12 Weeks to Success

Speedy execution of a strategy is a prevalent mantra in the business world. Against this background, many companies nonetheless abide by 12-month cycles. Brian P. Moran and Michael Lennington, authors of The 12-Week Year, believe that companies and individuals should steer away from the low productivity of year-long strategies by introducing a shorter, more potent, 12-week year. At Eo Ipso, we decided to implement a shorter execution cycle, to test if it indeed had the power to drive improved results in our business. Below you can find out more about what we learnt, but also what we need to work on before moving forward. 

Annual goals and plans drag out for too long; they remove all sense of urgency and do not allow room for the nitty-gritty details essential to a business’ success. By breaking down the calendar into four 12-week instalments, emphasis is placed on achieving manageable goals. A 12-week year establishes clarity and focus, urgency increases in order to fulfil set-targets, and there is no time to get complacent. A short business cycle ensures execution effectiveness as team members’ goals are aligned and have little time to fall out of line.

If your calculations were correct, and your 12-week targets feasible, then come the following “year”, you can double down on your strategy. Were your set-goals unrealistic or too complex, you will realise this in no time, and be able to redirect them accordingly. In the fast-pace work environment we live in, there is not one minute to lose, and the high-degree of agility and adaptability afforded by the 12-week year is, I believe, a successful way to stay ahead of the game.  

At Eo Ipso, borrowing from Moran and Lennington, we recently implemented our first “12 Week Year”. Starting on July 1st, our so-called “summer year” was carefully structured and divided, following the ideas that stemmed from a team brainstorm. Collectively, we set out the targets and priorities for the weeks to come. Whilst each week had its own set of goals, the encompassing 12-week period also fell under an overarching label: scale. In addition, we made sure to diversify the nature of our short-term objectives: some of our goals set out clear figures to reach, others were analytical, whilst some hoped to improve the efficiency of existing and running projects.  

12 weeks later, and we are now able to reflect on the successes (and pitfalls) of our approach. First of all, we have decided on and are already moving forward with the autumn year – a testimony of success. We liked the idea of having an umbrella buzzword setting out the underlying motive of the cycle. It gave a sense of purpose to all our weekly short-term objectives and made sure we never lost touch with what we were working towards. This Autumn, the Eo Ipso team is hoping to “Supercharge”, not only with client work but also internally and as we welcome new members on-board.

Although we successfully ticked off most of our short-term milestones, we left little room to reflect on them as the weeks were passing by. Moving forward, our “autumn year” will be punctuated by review and assessment sessions, where we shall be taking the time to pause and evaluate the success of some of our new products and services. Considering the diversity of projects we work on and the high-paced tempo required by the digital age, constant evaluation can do no harm.

Finally, some of our set-targets were, in hindsight, overly ambitious. We were hoping to reach certain figures for the number of people attending our summer events, whilst also gaining many more newsletter subscribers. Some of the KPIs discussed at the beginning of the summer year were unfortunately not met. Whilst it is good to be ambitious, unrealistic targets are not only a disappointment for the team, but also reflect a lack of forward-planning. In the future, we shall be spending more time setting realistic figures, or revising them as the weeks go by.

 All in all, you won’t be seeing the Eo Ipso team passively watching the autumn drift by, but rather as they “supercharge” their journey to success.