Colleagues, We are picking back up on our strategic leadership plan again today. A couple of things before we dive in:
On page two of the worksheet (get one here), there is a modified SWOT table. SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Today’s task: Add your three goals to the table (1st column). For each goal, think about the strengths (facilitators) and weaknesses (barriers) you have that will influence your ability to achieve your goals. These include a wide variety of things such as your own leadership traits and knowledge, workload, others in your workplace, and even the structures in your organization. Notice that my strengths and weaknesses include skills (good writer), traits (not afraid), structures (schedule and deadlines – the lack of them!) and some technical knowledge (technology stuff).
Your list doesn’t have to be exhaustive, just capture the thigs that jump out. Cheers! Frederick
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Colleagues,
Most strategic plans include objectives. Traditionally, objectives are the steps that lead to completion of the goal. For example, my first goal (shared yesterday) is:
A traditional set of objectives would be something like:
Essentially, this form of benchmark serves as an evaluation measure to see whether or not we are on track. Again, that is an outcome focused approach, but our MVP is a process-driven effort, so we aren’t doing objectives that way! In fact, my personal MVP has no objectives. Instead, I used multiple sets of goals: Goals (12 months)
Goals (Immediate)
Some of them read a bit like traditional objectives, but they aren’t. My 12-month goals aren’t about reaching hard targets, they are about establishing a direction. In contrast, my immediate goals consist of the three things I must do in order to start moving forward. As you can see, we don’t need to be overly concerned with the technical accuracy of our goals and objectives. This is an MVP and if the “goal” works for you then it is fine. Step 1: Review your goals from yesterday. If you did 3-5 year goals, consider establishing some shorter term goals/objectives. An easy way to do this is to think about the initial things that need to happen in order to start progressing. Cheers! Frederick Colleagues,
After creating a mantra, mission, and vision, we are now ready to dive into goals. Goals are the things that, if you achieve them, will lead to making your vision a reality. Goals lead to fulfillment of the vision, not the mission. Goals should be few (three). SMART goals are nice, but not necessary for an MVP. In a traditional strategic plan, SMART goals are essential because they provide measures for determining success. However, the MVP is process driven and we will focus more on what we do daily than on the outcome at the end. Step 1: Ask yourself what needs to happen in order to achieve the vision. If I do x, y, and z, that should lead to the vision. Try to keep it to three. You will need to decide how far out you want your goals to be. Typical timeframes are 3-5 years, 12 months, 3 months, and 1 month. My goals:
Before you go… one of the most difficult things about writing the daily email is knowing whether or not my efforts are fulfilling my mission of helping you lead strategically every day. Please consider hitting reply here and letting me know what you think of this week’s activities. Cheers! Frederick Colleagues,
Vision: What the future should actually look like. It is the impact that completing your mantra will have. Step 1: Consider how the world (or those you serve) would look like if you fulfilled your mission. This is your vision. My vision: Become an established “authority” able to reach and help a large audience. Note that my vision is for myself and my organization, not so much about the outcome of my mission. This is because I need to make my vision a reality in order to have the impact I want. Like I said, it is an imperfect science. What is important is that the pieces work for you. Remember that this is an MVP. This is a minimally viable plan that will help you be better without spending a lot of time writing stuff down. Less is more, so that’s it for today. Cheers! Frederick Colleagues,
Yesterday you dusted off your strategic plan and watched a 5-minute video on making mantra. Before we get going, you might want to download my MVP strategic Plan document here. It is just a simple word document to save you a few minutes. One word of caution: This is an imperfect science. The most important thing is that what you develop works for you. If some part of your plan isn’t technically correct, don’t sweat it. Mantra: What you focus on each day. Mission: Why your organization exists or why you lead. Step 1: Review your list of whys and whats from yesterday. Step 2: Prioritize 3-5 words and arrange them into a statement that describes what outcomes you want from your leadership. This is your mantra. My mantra: Lead strategically, every day. This mantra captures what I want the people I serve to do. Step 3: Adapt your mantra into a one-sentence statement that states what you do related to your mantra. My mission: Help leaders practice strategic behaviors daily. In my perfect world, I get to help leaders all day and I help them to specifically engage in daily strategic actions. Optional: for fun, you can contrast my mission statement with a variety of school mission statements here. Tomorrow: Vision and goals. Do you like your mantra? If so, please share it with me by clicking here. Cheers! Frederick |
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