Is your business ready for spring?

What`s first: the chicken or the egg? This expression always pops up in my head when I am with teams and leadership teams who are about to plan next quarter and someone asks: shouldn't we do our planning first and then decide on our objectives? 

For me the main question worth exploring is: “Are our objectives and planning connected to our strategy and vision and will they help us make a difference?”

I love the cycles of nature, the seasons, the quarters. It naturally reminds me that nature is changing, that it is time to reflect on how the previous season was and to adapt to the new one, make some short-term plans for this season and balance between the known and unknown and align my actions to my purpose and dreams more in the medium and long term.

With businesses, it is similar. Through my professional experience, I found that the good teams and businesses are keeping these natural cycles in mind as well. They gather and review if they have achieved the objectives that they have set themselves previously at least once a quarter, they bring the data that helps them neutrally evaluate how they did and this helps them learn and adjust their objectives and measurements for next quarter. They use that then to plan their next quarter activities striving always to do better and better in different areas: performance, people, price etc. Watch out though. Sometimes, I have noticed the following pitfall:  people start focusing so much on the measurements that the measurement becomes the objective which does not serve the original purpose nor the team anymore.

There is one major difference between good teams and outstanding teams though. Outstanding teams and organisations do not stop only at the objectives and the planning! Outstanding teams and organisations make sure that their objectives and planning are always aligned to the bigger picture: the heart and soul of the company - it`s mission, strategy and vision. They connect, visualise, share their plans and make sure everyone in the organisation is aligned to it. What's the purpose of objectives and planning after all if they do not help execute the company strategy and vision?!

As a coach and facilitator I have learned and applied many techniques, facilitated many strategy days and helped organizations execute on their strategy. The models that inspire me to do that are Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) and above all Obeya, a beautiful Lean concept, coming all the way from Japan that is the most powerful tool I have seen to execute your vision and motivate everyone on the organisation to do their absolute best to deliver the company strategy!

As a proud member of the Obeya Association, I am going to attend the Obeya Summit today to learn more and to connect to this wonderful community.

If your business is not ready for spring yet, do not worry! Reach out and together we will do what it takes for your strategy to blossom!

Happy spring, everyone!