From President to CEO: Strategic Planning
“A vision without a strategy remains an illusion.” ~ Lee Bolman
“Why don’t more people plan for their week?”
It was 8:00 in the morning on Monday, February 20th, when Jason appeared in my doorway to ask me this very direct question.
Was he expecting an answer from me? Yes. And also, no. I knew Jason enough to know that his question was also a call to action.
He needed me to understand that something needed to be done. Something was slowing him down. Something wasn’t how he needed or wanted it to be. Something needed to be fixed.
Anyone who knows Jason knows that he is a planner. He spends his Sundays strategizing for the organization. His approach to planning the goals, objectives, and business plans for all aspects of the business is highly systematic and involved. It energizes him. It starts his Monday off with full power and allows him to hit the ground running and organize and distribute information and delegate accordingly so that his team can also hit the ground running with clear and well-defined goals and assignments. At Team Solutions, we resist anything that slows us down. Waiting until Monday to plan for the week costs an entire day. Strategic planning on Sunday costs an hour of communication on a Monday, and then the rest of the day is spent executing the plan.
“Why don’t more people plan for their week?”
The question lingered in the air. As someone who studied education and spent years as a trainer in my profession, I had come to the conclusion that there were two reasons that people don’t or won’t do something. 1. They are unable to do it, or 2. They are unwilling to do it.
Then came the follow-up question. “Everyone here knows about my Sunday planning session. They know how I feel about planning for the week. Why don’t they do it?”
I thought for a moment before I replied. “Maybe they don’t know how to.”
That’s all that I needed to say. Two hours later, I had a directive to get an email out to 21 people in leadership positions or potential leadership positions to sign up to attend a Strategic Planning training session taught by Jason DeFranco.
That’s how fast we move here at Team Solutions. A question was posted at 8:00 AM, a brief conversation around the question was had, and action was taken by 10:00 AM to benefit the employees that very week.
If they didn’t know how to plan now, they would certainly know by week’s end.
So what does any of this have to do with Jason DeFranco’s professional growth series surrounding his Employee Development Plan from President of Team Solutions Dental to CEO of Team Solutions Dental?
As you may recall from our earlier features, Jason refused to give himself the title of CEO because he didn’t have a group of Executives to manage. The challenge that comes with Jason’s Employee Development Plan is that his success depends heavily on his ability to help other employees stretch, grow, and succeed in filling the required C Suite seats he would need to have in order to be a true CEO.
This would mean a few things.
He’d need to find the employees that wanted this type of career trajectory
Once he found them, he’d need to make sure they had the knowledge, the drive, the resilience, the commitment, and the ability to elevate to a C-Suite position
He’d need to carve out time - something he had very little extra of - to help each of them grow into their roles so that he could then grow into his
So this week’s feature within this series is about the pause in Jason’s personal growth plan because without spending the necessary time to elevate his people, there’s no chance of achieving his own elevation.
The strategic planning course was an in-depth course on the importance of planning. He started with a simple discussion about planning using the differences that come with planning to cook dinner for your family vs. planning to cook for a larger event.
“If I have one friend coming over to watch the game, I just need to make sure I have beer in the fridge and chips in the pantry. But if 20 people are coming, that won’t work and will require more in-depth planning.”
Jason started the training session by walking the group through his own evolution in the world of strategic planning - which was surprisingly new in his professional life - at least the systemizing of the planning in the way he does it today. In typical Jason DeFranco fashion, he shared this evolution through the art of storytelling and how it all began when he hired his first executive assistant.
Jason’s world of planning started because he had no idea what to do with an Executive Assistant. He had never had one before. He had always done everything on his own and really didn’t know what he would do with an Executive Assistant or where he would start. He knew he’d have to get organized so that he could explain to his new assistant what he would be doing and how he would need her to assist him. Through this process, his first go at strategic planning was launched - and it was a mess.
However, he shared that over time, the planning sessions morphed and evolved until they got cleaner and more systematic. He would go home with notes, ideas, projects, and tasks from the week for him to think about, review, and determine the next steps and figure out how to get them done.
As this process continued, he began reorganizing his thoughts and tasks into a new system - one that was visual in nature to help him stay on track.
He began using color-coded post-it notes with questions for specific department heads - or ideas he wanted to be researched or implemented. As the head of Human Resources, I knew that my Post-it note color was blue. Sometimes he would send me a picture of his planning system, and I’d find the pages with the blue Post-it notes and blow it up so I could read what he wanted me to see. I could read what he wanted me to share, research, implement, or think about by what was written on that Post-it note. That allowed me to get ahead of the ball and be ready to give him some answers on Monday morning. Eventually, after I shared my little secret with him, Jason started sending me photos of my Post-it notes directly so I didn’t have to magnify them. I was always excited to get my Post-it note - even the ones that were questioning why I was late on a task or project! You see, now that Jason was planning weekly, he knew exactly what needed to be followed up on. He knew what he had delegated and to whom, and he expected results and a quick turnaround. Sometimes those Post-it Notes were three lines of simply asking about the results he expected from you.
