By Gayla Hodges 

How do you keep your eyes on
the prize – meaning finishing strong all of the goals you’ve set for 2008 –
while also planning and setting goals for 2009? You are faced with two very
critical tasks which can easily become muddled. 
When a business loses focus and allows current year goals to become
muddled with goals for the coming year, the result is often lack of momentum to
finish current year goals and initiatives and a lack of clarity in 2009 goals
and strategies. So how do you do both
at the same time?

The major key to keeping your eyes on the prize and
finishing strong in 2008, while also moving progressively into 2009 is focus. Where are you focusing your
attention?  As a leader of the group, you
will want to make sure there is focused attention on what remains to be done in
2008, evaluating how well you’ve done. But you also need to put a focus on the
next year so people can prepare.

Part of the leadership
challenge is maintaining focus on two related, yet separate, tasks. People can
get excited about what’s going to happen the next year and not want to finish
off the things that need to happen this year. Or things like cultural
initiatives can fall by the wayside in the ardor of trying to complete the production-type
goals you might have set.

As a leader, what you will
want to do is to create different focuses and not try to do everything at one
time. You might bring together your leadership team at this point in the year
and evaluate where you’ve been, where you’re going, and what needs to happen in
order to finish strong for 2008. At this time of year, it is also important to
be looking at whether you will be able to complete everything planned for 2008
or if you will need to roll some things over into 2009?

You will also want to plan a
separate session, which is your
visioning session and your planning session for 2009.  In this meeting, your focus needs to be more
visionary – looking forward to 2009. Your evaluation of 2008 achievements will
inform your 2009 planning and will indicate any goals or initiatives from 2008
that need to carry over into 2009. 

It is important for leaders
to remember (as I’ve said a thousand times) that what you focus on as a leader is what people in your organization will
focus on.  So, it’s important that
you focus on both things, but it’s equally important that you don’t try to
focus on them at the same time. 

In working on your plan for
2009 you might have noticed that a five-year plan is actually more practical.
However, if you want to use this as a communication plan for the people in your
organization, to keep them focused, a yearly plan is really the best method to
do that. Keep in mind that content of your yearly plan is very important; but
the way you roll it out is equally important.

Some of my clients write an accomplishments letter, and this is the
time to start gathering this information. The purpose of the letter is to say,
“Here’s what the 2008 plan was and how well we did on these different
areas.”  As you begin to capture what’s
been completed, you can actually write a letter to your folks telling
recognition.  You will want to use the
letter as an opportunity to recognize individuals who are responsible for
significant accomplishments or achievements. This letter will result from your
2008 evaluation session.

During this time of year,
companies are also beginning to look at performance. You will want to be sure
you have talked with people about where their performance is on track or off
track and what they need to do to get it on track before the end of the
evaluation year (assuming that you are using the calendar year as your fiscal
year).  Your performance updates are a
good way to share information on outstanding achievements and to take note of
performance issues that need to be considered in planning for 2009. 

At this point in the year
many companies have also looked at budgets. They have planned some budgeting.
You will want to have that information for your 2009 strategic planning cycle.
So, for 2008, you’re going to be looking at how close you have been on budget,
on scope and on timing. You will look at what needs to be done to make sure you
stay on budget or that you are able to recoup if you haven’t stayed on track.  You will also need some information for the
2009 plan. This will be: What is the budget for 2009?  What is going to carry over? What do these
things look like?

An example would be things
that are longer-term strategies that you are putting in place. You might have
started a strategy – maybe a safety strategy – that in the first year you have
certain specific areas that you want to emphasize. And maybe in the second year
the emphasis will change. Your 2009 plan needs to reflect this. And, of course,
this goes across the board. Assessing the progress made in 2008 and deciding
what should be the strategy for the next year in those specific areas provides
integration and continuity across time.

You don’t want to
“cookie-cutter” your plan from the year before. You might want to be sure to
hit on each topic to show that you’ve completed what you’re trying to do or
look at where you are going in the next step. Your strategy might not change,
although it might.  If you had, for
example, established a strategy of having senior leaders carry forward with
certain cultural initiatives, like safety or workforce development, and
possibly in the next two years you will roll that out to maybe first line
leaders and/or the employee population as a whole, your plan needs to reflect
that. These are the strategies you need to discuss in your business strategy
sessions for the next year.

There is a lot to talk
about, and there’s a lot to think about. 
If you are able to establish two focuses you can lead the company in
giving adequate attention to 2008 goals and initiatives to ensure a strong
finish. You will also be able to use the information from your evaluation of
2008 plans and your performance analysis to begin to establish a vision and
create a plan for 2009. This allows you to keep the two sets of goals from becoming
muddled in the minds of your employee population. You will be able to maintain
strategic momentum through the end of the current year and build that momentum
to launch strategic efforts in 2009.

Copyright © 2008 by Gayla
Hodges