General Eisenhower once said that plans are worthless, but planning is essential. Written plans can be useful – as long as they’re used —but I can identify with his sentiment. A common challenge for many businesses and associations is planning that heightens the likelihood of success (but doesn’t require too much time or effort).
A tried-and-true process usually works when you analyze inside and out, plan ahead and track the results that matter. We believe that a good process can also help sort through the noise. Remember the Grinch crying out in the Christmas classic: “The noise! Noise! NOISE!” Some of our clients have come to us feeling this way. They hear about AI and CX and DS and ABM and wonder what is what.
While some much-publicized concepts may be useful, some are just hype. Others apply more to large organizations rather than growing ones and some distract attention from more worthy pursuits.
The key is to take a concept that may be puffed-up (doesn’t “Big Data” sound, um, big?) and boil it down to the essence (getting data, evaluating it, and doing something useful with it).
More of our clients tell us they don’t want to fall back on the “Ready. Fire. Aim!” approach to planning. They want a proven process that yields a practical, achievable outline for success. A plan that holds them accountable to make better decisions for the future. And definitely tunes out the noise.
