strategic planning

How to Look Back in Order to Move Forward — Image Credit: Shutterstock

This is the time of year when many of us are already planning for 2018, while seeing how to best juggle the upcoming holiday season. There are messages and markers everywhere that prompt us to do both, as much as most of us would just like to concentrate on the month at hand.

Signs of December celebrations are everywhere. It seems that the marketplace has jumped over Thanksgiving to light up stores with holiday decorations. People are busy scheduling social events and already feeling the edge of overwhelm that a packed calendar can bring during this season.

At the same time, the workplace is confirming budgets for 2018, prompting a hard look at targeting new goals and strategies.

So, if you are like me, you are receiving e-mail messages and calls to prepare not only for social events, but for client work deadlines that actually have to do with a running start to 2018.

Strategic planning and setting personal or professional goals for 2018, while seeing how to best manage the last two months of the year can be tough. Defining how you want next year to look can turn out to be a quick two-question process that can leave out some important self-reflection.

Here is what I mean: most of us will tend to scramble, by asking ourselves, “What did I not accomplish this year that I need to accomplish next year? What do I need to do differently in order to achieve this desired state or goal next year?”

I call this line of questioning “war zone thinking.”

This is a quick tactical assessment which is useful in times of war for quick action to avoid disaster. However, it also places us in a state of “high stress alert,” impelling you to operate from the “fight or flight” area of the brain.

Operating in this way is highly counter-productive for visioning and planning strategically for next year’s goals and aspirations, and here are three reasons why:

From a mindset point of view, such a quick line of questioning can tend to make you feel as though you are behind, and not performing or accomplishing enough.

Beginning a planning process with the question, “What did I not accomplish?” intimates that you have failed in some way, and places you in a defensive posture that does not allow for best processing.

Using the “fight or flight” area of the brain will keep you in a state of stress and throw up roadblocks to using your “executive brain.”

The latter is the part of the brain that allows your creativity to spring forth, your visionary abilities to rise, and use of your best critical and analytical thinking skills.

Assessing where you are, where you need to be, and how to get there should begin by providing a snapshot of wins and celebrations.

You will want to remind yourself as to what has worked well and what you used to achieve this so that you have a top-of-mind picture of the strengths you may use for moving forward.

The following framework is a positive and useful kick-off to your own personal planning, or your professional strategic planning process at the individual, team, and organizational levels.

Looking Back to Move Forward

What accomplishments and milestones have I reached this year? The past 3-5 years?
How would I like to celebrate these?
What personal strengths and skills did I use in order to reach these achievements?
What adversities and unexpected challenges have occurred during this time?
How did I push through or move past these?
How would I like to acknowledge myself for moving past these adverse occurrences?
As I think about next year, what will be important to celebrate and the end of December?
What are the top 1-3 goals I want target to achieve?
To what will I say “no” in order to say “yes” to these? What critical shifts and conversations will need to take place?
What personal strengths and skills will I use to make these things happen?

Once you have thoughtfully reflected on or discussed the answers to these questions, you will be in a positive and energetic frame of mind to move through your strategic planning process for 2018.

Patti Cotton

Patti Cotton reenergizes talented leaders and their teams to achieve fulfillment and extraordinary results. For more information on how Patti Cotton can help you and your organization, click here.

Previously, I shared a 5-step power tool to help you and other executives finish your year strong. If you didn’t have a chance to see it, click here.

In the article, I mentioned in step 3 that you would want to do a “quick analysis of priorities and projects.” When most executives see this, they immediately think of going through what we call a SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats).

In the world of business, SWOT analysis taught us a lot. But over time, those of us who lead and support leadership in their strategic planning process have recognized that this exercise may do more harm than good.

In fact, there are 3 main reasons why SWOT analysis can actually be counter-productive, and hold your enterprise back from reaching its full potential.

1. You lead with the analysis instead of leading with vision.

Beginning with looking back keeps us from effectively looking forward.

Leading with such an analysis roots the planning in today – reactive mode instead of proactive mode. Instead, if you start by reverse-engineering from your desired future by beginning with the end in mind, then you will step out of current perceptions and into the “what’s possible.”

Stepping into vision first will allow you to leave preconceptions and biases more easily behind, making the mental space for more creativity and innovation.

2. You focus on the weaknesses instead of the opportunities.

This, too, is rooted in past principles of leading by focusing on fixing what’s wrong. Language is powerful, and the very word “weakness” intimates that you must get better, improve, repair.

Instead of locking you and your strategic planning team into that kind of Titanic mindset, begin by reviewing your strengths. Remember first what you do well and the unique value you bring to the marketplace.

In addition, consider that what some call “weakness” may actually be reworded as a partnership opportunity. By reframing the term, we actually reframe the thinking of those involved in the process to more positive possibilities to explore.

3. You put the analysis results on the shelf.

Many enterprises don’t do anything with the information from the analysis they have performed. It sits on a shelf for a while, and then someone suggests doing one again, because the marketplace has changed. And these days, that could be a matter of months.

An unused analysis can be because there was no accountability determined with next steps, or leadership didn’t really have a sound strategic planning process that helped to move the team forward to take action. Or it may be for other reasons. But all limiting scenarios can be overcome with the right process, if you are committed.

The SWOT analysis was a first good beta for answering the question, “How are we doing?”

But there’s a better way to ask…well, better questions. I’ll be sharing that with you in my next article.

Meanwhile, whether you are about to undertake a strategic planning process, or you simply want to do a “spot check” with your team to see how well you are doing, remember to make the experience a motivating and enjoyable one – and then do something with it!