Quarterly Pre-Planning Guide
Productive Strategic Planning meetings start with great prep! We’ve taken a page from Herb Cogliano of Aspire Growth Advisors (Check out his testimonial!)to bring you this Quarterly Pre-Planning Meeting Preparation guide.
DATE: Quarterly (Day before)
TIME: 2-3 hours
ATTENDEES: Senior Leadership Team
MEETING OBJECTIVES:
- Be Prepared – Review quarterly priorities, targets, SWOT and survey results prior to Quarterly Planning meeting, allowing Senior Leadership to be prepared for planning with the broader group.
- Set Quarterly Targets & Draft of Company Priorities – After reviewing planning survey and previous quarter’s information, update SWOT, create a set of preliminary targets and a draft of priorities for the next quarter. These will be finalized during the Quarterly Planning meeting.
- Consensus on Direction – Ensure that the Senior Leadership team is aligned and has consensus about the direction of the organization before the next Quarterly Planning meeting.
Jump to:
- Quarterly Pre-Planning Guide
- Meeting Flow
- Meeting Open
- Review Last Period’s Performance
- Review Quarterly Employee/Client “Start, Stop, Keep” Surveys
- Update Next Period’s SWOT
- Review Next Period’s 3-5 Year Targets & Capabilities
- Review Next Period’s Annual Targets & Key Initiatives
- Define Quarterly Targets
- Define Draft of Company Quarterly Priorities
- Who, What, When (WWW) Review
- Meeting Rating (1-10)
- Ground Rules
Meeting Flow
Meeting Open
10 Minutes – Share professional good news and wins from your team or department. Capture any items that should be shared with the broader group at Quarterly Planning.
Review Last Period’s Performance
30 Minutes
- Update Actual numbers for last Quarter’s Targets in Align Quarterly tab of one page plan. (Can be completed ahead of time.)
- Review Last Quarter’s Targets, Company Priorities and Theme. What worked? What didn’t work?
- Create a list of any Company Quarterly Priorities that need to carry over to the next period, either in full or in part. They could also be a next step in an existing priority.
Review Quarterly Employee/Client “Start, Stop, Keep” Surveys
30 Minutes
- Review the survey results and make note of any issues/items that should be discussed with the team at Quarterly Planning.
What is a Start, Stop, Keep survey? A Start, Stop, Keep survey is a simple feedback tool where participants anonymously suggest actions to start doing, stop doing, and keep doing, helping teams or organizations identify areas for improvement and maintain effective practices. Use Surveys in Align to do this survey at the end of every quarter!
Update Next Period’s SWOT
30-45 Minutes
- Review and make any updates to the SWOT for the organization. Update in Align in the next Period One Year Tab of the One Page Plan.
- Capture a list of any possible Company Priorities based on the SWOT.
Review Next Period’s 3-5 Year Targets & Capabilities
20 Minutes
- Update Actual numbers for Year-To-Date (YTD) in the 3-5 Years Targets of the next period in Align. These will be the same numbers updated in the YTD for Annual Targets below. (Should be completed ahead of time.)
- Review 3-5 Year Targets and 3-5 Year Capabilities. Discuss any updates that need to be made to these long-term goals.
- Capture any potential Company Quarterly Priorities to advance the 3-5 Year Capabilities.
Review Next Period’s Annual Targets & Key Initiatives
20 Minutes
- Update Actual numbers for Year-To-Date (YTD) in the Annual Targets of the next period in Align. Same numbers as entered in the 3-5 Year YTD Targets. (Should be completed ahead of time.)
- Review Annual Targets and Key Initiatives. How are we progressing as a team towards accomplishing the Key Initiatives?
- Capture any Company Quarterly Priorities to advance the Key Initiatives.
Make sure you’re in the Current Period!
Define Quarterly Targets
15-30 Minutes
- Set the Company Quarterly Targets in the next planning period quarterly tab in Align.
- Review any concerns that might come up at the planning meeting.
Define Draft of Company Quarterly Priorities
15-30 Minutes
- Review planning survey and any notes made during the steps above for possible Company Quarterly Priorities. As a Senior Leadership Team, determine if these are non-negotiable or open to change (based on feedback received during planning.)
- Create a Draft of 3-5 Company Quarterly Priorities with KPI’s, make sure they are specific and measurable – Use Align’s AI to help!
Who, What, When (WWW) Review
15 Minutes
- Review the action-items captures on the Who, What, When (WWW) worksheet.
- Enter action items into Align as tasks.
Meeting Rating (1-10)
5 Minutes
- Ask each attendee to rate the effectiveness of the meeting from 1-10 (1 = horrible, 10 = outstanding.)
- For any attendee that rated the meeting less than a 9, ask them what could be done different at the next meeting to improve their rating.
Ground Rules
- SPEED UPDATES – If large amounts of information or updates need to be shared, send to all attendees at least 24 hours in advance for offline review.
- Use a Parking Lot to gather possible subjects that require the collective intelligence of the attendees to address. Prioritize subjects by asking the urgency (Does it need to be addressed this week?) and impact (Scale of 1 to 10 importance to moving the company forward.) Add major decisions and events to the Parking Lot before the meeting.
- Use a Who, What, When (WWW) Worksheet during the meeting to capture action-items.
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