May 6, 2025 • 25 mins
In this Mike on the Mic episode, I dig into one of the most critical challenges leadership teams face today: adaptability. When the world changes—whether through global events, industry disruption, or internal shifts—how do you know when your plan no longer serves you? And what do you do about it?
I explore how to recognize the key signals that it's time to adapt, and share the structured rhythm I've seen work with my clients to build adaptability into their DNA—without losing focus or blowing with the wind. I walk through how your leadership team can build a culture that challenges assumptions, stays aligned, and doesn’t just react, but evolves purposefully.
Whether you’re a CEO or part of a leadership team, this episode offers actionable strategies for staying relevant, aligned, and ahead of the curve.
Thanks for listening! Connect with us at mike-goldman.com/blog and on Instagram@mikegoldmancoach and on YouTube @Mikegoldmancoach
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Mike Goldman (00:02):
are you holding onto your plan because it's
right.
Or are you holding onto yourplan because it's comfortable or
are you not even holding ontoyour plan?
Are you just disregarding itbecause you created a plan at
the beginning of the year?
It no longer makes any sense.
(00:23):
So everybody's just working ashard as they can, working as
smart as they can, but you'redisregarding the old plan.
You made it to the betterleadership team show, the place
(00:45):
where you learn how to surroundyourself with the right people,
doing the right things.
So you can grow your businesswithout losing your mind.
I'm your host and leadershipteam coach, Mike Goldman.
I'm going to show you how toimprove top and bottom line
growth, fulfillment, and thevalue your company adds to the
world by building a betterleadership team.
(01:06):
All right, let's go.
How could we be more adaptive asa leadership team?
How do we make sure when thingschange externally in the world,
(01:27):
internally in our industry orour business, how do we make
sure that we're not running onan old plan that doesn't make
sense anymore or.
As bad just disregarding theplans we have because they don't
fit anymore.
(01:47):
When things change, as we'veseen back, you know, great
recession or covid or tariffs orwhatever's going on in the world
or in your company, are youholding onto your plan because
(02:07):
it's right.
Or are you holding onto yourplan because it's comfortable or
are you not even holding ontoyour plan?
Are you just disregarding itbecause you created a plan at
the beginning of the year?
It no longer makes any sense.
So everybody's just working ashard as they can, working as
(02:28):
smart as they can, but you'redisregarding the old plan.
Let's start with what thesignals are that might tell you
your plan doesn't make senseanymore.
(02:48):
And then what I wanna do isdescribe what I have seen, what
a lot of my clients have done tomake sure that they're creating
an environment of adaptability.
Adaptability is not.
Just about making quickdecisions in the moment.
Be smart about where, beingsmart about where the market's
(03:09):
going.
It happens way before that.
It happens with the creation of,an environment and a culture and
a rhythm that allows for thatadaptability.
But again, let's start with whatsome of the signals are that.
(03:31):
Tell you maybe something haschanged and maybe your plan
doesn't make sense anymore.
and one of those signals are,you know, the obvious one.
There's a major external change,something around global trade
and tariffs.
Maybe something, you know, theCOVID was the great recession
was, you know, any number of.
(03:52):
Changes, and it doesn't have tobe that big.
It could be just a change inyour industry.
It could be how AI is impactingyour industry.
But one, the obvious signal isthere's some external change
that you need to account for.
Now, another way to see changeis your KPIs.
(04:14):
Your key performance indicatorsare flatlining, you know, or
shrinking.
You are.
Not even close to your targets,whether it's revenue, whether
it's profitability, whether it'sthe number of marketing
qualified leads coming in, oryour cash flow or client
(04:35):
engagement, whatever it is.
Sometimes it's flatline KPIsthat tell you there's some
change going on in the world orin the industry or in your
company that you're notaccounting for.
Another signal is dwindling.
(04:57):
Team buy-in the team no longerbelieves that the plan makes
sense.
So they're either sleepwalkingthrough, execution of that plan,
knowing that's what they'rebeing told to do, but it's not
the right thing.
or they're disregarding it intotal.
(05:18):
And then again, everybody's justworking real hard and smart.
But it happens in silos.
