Joseph Guariglia

As we move into year-end, there are the usual litany of things that have to get done, including budgets for next year, year-end performance reviews, compensation analyses, etc. The revenue team is trying to close out the current year strong. You may be thinking about next year in the back of your mind, but it is really not getting the attention it deserves!

One thing that is always last on the list to address as we move into the end of the year is the plan for next year. If we wait until next year to think about our strategic plan, it will usually be January, February or even March before anything is in place; and then we need to communicate it, embed it within each team, link it to individual objectives, etc. – this could take another month, at least. So, we have lost ¼ of the year – time that should be used to accomplish our goals.

Now is the time to think about next year. This not only means developing your strategic plan, but linking these to your budgets, putting concrete action plans in place to drive success and aligning your people to accomplish these goals.

Here are the 5 things you need to do to make this happen:

1.       Hold a Strategy Session – Get your team together “offsite” for a strategy session. I know…you don’t have the time. Find the time! It is critical to set the direction for you, your team and your company, including current product growth, new products, marketing, infrastructure enhancements, human capital development, etc. If your team knows where you want to take the organization, they can help you get there.
2.       Develop Business Models – Develop Business Models, as necessary, for any new business and/or product that you contemplated during your strategy session to ensure its viability and profitable. Make sure that this is something that is worth spending the time and money on before you start to spend the time and money on it.
3.       Budget Your Strategy – Link the strategy to your budget and then prioritize your strategy based on what you have the time, and can afford, to work on.
4.       Create Concrete Action Plans – Assign each strategy to an owner responsible for developing a specific action plan to accomplish the strategic goal. This takes the conceptual strategy to a tangible level that you can action and accomplish. This is a critical component of strategy development that is often overlooked by most companies.
5.       Communicate – Communicate this strategy for the new year to your organization and have each of your team members link the strategy and action plans to their team and individual goals. Now everyone understands why they are doing their job and how it fits into the direction and goals of the organization; as a result, everyone is engaged and accountable to help drive the success of the strategy.

Prism Partners International can facilitate the development of your strategy and deliver resulting action plans, including a comprehensive communication plan, to embed your strategy into your organization and motivate your employees to superior performance and results. Through our practical operational experience and innovative organizational alignment model, we can focus and align management actions and employee performance to achieve improved profitability.

Please contact us to learn how we can help. We invite you sign-up for our weekly blog posts at http://www.prismpartnersintl.com/blog. We also ask that you join our LinkedIn Group (Strategic Human Capital Alignment Forum), Like Us on Facebook (Prism Partners International) and Follow Us on Twitter (@PrismPartners).