Jason shared with the group that not planning and organizing created a chicken-and-egg scenario for him. “By not planning and organizing, I had too much to do, so I didn’t have time to plan and organize. I didn’t have time to organize, so I didn’t get organized to plan.”
Jason recalls that his weekly planning didn’t actually reach a level of success until he had been doing it consistently for three weeks. At the time, Jason was taking Thursdays off. This particular Thursday, he decided to come for half a day. He found himself sitting at his computer and playing video games at 11;00 AM. He began to feel guilty, so he yelled out to his assistant, “What’s next on the list?” Her reply? “Nothing.” Jason thought she was messing with him because it was supposed to be his day off, so he quipped back, “Shut up and tell me what’s on the list.” She responded with, “I’m serious, Boss - nothing” Still not believing her, he asked to see the list. Everything was crossed off. He then cross-referenced the list with what he had laid out on Sunday, thinking it must have been a lighter-than-usual week. But it wasn’t. It was a heavy week - full of tasks, projects, delegation, and new initiatives. And it all got done.
Jason was reactive and in crisis mode because he felt his plan was to put out fires. It got better, and when by Thursday, he was done, he said, “Holy shit, it works.” The stuff I got done this week would have been a month before he started planning. Out of things to do by Thursday - it was surreal. It was because of Strategic Planning.
So he started to tell people about it. As I mentioned, everyone here knows about his Sunday ritual. He was so excited about the effectiveness of Strategic Planning that he shared pictures of his setup, discussed it in meetings, and shared his wisdom openly and loudly.
But, in spite of all his success where Strategic Planning was concerned, no one had raised their hand or asked him to teach them how to plan. He didn’t understand how Michael Jordan could be in the building and willing to teach, and yet no one was bringing him the ball and asking him to show them how to shoot a basket. Why?
He asked this question openly to the group, and the responses were relatively mutual. Most of them did not want to add more to his plate or intrude on his personal space since his planning was done in the wreck room of his home. After all, there aren’t many leaders of organizations who are willing to give up their personal time to teach someone else how to be successful.
Jason started the lesson by discussing what was “wrong” with planning, sharing that it was rigid and difficult to commit to. After all, if planning was easy, wouldn’t more people do it? Switching gears towards planning and becoming proactive with an established structure after spending years being reactive and fluid can be an arduous change.
He then reviewed Ray Dalio’s 5-Step Plan as a solid starting point for anyone looking to plan more effectively:
Ray Dalio’s 5-Step Process
Have Clear Goals
Identify and don’t tolerate the problems that stand in the way of you from achieving your goals
Accurately diagnose problems and root cause analysis. In other words, don’t just say, “It’s bleeding.” Instead, say, “It’s bleeding because there’s a shard of glass still in here, and we have to get it out.” If you hit an obstacle, examine why and then determine what you are going to do about it.
Design plans to get around those obstacles and their root causes
Do what is necessary to push these designs through to results:
Jason then went on to talk about how a plan is only as good as the execution behind it, and this was a frustration he had throughout his business career. “My plan would be perfect - but the execution would be a failure.” Jason discussed how it is all too easy for people to say, “Sure! It looks good on paper, but….” and how he has come to learn that those words are just a common excuse from people who don’t execute well. “If it looks good on paper,” Jason shared, “then the problem is making it happen in the real world - that’s why we have managers. If we’re crossing the river at 9:00…and you discover at 8:00 that we don’t actually have a boat, then…ok. Find the boat! Because we still have to cross the river. The plan hasn’t changed.”
Jason walked through his personal planning session, which consists of the following:
Recording what is and is not working
Make adjustments accordingly
Go back to the plan
“That’s what I do every week. I bring home a pile of stuff and a bunch of notes from people and text messages and emails to see - based on the plan - what’s working and what’s not working. If something's working, my first response is ‘leave that alone for right now.’ Now let’s see what’s not working, and if it’s not working, let’s try to figure out why it’s not working.” That is the moment when the Post-it notes come out, and questions and new questions to create clarity and tasks for delegation are born.
He also described his ritualistic approach to a successful planning session. It begins with Jason making himself a good breakfast. He then cleans off his work area and arranges for uninterrupted silence for anywhere from one hour to an entire day, depending on how many challenges the week ahead may hold. He makes sure the dishes are in the dishwasher, everything is spotless, and the room is perfect - If there’s a blanket on the floor, he won’t start until it’s in its rightful place. He then opens all the blinds so the room is as bright as possible so he can make sure he is truly awake and alert.
Jason explained that he starts his planning session with a single page of paper and a question: “What am I doing here today?”
