Tags: business planning | goals | strategic planning

Since we are fast approaching another quarter-end in a little over a month, it is a good time to look at whether you are on target to accomplish the goals you set for your business this year.  Being able to hit these yearly goals depends entirely on what you are doing on a shorter-term basis, daily, weekly, and every 90-days.  Here are some considerations when working on your 90-day priorities.

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Accomplishing your longer-term goals (3, 5, 10 years) requires breaking these down into one year and 90 day short-term goals which I will refer to as priorities.  From that, prioritize your weekly and daily tasks and projects to accomplish your 90-day priorities.  Sounds easy, right?  It’s not.  It takes a huge investment of discipline, patience, and focus for you and your staff to continuously work these 90-day objectives.  Discipline is needed to continuously work on your 90-day priorities, patience is needed to not set overly improbable expectations, and focus is needed to concentrate and work on your firm’s priorities.  If you work these 90-day priorities, you will see marked progress toward your longer-term goals.

Setting and continuously working these 90-day objectives is important for the following reasons:

• Identifies what you need to accomplish to help reach the firm’s goals.
• Prioritizes and provides focus on your tasks and projects.
• Establishes agreement between employee and supervisor regarding individual and department 90-day tasks and priorities. Everyone is “on the same page.”
• Provides accountability for each employee in the firm.

Setting and working these 90-day objectives should become a way of life in your organization. That way, everyone is speaking the same language and is focusing on the same things.  Each staff member will have different 90-day objectives, but together, accomplishing these objectives leads to attaining the larger firm-wide goal(s).

A few other things to consider in mind when identifying, creating, prioritizing, and working your longer-term goals and 90-day objectives.

• Put the goals and priorities in writing- this has proven to be an effective way of attaining longer-term goals. If the goals are in writing (documented) you will be reminded of and visualizing your goals, and therefore, more likely to accomplish them.
• Make goals action-oriented- When documenting the goals, use terms (verbs) like Complete, Finalize, Create, Develop, Prepare, Conduct, Analyze, Write, etc.
• Keep the list of goals between 4-7, depending on how time-intensive and involved these objectives will be.  If you try to do more than this number, you will only dilute your focus and accomplish less. Stay focused on a few to accomplish more.
• Prioritized the goals- The most important task or project needing to be completed to accomplish the objective should be first on the list. Continuously identify and prioritize each of your tasks and projects.
• Use a time deadline.  If you say “Goal X needs to be completed by June 30^th” (or whatever date) it creates more urgency.  Since these are 90-day objectives, new ones should be set every 90 days. March 31^st, June 30^th, September 30^th, and December 31^st work well for financial advisory firms since we are used to these dates from a markets and reporting perspective.
• Make them S.M.A.R.T.- You have likely heard this acronym with variations in the terms used. When you and your staff are creating goals, make sure they are S.M.A.R.T..  Are your goals…

• SPECIFIC- It has to be easily understood. A good rule for whether the goal is specific is…if someone outside the firm can read the goal and understand it, it is probably specific.
• MEASURABLE (and MOTIVATIONAL)- You need to be able to measure the goal. How many? How much?
• ATTAINABLE (or ACHIEVABLE and ACTIONABLE)- Don’t try to accomplish more than is possible in the 90-days.  You want to stretch yourself and your employees without setting unrealistic expectations.
• REALISTIC (and RELEVANT)- Your team needs to believe that the goal is attainable or you won’t be able to hold them accountable for reaching it.
• TIMELY (or TIME-BOUND)- Set a reasonable date for completion. By when? This helps create a sense of urgency.

Effectively executing our longer-term plan requires continually measuring progress toward our goals, creating a timeline, and holding each staff member accountable. Think in terms of 90-day chunks.

To be effective managers of our businesses, we need to continually monitor and work on our priorities and goals. This requires us to be disciplined, patient and focused.

Build your business wisely.

I've been reflecting on what's important in my business and personal life. Part of this reflection comes from contemplating my business--what direction to take it and how to make it better. Part of it was prompted by the recent tragedies in the news.  Time often seems to move too fast and things happen that are outside of our control.

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To achieve our goals, it's important to remember to manage our time effectively and focus on what's really important, on tasks that move us closer to achieving a longer-term goals.

