Whether you are in the former category, the latter category, or you simply want 2020 to be your Best Year Yet, we welcome the opportunity to share a few practical (strategic) planning tips that have proven to be very effective for our clients. We hope they will inspire you to dive-in to the 2020 planning process knowing that it really can be your Best Year Yet!
Leadership Tip #1: You’re the leader. Get up on the balcony and ZOOM OUT. It’s your job.
(1) Close your eyes for one minute and envision what’s happening in your business on December 31, 2020. Go on – do it. What do you see? What’s ‘better’ on 12/31/20? How much money are you making? Do you have a higher-performing team? Do you finally have that business-development process in place you’ve been talking about for 3 years? Write down everything you see.
(2) Now pick your top 3-4 wishes for 2020. Pick carefully. You have begun to uncover the “aspirational state” for your business in 2020. Document it. Share it often. Use it as your compass.
Leadership Tip #2: Face the Brutal Facts.
Thanks to Jim Collins of “Good to Great” fame, we know that all great leaders (in addition to having a hopeful vision for the future) are eager to ‘face the brutal facts’. They want to know exactly what their Achilles’ heels are so they can address and mitigate them in their strategy. Here is one simple way you can begin to uncover your company’s ‘brutal facts’:
(1) SWOT Analysis: “In God we trust; everyone else…bring data”. Dig deep to uncover and aggregate your company’s Strengths and Weaknesses (internal), as well as the Opportunities and Threats you’re facing in the marketplace (external). The lesser-known TOWS analysis takes the data one step further by parsing it in a way that allows you to generate alternative strategies for growth and success.
(2) To help get you started, watch this informative SWOT/TOWS video – you’ll be glad you did.
Leadership Tip #3: You have finite resources; invest wisely. And then be relentless.
You know where you want to be on 12/31/20 (#1 above), and…you know where you are today (#2 above). Now for the $64,000 question: “HOW will you get from ‘here’ to ‘there’”?
(1) You can do anything but you can’t do everything. Meet with your team and determine where you will get the ‘biggest bang for your buck’ in 2020. Pick 3 strategic priorities that you will invest in and relentlessly focus on in 2020.
(2) RELENTLESS Focus, Communication and Discipline are the linchpins. That’s a promise! Envision your team rowing in the same direction, toward your 2020 vision. For this to happen, you will need a solid communications plan, a commitment to follow-on and an accountability system.
Thank you for allowing us to help you jump-start your 2020 planning process. Let us know how our planning process, expertise and tools can support your goal to make 2020 Your Best Year Yet. We invite you to learn more about what we do and how we do it at www.ceovisionllc.com.
At CEO Vision, we believe that women leaders can be great leaders. Our Women’s Leadership Toolkit™ combines years of expertise and knowledge with world-class assessments, practical leadership tools and custom coaching to provide you with the skills, processes and mindset you need to be an effective and successful leader. Thanks for visiting us at www.ceovisionllc.com.