Plan Ahead

The 3-Year Picture helps everyone in a business envision where they’re going (Iron Briefing, November 2024). Thomas Edison said, “Vision without execution is hallucination.” Execution starts with creating a plan. For companies running on EOS® the plan has two components: the 1-Year Plan and their 90-day goals, or Rocks.

The 1-Year Plan for an entrepreneurial company must be simple and achievable. With “Less is more” as their mantra and the 3-Year Picture in mind, leadership teams of businesses running on EOS® create a plan with their predictions for revenue, profit, and a measurable coupled with three to seven goals for the year. Why no more than seven? Because those who take on more often achieve less. Keep it simple and write each goal to be specific, measurable, and achievable.

Next, they create a plan for the next 90 days – what absolutely needs to get done in the upcoming quarter to stay on track to achieve the 1-Year Plan. The team debates, discusses, and decides on the 3-7 most important priorities (Rocks), writes them “SMART,” and assigns an owner for each – the person who will be accountable to the team for making sure the Rock is completed.

Achieving Rocks helps achieve the 1-Year Plan, which helps achieve the 3-Year Picture.

Proverbs 21:5: “The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty.”

Is your team aligned on where your business is headed? And do you have a plan to achieve it?