I have had some questions lately about what should you do in an annual planning session?
I also like to start with the leadership team sharing good news to set the tone of our day. We then move to confirm the company’s core purpose, core values and check in on the organization’s Big Hairy Audacious Goal.
Now we are ready to look at how the business is making money and confirm the right people are in the right seats on the leadership team. We look at our market overall, check for differences, ensure our core customer is still who we think they are, and highlight any areas where we are struggling or potential red flags in the business.
Next, we review the company 3HAG, which stands for 3 year Highly Achievable Goal. We dig into our strategy, make sure we are still on track and see if we need to iterate. As well as spend some time celebrating our wins!
Now the fun begins! We set a new 3HAG, as our current 3HAG is now our 2HAG, and we create a 1HAG (1 year Highly Achievable Goal) and a QHAG (Quarterly Highly Achievable Goal). Next, we sync our execution plan to QHAG. We map out our QHAG into a 13-week sprint and set up a dashboard to track it along with the right communication rhythms to create success. Ultimately, the business should be able to draw a straight line from what they are doing this quarter to where they want to be three years from now to hit their 3HAG.
We also create a rolling widget-based cash forecast that enables the team to focus on widgets sold and how much cash the business has in the bank.
Finally, we put together a one phrase close that sums up our theme for the quarter that we take back and share with our teams.
Teams that follow this process for annual planning and quarterly meetings and use a coach are known to average three times top-line growth and two times the cash in the bank in three years. They can achieve these results because they are clear on where they are going, what they need to do, and how they will achieve their goal.
Feel free to take this framework based on @Shannon Susko’s work and run with it or use a certified coach like me to help you get there faster.
Here’s to a great annual planning season!
