Strategic Accountability - An Inside Job | LAYC 98

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Hello, I'm Isabel Alexander.

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Continuing this conversation as we approach the end of a calendar year

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about how we make next year a better, more rewarding, more fulfilling,

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more financial certain year.

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And there's only one answer.

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That's why we are continuing to talk about strategic planning.

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In fact, if the plan isn't strategic, then you better take a pause on that and

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think about what are you planning to do?

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Strategic is a positive direction and perspective to think about.

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If I wanted this, then I must do that.

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It's connecting the dots forward.

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In terms of, this is where I want to get to, this is the experience I want

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to have, this is the person I want to become, this is the capabilities and

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the resources that I wish to acquire.

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And then breaking it down as to, okay, what do you got to do to be

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able to accomplish those things?

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So strategic planning perhaps is a word or a term that, as a small business, Even

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a medium sized business or solopreneur or someone who's entrepreneurial within

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an organization they don't own, but they're contributing to the success of

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that organization, then understanding, embracing, enjoying, appreciating, and

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celebrating the advantages of thinking strategically and following through

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on the plan is a beautiful thing.

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In the past four episodes of this podcast, I've broken down some of the elements that

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I learned, experienced, applied, and grew because I learned from Verne Harnish's

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methodology, which is explained in a book called Mastering the Rockefeller Habits.

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It's not what anybody else wants, but when you allow yourself to pause in

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that quiet moment and say, what do I want my business to do for me, my

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family, the people I care most about?

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What is it that I want my business to say about me?

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It's what I want my business to be able to empower, to enable me to do personally,

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professionally, aspirationally then that's the important thing going forward.

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We've been reviewing the strategic plan as a one bite at a time of the elephant

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to enable us to get what we want out of our lives and our business impact.

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I encourage you to go back and listen to those last couple of episodes

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if you're just joining us now.

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And, of course, I would love it if after listening to that content you

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thought, there's some value here ,that you subscribe to this channel

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either as a podcast or as a YouTube video, whichever is your preference.

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And if you know of other friends, business owners, maybe they're

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your customers, maybe they're your suppliers, or maybe they're your

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subcontractors, that could benefit, and directly and indirectly benefit you by

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understanding a strategic plan and how to apply it to get good results, then

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please share this content with them.

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And I thank you ahead of time for that.

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Because I'd like to reach more entrepreneurs, particularly more

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women entrepreneurs, and help them increase the rewards they get from

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their businesses, and the impact that they leave, the legacy they leave.

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Today I want to go back a little bit and talk a bit more about

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accountability, because as I have been recording these episodes, I've

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also been refining, revising my own strategic plan for the upcoming year.

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And it was an interesting, the universe delivers, right?

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When the student's ready, the teacher will appear.

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In another coaching program that I am in.

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And that's part of my strategic plan, my own personal and professional development.

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I invest time and money in other areas with experts that I look up to

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and who will lift me as they climb.

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As a result of one of these coaching programs that I'm involved in, and

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I'm involved in several, and yes, that does require some planning to manage

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my time to get the best out of all of this and still deliver to my clients.

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I had the opportunity to be exposed to a different way of looking at

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strategic planning, and that is to dice it up into 12 week segments.

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I learned a different perspective on accountability.

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and I like it a lot.

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That accountability perhaps has been misinterpreted misappropriated as a

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word, as a meaning, as in needing to be held accountable for something,

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as in someone else outside of us.

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will hold us accountable for our actions, our results.

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The truth is, that doesn't work.

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Only we can be accountable for ourselves.

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And that accountability is very much an inside job.

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Accountability is the measurement of the result from the actions that we took.

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Or didn't take.

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So in thinking of when you're creating your strategic plan and your objectives

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and assigning accountability, like the first chair for that particular

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initiative, think about it in that context, instead of somebody else

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having to be there checking up on, approving or disapproving of what

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happens and the accounted for results.

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Think about it as that is definitely ownership by the individual.

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that is responsible for that.

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And if you're a solopreneur, often it's you, right?

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So be very careful about what you choose as important goals and priorities,

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because if you choose too many, You're setting yourself up for failure.

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It is far better to have a big vision and BHAGS, big hairy audacious goals,

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as we talked about in a previous episode, but set up the shorter term goals and

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actions with an expectation of success.

