It’s the time of year when, as business leaders, we find ourselves engrossed in the crucial undertaking of Long Range Planning (LRP). It’s one of the most significant responsibilities we have as leaders–creating the vision and roadmap of the company for the next several years. I’ve been through the Long Range Planning process multiple times, and in my experience, it’s both exhilarating and exhausting.
The exercise provides an opportunity to reflect and evaluate existing strategies, identify what's working seamlessly and what requires recalibration. We have the chance to ask ourselves if the assumptions we made last year held true, and then fine-tune or even change course if we guessed wrong.
I just finished working closely with the leaders at my company on our LRP and thought I’d share three things that stood out to me this time around:
- Don’t reinvent the wheel…unless you have toPeople often go into Long Range Planning thinking the plan should be dramatically different than the previous year. There can be a lot of pressure to bring innovative and fresh ideas. But the truth is, if you have a solid LRP, you shouldn’t have to start from scratch every year.While new ideas are great, you should resist the urge to drift from the plan. Remember, this is a multi-year strategy that requires patience and commitment. Unless the market or your overall company mission has changed, consider minor adjustments rather than wholesale changes.
- Modulate thoughtfully between the macro and microLong Range Planning almost always falls in the second half of the fiscal year, when things tend to get a little crazy. And by nature of the process, you’re shifting back and forth from the micro day-to-day operations to the macro multi-year strategy. Bouncing between both mindsets can be draining.This year, I was pretty thoughtful about modulating back and forth, putting healthy perameters and processes in place to keep me focused on both. I tried my best to group LRP meetings together on my calendar. When I could, I’d do planning calls in the morning, then switch over to day-to-day business in the afternoon. In some cases, I was able to block-out an entire day to focus on the big picture strategy in order to limit the whiplsash.?I was also mindful of reminding my team it was LRP season–keeping them up to speed on what I could share, and asking for grace in case I was slow to respond to requests.
- Bring people along on the LRP journeyI know that’s a little cliche these days, but collaboration is so important when it comes to Long Range Planning. A truly effective LRP requires input from every part of the company and thinking beyond the technical roadmap of the products you’re going to sell.?This year, we continually asked ourselves the question, “What does that mean for _______?”? What does it mean for how we support our customers, for how we sell, or how we contract and bill?? Thinking through all the impacts and outcomes was important to ensure the company can evolve in a way that supports the innovation we set forth in our Long Range Plan.
I’m really proud of the work my colleagues and I accomplished in this latest LRP cycle. And I hope some of these reflections help as you get started (or finish up) your own Long Range Planning. I wish you the best of luck!
Great suggestion to time block your day(s) by time horizon. I'm borrowing that one. To build on your ideas around cross-functional input and collab, consider adding OKRs and giving some real thought to how to get each team rowing in the same direction. What gets measured gets done!