We need everyone aligned.
We don't need sales andmarketing and operations and
service all separately workinghard and doing what they think
(05:39):
is the smart thing to do fortheir function.
We've gotta be aligned.
So there are signals thatsomething's going on and we've
got to be flexible.
We've gotta adapt our plan.
By the way, another signal isjust, you know, your plan isn't
working.
So do we keep working a planthat's not successful, or do we
(06:01):
adapt?
So let's talk a little bit abouthow we create a more adaptive
environment, and it starts withmonitoring those signals.
We just talked about.
As easy as that sounds, if youare not looking at least weekly
at your KPIs, if you are notmonitoring how engaged your team
(06:27):
is, if you're not monitoring thenews of the world going on, if
you're not monitoring the voiceof your client or customer,
you're gonna miss the ability toadapt.
So it starts with.
Monitoring the signals and notjust doing that as an
individual, but talking aboutthat as a team.
(06:50):
In your weekly or monthly and orquarterly meetings, are you
talking about the voice of thecustomer?
Are you talking about themarketplace and how and if it's
changing?
So first you've gotta monitorthe signals.
The second thing, and this isalmost gonna sound
counterintuitive.
(07:11):
But you need a long-term planand a midterm plan or a
long-term vision, and then amidterm vision and plan.
Now that sounds like that wouldcause you to not to be
adaptable.
We've got this long-term thingthat's getting in the way of us
making short-term changes.
But here's one of the thingsthat's super critical, is.
(07:34):
If we are adaptable, which istypically a good thing, being
adaptable without some longerterm vision for the company,
without some midterm, you know,long term, 10 or 15 years,
midterm, three years.
Without that vision and withoutsome semblance of a strategy and
(07:56):
plan, we wind up just beingadaptive by going whichever way
the wind blows.
And before we know it, we don'trecognize our company anymore,
and we are not living consistentwith our purpose.
So when I say long-term vision,that starts with your purpose as
(08:21):
an organization.
Why do you exist?
When you adapt In the shortterm, you wanna make sure you're
adapting to a plan.
Changing your company if needbe, to one that's still
consistent with why you exist.
So part of your long-term visionis your purpose, and part of it
(08:45):
is what Jim Collins calls yourbig, hairy, audacious goal, your
10 to 15 year flag on top of themountain, what is it that you
want to create?
Now, sometimes adapting in theshort term means.
You need to change yourlong-term vision, but more often
(09:05):
than not, your long-term visiondoesn't change.
Your method of getting theremight change.
Your reason for being yourpurpose doesn't change, but your
method of living that purposemay change.
Your big, hairy, audacious goalmay not change, but your way of
(09:26):
getting there may change ormaybe your timeframe.
Changes a little bit.
Now that long-term vision mightchange, but man, that ought to
be the exception, not the rule.
And we need to use thatlong-term vision as our North
Star when we're being adaptivein the short term.
(09:46):
Now, the midterm vision isimportant too.
You are typically, I think ofthat as a three year.
Instead of a big, hairy,audacious goal, it's a three
year highly achievable goal thatcomes with some financial
targets that comes with two orthree or four major initiatives
and differentiators that helpyou to get there.
(10:08):
And again, it may be thatsomething like tariffs or covid
or recession, it might impactwhere you want to go in three
years.
But the first thing you want todo is say, wait a minute, how
can we keep that three yearvision and that three year
strategy intact again?
(10:28):
We just might change what we'redoing in the short term to get
there.
'cause just like the longer termvision, if every time the world
changes, we're changing ourthree year strategy and our
three year plan and our threeyear targets.
We're gonna wind up as a companyblowing with the wind and being
all over the place.
(10:49):
So you might change it, butthat's not what you ought to
initially be doing.
So number one, we need tomonitor the signals.
Number two, we do need that longterm and midterm vision.
And then number three, andagain, this might sound
counterintuitive, is we need anannual planning process.
Remember, we're creating afoundation for being adaptable.
(11:10):
Yeah.
Part of that foundation issometime towards the end of one
year.
For a lot of us, we are planningthe next year.
Being adaptable doesn't meanyou're not creating that plan.
