Do this frequently

One of the major ways to make planning an effective process is to do it frequently. The key benefits of this are to make planning a habit rather than a dreaded once-a-year event, to create the ability to adapt quickly to changes in the environment, and to greatly reduce the time and effort required in any major once-a-year planning activity.

The Spider Diagram is a useful tool in making the process of planning a habit in your organization. It presents the four major types of information required, reminds you of the use of this information in creating strategies and goals, and does it all in one glance. It’s an effective pictorial checklist.

At a minimum, we advise that you do this assessment monthly. After you do that for a while, the process will become comfortable enough that you’ll be too anxious to wait another month and you’ll want to do it weekly. After that, you’ll find yourself thinking about it all the time. We suggest you drive the discussion through the Goal Management Team Meeting, which we discuss in the last chapter.