The answer is multi-faceted. He’s going to find out which five things worked last week, and then he‘s going to plan the next two initiatives. He’s going to make himself a generalized to-do list to refer to as he’s digging through the data. He’s going to get through the data and organize it into specific and structured categories for execution. He’s going to make new lists and decide what items need to be delegated to other people. He’s going to plan a couple of meetings, and then he’s going to plan his individual. He will determine what three priority actions have to happen each day and make sure everything on his to-do list falls into one of the three categories that he is personally responsible for within the constructs of the business framework. Those categories are:
Growing the people
Acting as the face of the company through a variety of media channels
Organizational strategy
He mentioned that it’s okay to change your plan and reward yourself for a job well done! Give yourself something special when your planning is complete. Have that snack you wanted, go catch a movie. Hang out with some friends. Whatever will give you that sense of achievement. Jason also expressed that he didn’t expect anyone to plan the way he does to the extent that he does but shared that he truly believed that if everyone planned for thirty minutes on Friday for the following week, the results would be transformational across the organization.
Jason closed out the training session by discussing a book that he highly recommends by author Patrick Lencioni called The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive. Jason talks about keeping these four things in mind when he’s doing his own organizational planning
Those obsessions are:
Build and maintain a cohesive leadership team
Create organizational clarity
Over Communicate organizational clarity:
Reinforce organizational clarity through human systems
This message could be easily translated into any planning session: Be cohesive. Be clear. Over-communicate. Reinforce.
These four obsessions - while appearing easy on the surface, are difficult to reach and maintain for any executive. However, if they’re used as pillars for strategic planning, the planning session will have more clarity, deliver more clarity, and result in a more successful execution of the plan.
Jason then ended with 8 signs of inadequate planning, as written by Denise Sanders in a LinkedIn article. We spent the first part of the session talking about what good planning looks like. It was time to look at the contrast and examine what poor planning looks like in any organization.
1. Leadership vacuum -
There are different ideas of how things should be implemented after the plan has already been initiated. “I’ve never seen THAT happen,” Jason joked sarcastically. The room giggled with uncomfortable laughter. We had seen this too many times over the years. In this situation, key sponsors aren’t identified or involved in the process, and there is a lack of engagement across the organization
2. Revisiting decisions that were already made -
Key strategic decisions are painfully rehashed as if they weren’t agreed to already
3. Missing accountability -
Misunderstandings often occur when no one understands who’s responsible for a specific task. This is a product of poor planning as well as poor project management.
4. Continuously adding resources
This creates stalls and bottlenecks as new resources are added that weren’t properly identified at the beginning of the planning phase. This gives the appearance of leadership making things up as they go - appearing to be incompetent and creating chaos and unnecessary confusion.
5. Continuously adding tasks
This creates stalls and bottlenecks as new tasks that are identified as urgent or critical are identified, and the leadership team now has the appearance of “winging it”.
6. Frequent and long meetings
Death by meetings is something we strive to avoid here at Team Solutions, but for many other organizations, long and frequent meetings are the result of poor planning on the front end. Follow-up or “touch base” meetings should be short and sweet, informational, and seamless.
7. Missing dates
Established milestones and dates get moved and shifted as new priorities or prerequisites are identified along the way. This is a result of poor analysis on the front end of planning and a lack of proper planning on timelines because certain dependencies (one task completion being dependent on another) were missed causing the team to have to start over or rework an entire process.
8. General confusion
Confusion leads to frustration, and frustrated team members are often operating in chaos. When they are operating in chaos, they have difficulty delivering excellence while attempting to execute poorly laid plans by their leaders. In essence, when we add to the confusion rather than champion clarity, we are creating the foundation for absolute failure - and no one likes to feel like they’re failing in their work.
The group discussed the many times we had experienced this in our own organization and what it did to our timelines, projects, and forward movement. As with anything, awareness can bring action. Helping our current and future leaders understand why planning is important, how it can help, and why planning fails is critical to the success of our people and the organization as a whole. Jason spent countless hours “figuring it out” for himself, and he wanted to pass the knowledge on to his leadership team so they wouldn’t have to struggle through a month of trying to get it right the way he did. He wanted better for them, and he wanted them to appreciate the art of planning and the results it brings. He wanted them to feel successful in their work and knew that only taking a proactive approach over a reactive approach wherever possible would make that happen.
At the end of the Friday session, the question was asked, “Who intends to plan for Monday?” Everyone nodded or raised their hand, and one of our developing leaders actually went to Jason’s house that Sunday to see it all in action. As a Human Resources professional, I continue to be impressed with how willing Jason is to open his home to anyone who wishes to learn from him. If someone is willing to give up their Sunday to come learn from him, he is willing to give up his to teach them. This interaction creates a symbiotic relationship and is the key to elevating both Jason as an ever-evolving executive and the employee.
As with any training session, Jason understands that the information is only as good as the learner’s eagerness and willingness to use it to benefit their career, their work center performance, their employees, and the organization as a whole. We have a lot of respect for the attendees of this special training session and have high hopes for what they will do with the information they learned from this training course. We are looking forward to seeing the benefits they experience by adding strategic planning to their list of “to-do’s.”
We are confident that, if applied properly, it will help take them to the next level and allow them to elevate themselves and their positions.
Only then, will Jason be able to elevate himself on his continued journey to becoming the CEO of Team Solutions Dental.