I have had leaders say, why arewe even planning the world is
changing so fast that we don'tneed a plan?
(11:33):
Or why are we setting goals?
The world is changing so fast.
I believe that's the wrong thingto do.
I still think you need thatannual plan.
Now we're gonna talk about howto make that plan more flexible
and adaptable.
But just like you need thelong-term vision and the midterm
vision, we need a one year setof targets.
(11:54):
We need a one year set ofpriorities because again, when
the world changes, the firstaction is not to disregard those
plans.
The first action is to say, howdo we still, is there a way we
can still make those plans cometrue?
We just have to come at it in adifferent way.
(12:16):
But if I'm at point A, I need toknow where I want point B to be,
and my one year planning, mythree year planning, my 10 to 15
year planning, make sure I havesome anchoring in place.
But now let's get to the partthat is where you're actually.
More adaptive given thoseanchoring visions and strategies
(12:39):
and plans.
Assuming you've got an annualplan, we need quarterly
planning.
I believe the quarterly plan isthe most important part of your
plan.
You don't make things happen in10 or 15 years.
(13:01):
You don't.
Execute three years or even oneyear.
The stuff you do is happens.
the most important stuff you dohappens in these 90 day sprints,
these quarterly plans.
And if you've got the rightannual plan with every quarter,
you should be carving out,biting out the next 90 day chunk
(13:22):
of the annual plan.
Now, how does that make you moreadaptive?
More adaptive now?
One way it makes you moreadaptive is every single quarter
you are rethinking what yourpriorities are.
You're not just creatingpriorities at the beginning of
the year and trying to stick tothem all year.
(13:43):
That's a pipe dream.
What winds up happening is threeor four months after you create
the annual plan, the worldchanges, and then your plan's at
a date, and it sits and itgathers dust.
And you disregard it or you, orworse off, you follow it right
off the ledge, right off thecliff.
(14:04):
So the quarterly plan is a wayto of saying, okay, if these are
my priorities and these are mytargets for the year, what's the
next 90 day chunk I need tocarve out based on what's going
on in the world today?
Now, here's the other thingthat's super important.
With the quarterly plan is inthe quarterly planning exercise.
(14:24):
You don't take the annual planas a given.
One of the things I do with myclients every quarter is we look
back at the annual plan, thetargets and the priorities, and
we say, does this plan stillmake sense?
(14:46):
It is actually pretty rare.
That I get through 3, 6, 9months with my clients and their
annual priorities don't changevery often, the financial
targets might stay the same.
Those might change too, but moreoften the financial targets stay
the same.
But your priorities, the two orthree or four most important
(15:09):
things you need to do to getthere, they're typically gonna
change throughout the year.
Now.
Every one of them isn't gonnachange.
But what you wanna do beforeeach quarterly plan is not just
blindly say, what's the next 90day chunk of our annual plan?
So you gotta look and say, doesthis annual plan still make
sense?
(15:32):
And if it doesn't, let's changeit.
And that's so important to youradaptability.
So the quarterly planning isimportant, not just to plan the
next 90 days.
But to reevaluate the annualplan.
Then we've got monthly, amonthly rhythm, the monthly
(15:52):
check-in.
Now, when the world changes, itdoesn't typically magically and
conveniently happen right at theend or right at the beginning of
a quarter.
Surprisingly enough, sometimesthe world changes right smack in
the middle of a quarter.
So do you wait until you'requarterly planning to do
(16:14):
something about it?
Of course not.
You've got a monthly check-in tosee how you are doing on your
quarterly plan, your quarterlypriorities, which I call rocks,
your quarterly targets, otherKPIs.
But the other thing, the monthlyplan gives you a chance to do,
(16:36):
just like within the quarterlyplan, you're looking back.
At the annual plan and saying,does that still make sense?
Is there anything we need toadjust in your monthly check?
And you are looking at thequarterly plan and saying, does
the quarterly plan still makesense?
Very often when I work with aleadership team, I'll come in
(16:57):
and do their quarterly planningand someone will say, you know,
this rock, I didn't make anyprogress on this quarterly
priority on this rock.
because I realized two monthsago it didn't make sense
anymore.
