Last week I challenged you, myself and my team to take two steps towards a great 2014. Step 1: Assess yourself and/or your business as a whole. Take a look at your balance sheet and income or financial statement and get nervous. Ask yourself and your team questions that have the potential to create insight instead of demanding action. Step 2: Prioritize and create a 'short list' of goals. Apply a program called the "Double-Half-Half";  asking yourself how you could double your gross income in the coming year at half the cost and in half the cycle time to deliver.

So there are two more steps - Sequencing and Empowerment.  Step 3 is about Sequencing. Let's follow a structure for your business that breaks it into 7 categories.  It might help if you draw it out like this:
Take your list from Step 2 and put each item where it fits best in the 7 Categories. To determine where each item on your list belongs, you might want to try this. 

You know that line "you might be a redneck if...?"  You can start the questioning for sequencing in a similar fashion. Leadership might be a problem if... it seems like the company isn't walking its talk in terms of core values. Branding could be a problem if... your assessment resulted in an item on your list that revealed a disconnect between how you feel about the value/importance of your service and how the market feels about it. Finance could be a problem if... you don't know much or how money is moving through your business. Management could be a problem if... your people aren't growing or changing, or you don't have systems in place to empower them to do so.  Delivery could be a problem if... your assessment revealed your customers are being satisfied, but not blown away. Sales could be a problem if... your operation doesn't help your salespeople to give them a step-by-step feeling that they came to the right place.  And Marketing could be a problem if... there's more to learn about who you're trying to reach, where they live, and what they really want.

This planning is to help you see the root cause or if you can't find solutions for reaching your tactical goals.  And here's the deal.  To take the necessary tactical steps you're going to have to address any identified organizational and cultural challenges. If you don't, you'll be stuck in the doomed-to-fail shortcut approach.  And while you'll have great company there,  I hope you'll decide to go further up where the population is lower.

I hope like me, you'll come to realize that planning and systems don't restrict innovation or freedom for you or your team.  Rather, it makes room for it by establishing (or re-establishing) boundaries - both organizational and personal - within which to focus and concentrate everyone's energy.  It's making hard choices about allocating scarce resources, to specific goals, and to get clear on who's responsible for tracking and reaching them.

Let's save Step 4, Empowerment for a week or two from now. Empowering your team to deliver is vital or all else will fail.  You and your team have to commit to working on those things that there is passion and inspiration for, from the people who are going to put them into action.

Come join our discussion on our blog, or I welcome your feedback through email.