Wow! Are you personally ready for 2013?

Happy New Year!

How many of you have finished your business strategic planning for 2013? Have you started…I have been associated with many successful yearly strategic planning sessions and a few that I would classify as a mistake. Most often the yearly planning started in the fall; getting ready to hit the ground running as soon as the year begins…but some, drag their heals as if it is a burden. They will not be ready for the start of a new year, and may have a chance of failing to meet even the sketchy goals that they identify before the year end. If it is a burden, then you shouldn't do it. It is a waste of time to drag any of your employees through an ill-conceived, never monitored strategic plan that takes until nearly the end of the first quarter to finish. Obviously it has no meaning and at the end of the day it will just sit on the shelf until next year when, OMG, you need to do another one. You know who you are…just Move On to the next year without a plan…it is better for all!

Tragically, as an individual, many of us Move On with the New Year without our own strategic plan. Have you stopped to think about what a New Year means for you as an individual? What about your personnel skills, your strengths, and your overall goals for the year or the next five years?  Technically, as an independent consultant my strategic plan is also my personnel plan. Up to this point in my career I had not given much thought to the idea of an individual strategic plan.  I began to do some research.

Most inquiries into this subject lead to people or firms that would help write a strategic plan. Most had a 4 or 5 step process; one even had a ten step process. They all talked about SWOT (Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats) an analysis technique, credited to the Stanford Research Institute, Albert Humphrey, in the 1960’s. Over the years I have participated in many SWOT analysis sessions, and for this reason I continued with my research into a less structured process.

I came across a blog by +Pamela Slims. http://www.escapefromcubiclenation.com/pamela-slims-blog/ and the title on the piece is “The first step in your 2013 plan-anchor the why, the whom and the what”.  She asks some very powerful questions. “Why do I want to create the things I want to create this year?”; “Whom do I want to serve?”; “What do I want to create?” and “What if this were my last year on earth?”  

The first question really begins the thinking process of what are we good at and should it continue forward into this next year? Is it something that we like, or should the direction be changed? Do we do it for the sake of survival, or is it something that the community receives benefit from? Or does that matter? Is this a good time to Move On with the plan, or should it stop and a new direction be formed?

For me, the first question of why brought back memories of May, 2012 and the main reason why this blog was started. Moving On…does it mean creating a new direction or finding something similar to what you just left? I choose to create a new direction that concentrated on investing my energy into what I believe will create a better built environment for my community and for those communities where I can assist in creating human centered, safe, secure and sustainable solutions that help kids learn and enable good teachers to teach. The final months of 2012 were exciting; great projects, great people and great family adventures. In 2013 I plan to continue to build on what has been started, strengthening my knowledge base, building on current associations and developing new associations. By the end of 2013 I want to be able to say the same thing about the year that I just said about 2012!

The Second question for me is simple…whom do I want to work with…I want to work with clients and associates that have the same motivational objectives that I have….that can plan, and create the best possible environments for teaching and learning. Understanding that educational institutions have limitations economically, these environments need to be efficient, sustainable and fiscally responsible. As an Architect that is involved in programming, master planning and leading design teams, I have the responsibility to do whatever I can to make our educational system successful and getting the built environment to respond to the need of the student and the teacher is a great place to start!

The third and fourth question are both what questions, the fourth being the toughest. I have contributed to the written world with papers on “safety and security” and “educational facility visioning” and I want to continue to be active in this area. I especially want to be more active in driving improvements for our beginning readers, the identification of career paths and working with intercity schools that struggle with dropout rates. I write some tweets, and I follow lots of tweeters, but I need to jump more actively into movements and organizations to advance awareness. But if this is my last year on earth, then I want it to be especially connected to my family. Since May I have had the great opportunity to be more flexible, available, and I have listened and given advice when asked. 2013 brings the 40^th anniversary for my wife and me! (Although we have been dating for 44 years) What a great year it will be!

If you have not thought about your own strategic plan for 2013 it is not too late! Explore the possibilities and plan a great year of your own! Get going!

If you are a business and you just now doing it, it is too late, drop the idea and start early for 2014!