And sometimes they realized twomonths ago it didn't make sense
anymore, and they adjusted.
They purposefully said, okay,we're not gonna focus on that.
(17:20):
We're gonna focus on thisinstead.
Or they purposefully said, we'renot gonna focus on it this way,
but we're gonna tweak it to looklike this.
But I'd say just as often,there's no discussion.
And someone just stops workingon something.
'cause it doesn't make senseanymore if you're doing your
monthly rhythm.
Right.
And by the way, the annualplanning with my clients is
(17:44):
typically two days.
The quarterly planning is one ortwo days, depending on the size
and complexity of the companyand your monthly rhythm with
your leadership team.
Your monthly check-in meetingcould be, I've seen it anywhere
from two or three hours to afull day.
And part of what you've gotta dothere is as a leadership team
(18:06):
say, does this quarterly planstill make sense?
Don't just let peopleindependently decide they're
gonna stop working on somethingbecause they don't think it
makes sense anymore.
Make those decisions as aleadership team.
So you're not only adaptive, butyou're aligned.
You're aligned with that newplan.
(18:27):
Now no shock after that monthlyrhythm.
The next thing that's importantis a weekly rhythm.
The weekly rhythm is not only tohold the leadership team and
yourself accountable for thethings you committed to do, but
it's also the time to talk aboutany voice of the customer, voice
(18:47):
of the industry, what's going onin the world, and understanding
if anything needs to change.
And having some of thosediscussions and making decisions
about new plans and newstrategies, you're gonna do that
weekly and you're gonna do thatmonthly, obviously, as well as
quarterly.
so the rhythm is important, butyour culture is just important.
(19:14):
You need to make it more thanokay to challenge what's going
on.
If you or members of yourleadership team are afraid to
challenge a plan and say, wait aminute, I'm not sure this makes
sense anymore.
If you're afraid to ask thedifficult question, then you're
(19:38):
gonna wind up blindly just goright off the cliff.
So you need an environment whereit's okay more than okay to
challenge.
When I talk about culture, Ialways talk about the three V's
of culture, Vision, Values,Vulnerability.
(19:58):
We need to make sure we'reliving our core values.
We need to make sure there'svulnerability on our leadership
team.
Vulnerability is, you know, theability to give and receive
feedback on another person, orfeedback on our plan to give and
receive feedback without fear ofretribution.
(20:21):
the vulnerability to say, Hey, Idon't think I can make this
plan.
I need some help.
So culture and the ability toquestion and if someone
questions you to not bedefensive about it, that's such
an important part ofadaptability, the openness and
honesty on your leadership team.
(20:43):
And, but then in addition toculture, but still around
people.
We need the right people on theteam.
If we've got a bunch of mediocreperformers or a bunch of people
who are just following orders,adaptability goes out the
window.
We need to make sure we've got ateam that is mature enough and
(21:06):
talented enough and confidentenough, and skilled enough to
not just follow orders, but totake ownership.
Make the difficult decisions andchallenge.
So if you notice all of thosethings are not things that are,
(21:27):
you know, go do this tomorrow tobe more adaptable, that it's a
foundation you need to buildover time.
A lot of companies say we needto be adaptable, but they
haven't put that foundation inplace.
But maybe there is one way tostart.
(21:49):
The world is changing reallyfast and maybe faster than ever.
Although I'm 60 years old andI've always heard the world is
changing faster than ever.
Is it really?
Or has it always changed reallyfast?
I don't know, but it's changing.
One thing you can do tomorrow isgo back to your team.
(22:14):
Whether it's the leadership teamor if you're on the leadership
team going to the leadershipteam or maybe going to the team
that reports to you, go back,but go back to your team and ask
the question, you know, is theresomething about our current
course of action that no longerserves us?
(22:36):
Another way to think of it is doa stop exercise is there
anything we're currently doingtoday that we ought to stop
doing?
That doesn't make sense anymore.
One thing you could do right nowis ask the question, but I want
you to also build thatfoundation.
