You can find some great resources at www.valuesdrivenresults.com or give us a call (229) 244-1559.