CEO Strategic Retreat Days
By Renee Blanchard
2021 wasn’t the great return to business as normal that we had all hoped. It has been filled with challenges, slowdowns, detours, and significant supply chain issues. We have once again found ourselves digging deep into our reserves to create new opportunities from the situations in which we have found ourselves and our businesses.
As this year comes to a close, it’s once again time to look through what worked and what didn’t work this past year. The things that were actually in our control, that is. I love this end-of-the-year exercise. I find great comfort in moving through the details of my business. I love rethinking and reviewing the operations of my business. I love imaging scenarios and running through our systems to see if there is a better, more efficient way. While many times my plans do in fact need to change in the moment to fit the constant evolution of business, I still believe it is important to spend some time at the end of the year reviewing, preparing, and planning. Otherwise, you are a boat without a rudder floating towards who knows where!
Adam Grant recently released a new book titled, Think Again. Where he digs into the science of thinking, rethinking, and thinking again about the things you know.
“We listen to opinions that make us feel good, instead of ideas that make us think hard. We see disagreement as a threat to our egos, rather than an opportunity to learn. We surround ourselves with people who agree with our conclusions, when we should be gravitating toward those who challenge our thought process. The result is that our beliefs get brittle long before our bones. Intelligence is no cure, and it can even be a curse: there’s evidence that being good at thinking can make us worse at rethinking. The brighter we are, the blinder to our own limitations we can become.”
Reviewing and assessing your business’ operations, even if they are working, will bring about more innovative and efficient evolutions. Tweak and repeat. It is sometimes through small changes that we eventually find the right solutions. I do this at the end of each year through what I call my CEO Strategy Retreat Days.
While it may seem counterintuitive, planning allows you to be more flexible when things change quickly. If you spend time thinking through where you ultimately want to go and all the ways in which to get there, you will be able to change plans more quickly and still make it to your destination. It allows you to be confident in the direction you are going even if you need to find another route to get there.
This week I started my list of the goals I want to accomplish in 2022. I already picked a date for my CEO Strategy Retreat. This is where I sit for 2 days and write out my goals, the steps I believe it will take to accomplish them, and then I put each step onto a calendar. This time spent in contemplation allows me to do a reality check. We all know what it feels like to make a huge plan and then never get it done. Putting it all onto a calendar helps make sure I actually do what I promise myself I will do.
Before the Planning Starts
Every November I begin sketching out the agenda for my “What Worked, What Didn’t Work”, “Year in Review” and “Year Ahead” planning. These three documents are how I assess my business each year. I take all of December and some of January to do the actual work, but in November I create a plan for HOW I will do this. This is a process I created over two decades of project management experience. I’ve launched large reports, huge projects, and small products with this process.
CEO Strategy Retreat Days
What is a retreat? It means to withdraw, to step back from action. It is dedicated time spent in contemplation on a particular goal. We often hear about spiritual retreats where practitioners gather in silence, prayer, and meditation. Within the business world, we hear the term retreat used in reference to a gathering of all stakeholders to plan and make decisions for the future. Large companies lavish their employees in expensive hotels for days-long decision-making meetings. So what does a retreat mean to the solo entrepreneur?
The meaning of retreat here is to withdraw from your day-to-day operations in a comfortable atmosphere that is neither at your place of business nor at home to spend a specific amount of time reviewing and planning for your business. You’re going to gather all the information you need to review the outcomes of the previous year’s business and plan for the upcoming year (or years).
I think it is important to get away from the spaces in which you normally live and work. This allows your mind to be inspired and fresh without any attachments, interruptions, or distractions. This could mean renting a hotel room, borrowing someone else’s conference space, or leaving your city altogether and renting a home in a relaxing environment.
This last option is what I do. I utilize two slow periods throughout the year to take vacations. One in the summer and one in the winter. I tack on a few days after I’ve taken my vacation to dig into my retreat agenda. This time tacked onto a scheduled vacation I've already scheduled to be away ensures I’m rested before I tackle anything big and that I’m away from my business with few distractions. The point is to get away into a new space that is unfamiliar and also relaxing so that your creative mind can open up.
But this week? I’m writing out a list of all the things I want to tackle on my retreat days. Topics I want to think through in more detail, projects I want to launch, and how I will spend my time next year.
How are you using the last few weeks of 2021?