That foundation as a review ofmonitoring signals, the long and
(22:57):
midterm vision, so you have ananchor that you could be
flexible around the annualplanning, the quarterly
planning, where you'requestioning the annual planning,
the monthly check-in whereyou're questioning your
quarterly plan.
The weekly accountability andshifts there, making it more
than okay to challenge makingsure you've got the right people
(23:18):
that aren't just followingorders.
I always say if you want a greatcompany, you need a great
leadership team.
Being more adaptable is acritical part of that.
Talk to you soon.
are you holding onto your plan because it's
right.
Or are you holding onto yourplan because it's comfortable or
are you not even holding ontoyour plan?
Are you just disregarding itbecause you created a plan at
the beginning of the year?
It no longer makes any sense.
(00:23):
So everybody's just working ashard as they can, working as
smart as they can, but you'redisregarding the old plan.
You made it to the betterleadership team show, the place
(00:45):
where you learn how to surroundyourself with the right people,
doing the right things.
So you can grow your businesswithout losing your mind.
I'm your host and leadershipteam coach, Mike Goldman.
I'm going to show you how toimprove top and bottom line
growth, fulfillment, and thevalue your company adds to the
world by building a betterleadership team.
(01:06):
All right, let's go.
How could we be more adaptive asa leadership team?
How do we make sure when thingschange externally in the world,
(01:27):
internally in our industry orour business, how do we make
sure that we're not running onan old plan that doesn't make
sense anymore or.
As bad just disregarding theplans we have because they don't
fit anymore.
(01:47):
When things change, as we'veseen back, you know, great
recession or covid or tariffs orwhatever's going on in the world
or in your company, are youholding onto your plan because
(02:07):
it's right.
Or are you holding onto yourplan because it's comfortable or
are you not even holding ontoyour plan?
Are you just disregarding itbecause you created a plan at
the beginning of the year?
It no longer makes any sense.
So everybody's just working ashard as they can, working as
(02:28):
smart as they can, but you'redisregarding the old plan.
Let's start with what thesignals are that might tell you
your plan doesn't make senseanymore.
(02:48):
And then what I wanna do isdescribe what I have seen, what
a lot of my clients have done tomake sure that they're creating
an environment of adaptability.
Adaptability is not.
Just about making quickdecisions in the moment.
Be smart about where, beingsmart about where the market's
(03:09):
going.
It happens way before that.
It happens with the creation of,an environment and a culture and
a rhythm that allows for thatadaptability.
But again, let's start with whatsome of the signals are that.
(03:31):
Tell you maybe something haschanged and maybe your plan
doesn't make sense anymore.
and one of those signals are,you know, the obvious one.
There's a major external change,something around global trade
and tariffs.
Maybe something, you know, theCOVID was the great recession
was, you know, any number of.
(03:52):
Changes, and it doesn't have tobe that big.
It could be just a change inyour industry.
It could be how AI is impactingyour industry.
But one, the obvious signal isthere's some external change
that you need to account for.
Now, another way to see changeis your KPIs.
(04:14):
Your key performance indicatorsare flatlining, you know, or
shrinking.
You are.
Not even close to your targets,whether it's revenue, whether
it's profitability, whether it'sthe number of marketing
qualified leads coming in, oryour cash flow or client
(04:35):
engagement, whatever it is.
Sometimes it's flatline KPIsthat tell you there's some
change going on in the world orin the industry or in your
company that you're notaccounting for.
Another signal is dwindling.
(04:57):
Team buy-in the team no longerbelieves that the plan makes
sense.
So they're either sleepwalkingthrough, execution of that plan,
knowing that's what they'rebeing told to do, but it's not
the right thing.
or they're disregarding it intotal.
(05:18):
And then again, everybody's justworking real hard and smart.
But it happens in silos.
We need everyone aligned.
We don't need sales andmarketing and operations and
service all separately workinghard and doing what they think
(05:39):
is the smart thing to do fortheir function.
We've gotta be aligned.
So there are signals thatsomething's going on and we've
got to be flexible.
We've gotta adapt our plan.
By the way, another signal isjust, you know, your plan isn't
working.
So do we keep working a planthat's not successful, or do we
(06:01):
adapt?
