It’s that time of year!

Published 4:00 pm Thursday, September 26, 2019

“All who have accomplished great things have had a great aim, have fixed their gaze on a goal which was high, one which sometimes seemed impossible.”  –Orison Swett Marden

Fall is finally here. Down here in South Georgia we can expect our temperatures to catch up with the season in a month or two. Football season is here – Go Dawgs! – and we are entering the final 90 days of 2019. 

It’s time to look at your goals and plans for 2019. What worked? What didn’t? What can you do to make the last 90 days of the year the best for you and those you lead?

While we are wrapping up 2019, we must lift our heads to plan for a great 2020 and beyond. Why stop work on your 2019 to goals to look ahead?

An organization without a strategy is like a team without plays. Imagine the 11 members of your favorite football team trying to win a game without each person knowing the play. Now imagine there are 100 or 1,000 members on the team. How would they perform? 

Organizational leadership can feel like herding cats…nearly impossible to move everyone in the same direction. But you know what? It’s not the cats’ fault! 

It is ours, the leaders. Leaders must cast a vision and create a strategy to achieve that vision. Then, leaders must repeat that vision and strategy until everyone in the organization knows it by heart. If we don’t, it is our fault when our people need so much direction.

How do we know creating and executing a great strategy for your organization is the absolute best thing you could spend your time on? There are many tools available to executives. All promise faster growth and higher profits. But which are the most effective?

Bain & Company, one of the world’s leading consulting firms, regularly performs a survey of over 1,000 executives. These executives are leaders of some of the world’s most well-run organizations. In the survey, they ask the executives what tools they use in their organizations. They also ask them to rate their satisfaction with each tool they used.

What tool was at the top? Strategic Planning – The process of determining what a business should become and how it can best achieve the goal. Strategic planning is not only the most used tool but also the tool executives are most satisfied with. Strategic planning has been at or near the top of the results since the survey began over 25 years ago.

Customer relationship management and Purpose and Vision statements were also top tools. They are both key building blocks of a great plan.

One of the greatest outcomes of planning is getting your team on the same page and rowing in the same direction. When this happens, chaos diminishes and culture improves. Organizations that plan and execute well are better, happier places to work. 

Shouldn’t you use the tools the best are using? It is not difficult to get started. You must create the time and find a guide.

I’ll be giving you a sampling of the tools you’ll need over the next few weeks. If you want to dive in now, head over to our resource page at www.valuesdrivenresults.com. You’ll find a lot of great tools there. All free.

If you have any questions or a planning topic you’d like me to cover in future columns, drop me a line at cfowler@valuesdrivenresults.com or give me a call at 229.244.1559. Helping leaders build better businesses and better lives for themselves and the people they lead is my passion. I’d be happy to help any way I can. 

Curt Fowler is President of Fowler & Company and Director at Fowler, Holley, Rambo & Stalvey. 

Curt is a syndicated business writer, keynote speaker and business advisor. He has an MBA in Strategy and Entrepreneurship from the Kellogg School, is a CPA, and a pretty good guy as defined by his wife and four children.