After his great disappointment (the bonus check that ended up being a membership to the Jelly of the Month Club) and Uncle Lewis burning down the Christmas tree, Clark Griswold determined that in spite of it all, he would give his family a blow-out Christmas! And did he ever. . . in a way no one could ever imagine. He forgot the adage: If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.

In our last post we discussed asking key questions. Today we will cover the importance of taking time for reflection and setting goals.

If you have done a good job asking questions, you will have a good idea where you have been and where you are now.

Learn from your past! If you’ve been in business long enough, you’ve likely made some bad decisions. But that’s where you learn. It burns, it’s painful but you know what—EVERY company has experienced it!

Life’s greatest lessons and growth come from the agony and consequences of wrong decisions.  This is the point at which you can begin to plan for the future.

Step One: Set dedicated, uninterrupted time to focus. Whether it is a formal retreat weekend or several shorter meetings—say two hours a week—your leadership team must be willing to sit down together, free from distractions, and look at the big picture.

Spending time planning now will keep you from having to lose even more time untangling a big mess later. Block out time on your calendar now and don’t let any fires postpone that meeting!

Step Two: Create realistic overall goals: The planning process starts with the CEO and the leadership team settling on the top three to five goals most important to the success of the company. In your discussions, you must talk about where you are now and where you want to be, and you need to thoroughly address your challenges, known and unknown.

Step Three: Generate a plan of action from your overall goals. This plan is designed to align the company from top to bottom, communicating the overall picture and expectations so everyone is on the same page.

Developing a workable plan of action can be pretty complicated. The professionals at MasterThink have guided countless companies through this step, and the results have been huge! If you need, help, don’t hesitate to call.

Once you have focused and decided where the company should go, it’s time to focus on the different departments within. In our next post we will get into the nitty-gritty of individual goal setting and everyone’s least favorite word… ACCOUNTABILITY.