So let's talk a little bit abouthow we create a more adaptive
environment, and it starts withmonitoring those signals.
We just talked about.
As easy as that sounds, if youare not looking at least weekly
at your KPIs, if you are notmonitoring how engaged your team
(06:27):
is, if you're not monitoring thenews of the world going on, if
you're not monitoring the voiceof your client or customer,
you're gonna miss the ability toadapt.
So it starts with.
Monitoring the signals and notjust doing that as an
individual, but talking aboutthat as a team.
(06:50):
In your weekly or monthly and orquarterly meetings, are you
talking about the voice of thecustomer?
Are you talking about themarketplace and how and if it's
changing?
So first you've gotta monitorthe signals.
The second thing, and this isalmost gonna sound
counterintuitive.
(07:11):
But you need a long-term planand a midterm plan or a
long-term vision, and then amidterm vision and plan.
Now that sounds like that wouldcause you to not to be
adaptable.
We've got this long-term thingthat's getting in the way of us
making short-term changes.
But here's one of the thingsthat's super critical, is.
(07:34):
If we are adaptable, which istypically a good thing, being
adaptable without some longerterm vision for the company,
without some midterm, you know,long term, 10 or 15 years,
midterm, three years.
Without that vision and withoutsome semblance of a strategy and
(07:56):
plan, we wind up just beingadaptive by going whichever way
the wind blows.
And before we know it, we don'trecognize our company anymore,
and we are not living consistentwith our purpose.
So when I say long-term vision,that starts with your purpose as
(08:21):
an organization.
Why do you exist?
When you adapt In the shortterm, you wanna make sure you're
adapting to a plan.
Changing your company if needbe, to one that's still
consistent with why you exist.
So part of your long-term visionis your purpose, and part of it
(08:45):
is what Jim Collins calls yourbig, hairy, audacious goal, your
10 to 15 year flag on top of themountain, what is it that you
want to create?
Now, sometimes adapting in theshort term means.
You need to change yourlong-term vision, but more often
(09:05):
than not, your long-term visiondoesn't change.
Your method of getting theremight change.
Your reason for being yourpurpose doesn't change, but your
method of living that purposemay change.
Your big, hairy, audacious goalmay not change, but your way of
(09:26):
getting there may change ormaybe your timeframe.
Changes a little bit.
Now that long-term vision mightchange, but man, that ought to
be the exception, not the rule.
And we need to use thatlong-term vision as our North
Star when we're being adaptivein the short term.
(09:46):
Now, the midterm vision isimportant too.
You are typically, I think ofthat as a three year.
Instead of a big, hairy,audacious goal, it's a three
year highly achievable goal thatcomes with some financial
targets that comes with two orthree or four major initiatives
and differentiators that helpyou to get there.
(10:08):
And again, it may be thatsomething like tariffs or covid
or recession, it might impactwhere you want to go in three
years.
But the first thing you want todo is say, wait a minute, how
can we keep that three yearvision and that three year
strategy intact again?
(10:28):
We just might change what we'redoing in the short term to get
there.
'cause just like the longer termvision, if every time the world
changes, we're changing ourthree year strategy and our
three year plan and our threeyear targets.
We're gonna wind up as a companyblowing with the wind and being
all over the place.
(10:49):
So you might change it, butthat's not what you ought to
initially be doing.
So number one, we need tomonitor the signals.
Number two, we do need that longterm and midterm vision.
And then number three, andagain, this might sound
counterintuitive, is we need anannual planning process.
Remember, we're creating afoundation for being adaptable.
(11:10):
Yeah.
Part of that foundation issometime towards the end of one
year.
For a lot of us, we are planningthe next year.
Being adaptable doesn't meanyou're not creating that plan.
I have had leaders say, why arewe even planning the world is
changing so fast that we don'tneed a plan?
(11:33):
Or why are we setting goals?
The world is changing so fast.
I believe that's the wrong thingto do.
I still think you need thatannual plan.
Now we're gonna talk about howto make that plan more flexible
and adaptable.
But just like you need thelong-term vision and the midterm
vision, we need a one year setof targets.
