5 Questions to Ask when Doing Strategic Planning Work
It’s officially planning season as we look toward 2024, and I want to share five of my favorite questions to ask when I am doing strategic planning work with clients.
🧐 Question #1 - Why?
This one word is my favorite question of all time and I use it often. You have amazing ideas of what you want to accomplish - but why?
It's so easy to jump straight into "Let's do this thing" with every idea that comes to mind... but if you do that without thinking about the bigger picture, it can lead to a lot of chaos in your business.
So, you’ll want to consider if this is the right thing to do by asking:
Why is this important?
Why now?
Why will this bring us closer to our vision?
🧐 Question #2 - How will we know if we are successful?
When we aren't clear on what success looks like, we will never be successful.
It's not enough to have goals like "more money", "more clients" or to "work less".
Exactly how much money? How many clients? How many hours do you want to be working?
Specifics that are measurable are what will allow us to build your plan to work towards those goals.
🧐 Question #3 - What do I want my role, as the CEO, to be in all of this?
If you are anything like most of my clients, you may default to doing way too much yourself.
When we are planning it's important to also plan for what we want YOUR role to be.
What do you want to do?
What do you not want to do?
What should come off your plate?
As a Certified OBM one of my favorite things to do is help my clients clear their plates and let go of the things they no longer enjoy and that they shouldn't be involved in anymore.
🧐 Question #4 - Who can do this better than me?
This goes along with the previous question - as we clear your plate we will want to look for folks who can step in and bring their brilliance to the table.
I like to look through the lens of:
"Who can do this better than me?" vs. "who can I hire to do this" as it brings a different flavor/expectation to the table.
And I promise you, there are always people out there who are better than we are at the things we should no longer be doing. 😊
🧐 Question #5 - What if this doesn't work out?
I'm all for big goals and having a positive attitude about it all. But I'm also a realist and like to spend just a little bit of time considering the challenges and the options if it doesn't work out.
Think about the obstacles we might face or anticipate as we pursue this plan.
What if we don't reach our goals?
What impact does that have on the business? On revenue? On you as a leader?
What is our backup plan if we don't reach our goals?
Would you like some help with your strategic planning for the coming year? Strategy + Implementation is my superpower and I’d love to support you in achieving your goals!