Prepping for Year End Planning

It’s getting to be that time of year to earmark some time for year-end planning, whether it is for yourself, your team or your business. This has become a passion topic of mine for many decades now as a retreat leader, and for the past couple of years, my authorship of two workbook planners – PlanDoTrack (for Remote Workers) and the Coaching Business Builder (for coaches) has brought me more into the landscape of planning on a regular occurrence.

As you go to develop your plans for 2020, and perhaps the new decade, it may be useful to segment your planning along the lines of PLAN, DO, and TRACK.
 
First, prepare. We know that planning and preparation can save ample time. An old project management adage is that “ten minutes of planning will save 1 hour of unfocused effort”. Before you go to sit down and work on your plan it may be useful to:

1. Schedule time for this. From a 45-minute planning hack (join me on Monday November 11th at 11 am ET for one!) to a four-hour virtual session. What’s the amount of time you want to earmark for your planning? Do you want to do this with others? Or alone?
2. Gather what you need. That might include:
   1. Last year’s plan to see how you reviewed your plan last year, along with last year’s metrics
   2. This year’s annual and quarterly plans so you can take stock of how things went
   3. Numbers – finances, dates, programs etc.

 Next , PLAN:
As you go to prepare for 2020 planning consider:

• What do you want to focus on?
• What will WILD SUCCESS look like?
• What are the elements of work you know you need in order to be fulfilled?
• What are the pieces your clients are asking for?
• What is the legacy work you want to leave a footprint around?
• What is the foundational work you want to undertake?

Then, DO:
Another important part of planning is the DOING. Consider what kind of plan is going to work for you. Are you the type of person who likes to review? Make notes once a week? Take a deep dive monthly? Both PlanDoTrack and Coaching Business Builder includes an undated planner with monthly, quarterly and annual planning pages. You can start using them at any time, and in seeing how people engage with these, it's fascinating to note the different preferences people have around planning. 

Once you have decided your responses to these questions, consider doing a big list of all the things you want to focus on (projects, tasks and activities) for 2020. Make a list according to your preferred style:

• Are you a visual person? If so, starting with a MindMap may work well. Grab a new notebook and write out your plans.
• Do you work best to deadline? Grab a set of post it notes first and with one post-it per idea list your activities. Then grab a calendar of appropriate size and place them in the grid.  If you are a color person, you might consider dedicating certain projects to certain colors and using that color of post it/index card. The dollar store is a great place to find these resources.
• Do you work best with peer accountability? This is where you might consider joining an annual group. I host two throughout the year – the Coaching Biz Growth Lab which meets the 1st and 3rd Fridays of the month between 3 – 4 pm Eastern, focusing on business growth and the Learning Lab and Design Studio which focuses on all things learning design such as how to create more impactful individual, group and team programs.
• Do you work best to numbers? Consider leveraging the questions under the track. Jump there!
• Do you work well with time and space dedicated to it? Consider scheduling time on a regular basis to your planning. Perhaps you join me every month for the Month End Planning sessions OR want to do it on your own. Schedule regular time to this right now for the next quarter or throughout all of 2020.

As Drucker is often quoted as saying, “what doesn’t get scheduled, doesn’t get done”.

Finally, TRACK:
Tracking is another part of planning and productivity success. What do your numbers say Without metrics around a plan it’s hard to know what really is changing. While some may only see numbers as numbers, the value of tracking metrics is that over time you will start seeing some interesting patterns.
If this is an area you want to get better at, check out the Monthly Daily Trackers, and Content Trackers in both PlanDoTrack and the Coaching Business Builder Workbook and Planners (see section 5 - the planners).

Questions to consider:

• What are the metrics you want to track? Consider profit (i.e. revenue, sales), productivity, staff or team measures (number of meetings held, number of 1-1s).
• What is the baseline you want to capture right now?
• Where are you going to track your metrics?

If you are looking for a framework, consider using the Monthly Daily Trackers which you will find in the 5th section of PlanDoTrack or Coaching Business Builder. There are 12 sets of them.

For more on metrics, stay tuned for next week’s blog post. I’ll be dedicating it to the topic of metrics.

Best,
​Jennifer

PS - Save the DATE! I'll be hosting an open invitation planning for 2020 session on Monday November 18th from 11 - 1145 am ET. Grab a pen and your journal and join us!

Jennifer Britton
Coaching Business Builder | Group Coaching Essentials
Supporting coaches to grow their business and skills in the areas of group coaching
Recipient of the Prism Award for Excellence in Coaching (2016), and i4pL Award of Excellence - Curriculum Design (2017)
Contact Jennifer to set up a call to see how her 1-1 coaching or group coaching support can help you move towards your Q 4 and 2020 goals.
Phone: (416)996-8326