(11:54):
We need a one year set ofpriorities because again, when
the world changes, the firstaction is not to disregard those
plans.
The first action is to say, howdo we still, is there a way we
can still make those plans cometrue?
We just have to come at it in adifferent way.
(12:16):
But if I'm at point A, I need toknow where I want point B to be,
and my one year planning, mythree year planning, my 10 to 15
year planning, make sure I havesome anchoring in place.
But now let's get to the partthat is where you're actually.
More adaptive given thoseanchoring visions and strategies
(12:39):
and plans.
Assuming you've got an annualplan, we need quarterly
planning.
I believe the quarterly plan isthe most important part of your
plan.
You don't make things happen in10 or 15 years.
(13:01):
You don't.
Execute three years or even oneyear.
The stuff you do is happens.
the most important stuff you dohappens in these 90 day sprints,
these quarterly plans.
And if you've got the rightannual plan with every quarter,
you should be carving out,biting out the next 90 day chunk
(13:22):
of the annual plan.
Now, how does that make you moreadaptive?
More adaptive now?
One way it makes you moreadaptive is every single quarter
you are rethinking what yourpriorities are.
You're not just creatingpriorities at the beginning of
the year and trying to stick tothem all year.
(13:43):
That's a pipe dream.
What winds up happening is threeor four months after you create
the annual plan, the worldchanges, and then your plan's at
a date, and it sits and itgathers dust.
And you disregard it or you, orworse off, you follow it right
off the ledge, right off thecliff.
(14:04):
So the quarterly plan is a wayto of saying, okay, if these are
my priorities and these are mytargets for the year, what's the
next 90 day chunk I need tocarve out based on what's going
on in the world today?
Now, here's the other thingthat's super important.
With the quarterly plan is inthe quarterly planning exercise.
(14:24):
You don't take the annual planas a given.
One of the things I do with myclients every quarter is we look
back at the annual plan, thetargets and the priorities, and
we say, does this plan stillmake sense?
(14:46):
It is actually pretty rare.
That I get through 3, 6, 9months with my clients and their
annual priorities don't changevery often, the financial
targets might stay the same.
Those might change too, but moreoften the financial targets stay
the same.
But your priorities, the two orthree or four most important
(15:09):
things you need to do to getthere, they're typically gonna
change throughout the year.
Now.
Every one of them isn't gonnachange.
But what you wanna do beforeeach quarterly plan is not just
blindly say, what's the next 90day chunk of our annual plan?
So you gotta look and say, doesthis annual plan still make
sense?
(15:32):
And if it doesn't, let's changeit.
And that's so important to youradaptability.
So the quarterly planning isimportant, not just to plan the
next 90 days.
But to reevaluate the annualplan.
Then we've got monthly, amonthly rhythm, the monthly
(15:52):
check-in.
Now, when the world changes, itdoesn't typically magically and
conveniently happen right at theend or right at the beginning of
a quarter.
Surprisingly enough, sometimesthe world changes right smack in
the middle of a quarter.
So do you wait until you'requarterly planning to do
(16:14):
something about it?
Of course not.
You've got a monthly check-in tosee how you are doing on your
quarterly plan, your quarterlypriorities, which I call rocks,
your quarterly targets, otherKPIs.
But the other thing, the monthlyplan gives you a chance to do,
(16:36):
just like within the quarterlyplan, you're looking back.
At the annual plan and saying,does that still make sense?
Is there anything we need toadjust in your monthly check?
And you are looking at thequarterly plan and saying, does
the quarterly plan still makesense?
Very often when I work with aleadership team, I'll come in
(16:57):
and do their quarterly planningand someone will say, you know,
this rock, I didn't make anyprogress on this quarterly
priority on this rock.
because I realized two monthsago it didn't make sense
anymore.
And sometimes they realized twomonths ago it didn't make sense
anymore, and they adjusted.
They purposefully said, okay,we're not gonna focus on that.
(17:20):
We're gonna focus on thisinstead.
Or they purposefully said, we'renot gonna focus on it this way,
but we're gonna tweak it to looklike this.
But I'd say just as often,there's no discussion.
And someone just stops workingon something.