Borrowing from Dr. Stephen Covey, try this exercise: imagine having a bucket of tiny pebbles, dozens of small rocks, and a small number of big rocks.  The rocks represent all the things you need to accomplish and the bucket represents time and resources.  

All of the pebbles and rocks can fit in the bucket, but only when placed in the proper order.  If you put the big rocks in first, you can fit the remaining smaller rocks and pebbles around the big rocks. But if you put the pebbles and smaller rocks in the bucket first, you won’t be able to fit the big rocks in.

This little exercise shows why it's important to focus on the big rocks first, on the important tasks to reach your goals.

It's easy to get distracted by little things.  We're all so easily tempted to responding to non-critical emails, schedule or attend unimportant meetings. We're all so easily distracted by clients who habitually take too much of our time. It's so easy to let people drop-in for a visit and hijack the day, or to get caught up with Facebook, LinkedIn, or surfing the Web. Such distractions leave less time time to work on tasks and projects that are important to reaching  short- and long-term goals.  The little things, th pebbles pull us off course, when the big rocks are what should get attention.

The big rocks are the three to five most important things you and your staff need to accomplish in a given period of time.  They represent those tasks and projects that are critically important to the firm’s growth and success as opposed to things that we may perceive as important but are often just “time thieves.” 

The big rocks are priorities. They provide the focus and drive the tasks and projects each employee works on and keep the firm from drifting off course.  When they become the focus of everyone in the firm, the rocks also become the main topic of conversation at meetings and employee reviews.  A few of these would include:  “Are we on track to reaching the big rocks?” “If not, why?”  “What course of action do we need to change or add?” “Did my employee reach their big rocks during the year?”

Review your big rocks twice a week. On Monday, identify what needs to get done during the week.  On Friday, review your (your staff’s) progress during the week to see if you are staying on course.

The “rocks” analogy is not only applicable to working on business but also on our personal issues. Spend time on the big rocks including… family, faith, health, friends, education, supporting a cause, making a difference in the lives of others.

This analogy is equally applicable to the lives of your clients. I’m sure some of them struggle with these same challenges and it can help them focus on what is most important to them.  It might also start a dialog between you and your clients regarding what is important to them and help develop a deeper client-advisor relationship.  If you know what their big rocks are, you can incorporate them into their overall financial plan.

Build your business wisely, live your life wiser.

If you would like to see Dr. Covey demonstrate the analogy, Google “Stephen Covey Big Rocks.”  There are a few different versions posted.

As you grow your firm, you are likely to encounter one or more common frustrations and/or aggravations that stymie your ability to move the firm forward in the direction you envision.  Many of you have likely already encountered some or many of these.  For a few growing firms the pain has to become bad enough before any change is made.  They have to become “sick and tired of being sick and tired” before making changes.

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·         I don’t seem to have control: As you grow and many things compete for your attention, you will feel a loss of control over your time and what really needs to be done. You end up “putting out fires” in order to survive. You need to control your business instead of letting the business control you.

·         We have tried different things to improve the firm but they don’t seem to be working: Because you tend to get pulled in many different directions, it can become easy to try various quick-fix options (the band-aid approach)since you don’t have time to focus on everything you and your staff need to attend to.  You end up not wanting to tackle new initiatives since nothing seems to be making a noticeable impact. You and your staff have become complacent.

·         I am having issues with people: You have employees to manage, clients to communicate with, and  business partners (vendors and associated professionals) that you need to develop relationships with. It can become frustrating when the communication between you (as the owner) and these groups break down. Do these groups listen to you (staff follow your vision and clients follow your advice)? Do they understand what you are saying (regarding vision and advice)? Are they following through with what you are saying (regarding vision and advice)?

·         I am working harder and harder, but not seeing enough (increase in) profit: You are working harder and the business is growing, but you are working harder just to keep things going. However, the profit of the firm isn’t keeping up with the extra time invested.

·         The firm has hit a plateau: Your firm has been growing nicely for awhile but the growth has recently stopped or slowed considerably. You have done #2 above but you can’t get your firm to the next level of success. You are at a crossroads trying to figure out what to do to get to the next level.

In order to move your firm ahead, you must recognize that you will likely run into these frustrations and be prepared to confront them and work through each to reach a new level of success.

