Calendar Year Planning Rhythm

Posted on November 22, 2015

Planning done well is not a once and done event.  It requires research and thoughtfulness.  Spreading it over the calendar and starting early is crucial.  Here is a simple timeline for midsized firms with small to medium sized leadership teams who work on a calendar year planning rhythm.

 

Strategic Planning

June: Hold a 6-hour strategic visioning session.  We list and dream about the big strategic changes we may want to implement in the following year.  And we assign a champion to each one to write the business case.

September: Full day strategic session where champions present their business cases (developed with other leaders in the firm as needed) and the executive leadership team debates and likely chooses winners and losers.

Note:  There will likely be other meetings between June and September with a different participant mix to help develop, research and refine the business cases.

Operational Planning

Mid October: Four hour operational planning session, where the company outlines its intentions/direction for the following year, reconfirms the strategic shifts planned, and the team talks about resource availability estimates.

Mid November: Full day operational planning session, where each function presents its detailed plans, they are debated and synchronized, and a near-final plan set results.

Mid December:  Four hour final operational planning session where the plan set is locked down and the company presentation is planned for early January.