'cause it doesn't make senseanymore if you're doing your
monthly rhythm.
Right.
And by the way, the annualplanning with my clients is
(17:44):
typically two days.
The quarterly planning is one ortwo days, depending on the size
and complexity of the companyand your monthly rhythm with
your leadership team.
Your monthly check-in meetingcould be, I've seen it anywhere
from two or three hours to afull day.
And part of what you've gotta dothere is as a leadership team
(18:06):
say, does this quarterly planstill make sense?
Don't just let peopleindependently decide they're
gonna stop working on somethingbecause they don't think it
makes sense anymore.
Make those decisions as aleadership team.
So you're not only adaptive, butyou're aligned.
You're aligned with that newplan.
(18:27):
Now no shock after that monthlyrhythm.
The next thing that's importantis a weekly rhythm.
The weekly rhythm is not only tohold the leadership team and
yourself accountable for thethings you committed to do, but
it's also the time to talk aboutany voice of the customer, voice
(18:47):
of the industry, what's going onin the world, and understanding
if anything needs to change.
And having some of thosediscussions and making decisions
about new plans and newstrategies, you're gonna do that
weekly and you're gonna do thatmonthly, obviously, as well as
quarterly.
so the rhythm is important, butyour culture is just important.
(19:14):
You need to make it more thanokay to challenge what's going
on.
If you or members of yourleadership team are afraid to
challenge a plan and say, wait aminute, I'm not sure this makes
sense anymore.
If you're afraid to ask thedifficult question, then you're
(19:38):
gonna wind up blindly just goright off the cliff.
So you need an environment whereit's okay more than okay to
challenge.
When I talk about culture, Ialways talk about the three V's
of culture, Vision, Values,Vulnerability.
(19:58):
We need to make sure we'reliving our core values.
We need to make sure there'svulnerability on our leadership
team.
Vulnerability is, you know, theability to give and receive
feedback on another person, orfeedback on our plan to give and
receive feedback without fear ofretribution.
(20:21):
the vulnerability to say, Hey, Idon't think I can make this
plan.
I need some help.
So culture and the ability toquestion and if someone
questions you to not bedefensive about it, that's such
an important part ofadaptability, the openness and
honesty on your leadership team.
(20:43):
And, but then in addition toculture, but still around
people.
We need the right people on theteam.
If we've got a bunch of mediocreperformers or a bunch of people
who are just following orders,adaptability goes out the
window.
We need to make sure we've got ateam that is mature enough and
(21:06):
talented enough and confidentenough, and skilled enough to
not just follow orders, but totake ownership.
Make the difficult decisions andchallenge.
So if you notice all of thosethings are not things that are,
(21:27):
you know, go do this tomorrow tobe more adaptable, that it's a
foundation you need to buildover time.
A lot of companies say we needto be adaptable, but they
haven't put that foundation inplace.
But maybe there is one way tostart.
(21:49):
The world is changing reallyfast and maybe faster than ever.
Although I'm 60 years old andI've always heard the world is
changing faster than ever.
Is it really?
Or has it always changed reallyfast?
I don't know, but it's changing.
One thing you can do tomorrow isgo back to your team.
(22:14):
Whether it's the leadership teamor if you're on the leadership
team going to the leadershipteam or maybe going to the team
that reports to you, go back,but go back to your team and ask
the question, you know, is theresomething about our current
course of action that no longerserves us?
(22:36):
Another way to think of it is doa stop exercise is there
anything we're currently doingtoday that we ought to stop
doing?
That doesn't make sense anymore.
One thing you could do right nowis ask the question, but I want
you to also build thatfoundation.
That foundation as a review ofmonitoring signals, the long and
(22:57):
midterm vision, so you have ananchor that you could be
flexible around the annualplanning, the quarterly
planning, where you'requestioning the annual planning,
the monthly check-in whereyou're questioning your
quarterly plan.
The weekly accountability andshifts there, making it more
than okay to challenge makingsure you've got the right people
(23:18):
that aren't just followingorders.
I always say if you want a greatcompany, you need a great
leadership team.
Being more adaptable is acritical part of that.
Talk to you soon.
Popular Podcasts
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.