Do you see people or companies who are active and focused even in their leisure. All of their busy-ness is engaged in a comprehensive direction. To achieve this comprehensive endeavor requires a crucial balance of vision and production pursuits.
Your Strategic MARGIN
Because creativity and production are important to me, I tend to think of strategic goals in terms of "target horizons" rather than as bull's eyes. I feel comfortable and even confident projecting goals a year out, even for large projects.
The value of the projections can be seen on the faces of team members when we do a year-in-review and look at how much we were able to accomplish. The year-in-review also underscores the importance of the accuracy of the goal projection. Lofty, unattainable goals kill morale.
The three-year plans that I have written, however, have been too agressive - all of them. As a result I share my three-year projections with team leaders as "target horizons" often without dates. The benefit of the longer-term projections is that it gives the team a sense of context and even perseverance.
At this point in my career, I am excited about bringing creativity and productivity together to achieve strategic impact. Accomplishing projects is cool, but looking back and seeing the benefit of a project a year later, two later, or more makes me smile.
Daniel J. Pfeifer, CreativeMargin, LLC Sachse, TX • creativemargin@gmail.com