Recognizing what ails you is usually the easy part; the more difficult part of the equation is actually deciding to remedy what is causing your angst.  

Developing a strategic plan and consistently working the plan provides a roadmap to know which fork-in-the-road to take to overcome these frustrations.  It also will provide guidance to preemptively identify and keep the frustrations from taking control over your time.  Keep control by executing your plan.

Tags: strategic planning

When planning, whether financial planning for your clients or strategic planning for your business, there has to be follow up and follow through (accountability & monitoring) to see if you are making progress toward your goals.

In my 2012 year-end post, Getting Your RIA To The Next Level In 2013: Resolve To Follow These Six Steps And I’ll Help You Follow Through, I laid out a six-step process to help your firm make progress in 2013.  Since we are nearing the end of the first 90 days of 2013, it is time for the first quarterly checkup.

 Are you making progress on each of the six steps?

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Step One: Create a strategic plan and refer to it throughout the year to guide the firm.

This step is a series of smaller decisions that need to be determined by the leaders of the firm.  It includes deciding on a mission (core focus) and vision (who and what is your organization, where is it going, how is it going to get there) just to name a few. The vision will point you to where you want to be in the future.  From there, develop longer-term goals (more than 90 days) and identify shorter-term tasks (less than 90 days) that need to be completed to reach your longer-term goals.

If you have no done this yet, identify your vision and longer-term goals. In Step Four below you will create a list shorter-term tasks and projects that need to be completed in the next 90 days to reach the longer-term goals.

 
Step Two: Assign someone in your firm the role of “Implementer.”

In a smaller firm, the Implementer will likely be the President.  In a larger firm, you may (should) have someone else with the right skill set to handle this role.  It would be a good fit for someone handling the COO responsibilities or it could also be outsourced to a business coach (someone who can hold staff accountable).

The key responsibilities of this role are: 1) make sure the firm has the correct staff in place to reach longer-term goals, 2) prioritize shorter-term tasks and projects and ensure that progress is being made on these as well as toward reaching the longer-term goals, 3) assign tasks to the correct staff members and hold them accountable for completing these.

Holding your staff accountable for completing these shorter-term tasks is critically important to reaching the longer-term goals and ultimately the future vision of your firm.

Identify someone to fill this role or you may forever be stuck in a rut. The Implementer role is extremely important for continuing to make positive progress toward your longer-term goals.

 
Step Three: Make sure you have the right staff in place to execute your strategy.

Sometimes, for a variety of reasons, the person in a particular role is not the best person for the position. The initial hire may have been incorrect or the employee may have outgrown their previous role.  Whatever the reason(s), as your firm evolves and grows, it becomes increasingly important to hire the right people for the correct roles (needs). Your mission and vision discussed above will guide your hiring needs going forward.

Analyze your current staff and identify any changes you need to make. Having staff in the wrong roles is another way your growth will continue to be stifled unless changes are made.  

Step Four: Focus on critical tasks and projects that move the firm toward longer-term goals.

Look at all the issues your firm struggles with and the projects you need to work on to move your firm ahead.  Prioritize each of these with the ones needing to be completed in the next 90 days at the top of the list. Decide what can be completed today and this week to remove the issue or get you closer to completing the project.

What issues and projects need attention? What can you do today and this week that moves you closer to resolving issues and completing tasks and projects?
  

Step Five: Assign accountability for completing the shorter-term tasks and projects.

Once the issues and tasks have been identified, assign accountability for completing each of these. Spread them out to the correct individual(s) and place deadline dates on each task.

Who will be responsible for each issue, task, and project your firm is working on?


Step Six: Measure your progress.

Have the Implementer meet weekly with your staff to measure your progress on the shorter-term issues, tasks and projects. This is the time to address anything holding up completing these by the dates set.  After doing this weekly, when you reach a 90 day time period, you should begin seeing progress toward your longer-term goals. Once you begin seeing progress, it develops momentum in the organization.

If you followed these steps beginning in January, have you noticed progress?  If you have not started these steps, begin with Steps One through Five today.  After you get going for a week or two, stop and measure your progress.

 I’ll follow up again in 90 days to see if you are making progress toward your goals.

Keep moving toward your goals!