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You really believe that you can achieve, and then you go do it.

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Because the idea of having a strategic plan might sound kind of sexy, yeah, I

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got one, I wrote it, it's really pretty, and then you put it away after you do

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all that work, and you don't actually go back and say, oh, I have made progress.

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Yes, I did it.

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I achieved what I wanted to, or you had milestone markers that

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you visited and said, okay we're not on course for that, or maybe

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we're ahead of it, whatever it is.

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That it's adjusting what you're doing in business in a real honest to god,

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accountable to yourself, No Bullshit.

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It's, I said I wanted this.

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And I am entitled to have this, but it's up to me, myself, and

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I to have the discipline to create the steps, the action, the

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measurabilities to accomplish it.

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And that's the, ooh, the 'un-girly' stuff, perhaps, that some of us might

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say, oh shit, that's really not much fun.

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I think there is a bigger difference, I think, in my experience, that men

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in business set a goal, and they believe they deserve to achieve it.

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And they just go blindly with the expectation of having it.

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Women entrepreneurs, not so much.

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Although I'm very glad that is changing.

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And it's changing because of these kinds of conversations where business

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people like me and you are sharing candidly, honestly, what worked.

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And what did not work, and changing the paradigms, changing our attitudes,

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and changing our expectations about outcomes based on what we actually do.

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Accountability.

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An inside job.

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Please consider that when you're creating your strategic plan, that in the areas

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of the goals that you have identified, who really is taking ownership of

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that, and there will be No Excuses?

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There will be adjustments where required, but the action, the evidence must be

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there that they made every positive move forward to accomplish that goal.

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It has become my life experience and I've got witnesses on this all

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over the place, that it isn't just about you and your business and the

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plan and the success you have, but it's about every single stakeholder

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that is affected by your decision.

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Stakeholders, again, one of those really old time terms, but I frame

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it in the perspective of everyone who has a stake in the outcome, the

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evolution, the success or the failure of your leadership as a business owner.

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You, obviously, as the chief shareholder, are number one stakeholder

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on the list, and then your partners.

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If you have them, your staff, if you have them, your contractors, if you

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have them, and you better have some because then I would also refer you

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to reading another one of my favorite business books, and that's Dan Sullivan

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and Benjamin Hardy's Who, Not How.

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But staying on the topic of stakeholders also include your suppliers.

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your customers, your family, your friends, your service providers.

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your banker, your technology firm, your lawyer, your accountant, anybody

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who has a responsibility, a benefit, anybody who is somehow impacted by your

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business is a stakeholder to some extent.

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Think about this, that if you create a plan, consider them in the areas they

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can impact and they will be impacted by.

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As a woman, I experienced this myself, thinking about my family and my closest

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friends and my community obligations as stakeholders, made me think about how

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do I manage the time that I have, the energy I have, the capacity, the resources

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I have to still serve them as well?

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Engaging the people that are in your orbit, whether they're in the inner

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circle or a medium or outer ring, adds more energy, adds additional fuel to

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your success, and if you don't, one of those, if they feel underserved,

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distressed, annoyed, can knock you off your orbit by acting up a bit.

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It's something I talk a lot more deeply with my clients, my one on one clients,

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is figuring out who is in your cast and crew and how do they factor into

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your new script that you're writing.

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Writing a script with the Encore methodology is very much like writing

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an annual strategic plan and so there's definitely personalities involved to

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be considered and make the best of.

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Okay, so for today I'm going to add to your thoughts as

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you're creating, refining.

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editing your strategic plan, which, by the way, you should regularly be

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reviewing it and making sure that you're continually moving in the

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right direction for the right reasons.

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Remember, The Accountability, who's involved and how you make sure that

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they have ownership and know that it is an inside job for success!

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And that no plan means no party!

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And the party would be attended by all your stakeholders and the stakeholders

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are a broad category, but they all do have an impact on an entrepreneur's life.

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I hope this has given you some good juicy stuff to think about and create absolutely

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the perfect plan for your success.

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Looking forward to coming back and sharing a little more about strategic

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planning in the next episode.

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And That one will definitely be a celebration because I'll share some of

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my story and how my real life example and that of my clients are based on this

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simple process of a one page, elegant, perfect sized, strategic plan methodology.

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Ciao for now!