The Power of Annual Planning To Align Remote Employees

Revisit the original article of our insightful five-part series, ‘Why Hauling Everyone Back To The Office Doesn’t Make Them More Productive.’

Especially remotely, as we noted in the Three Ways to Build a Productivity-Driven Remote Culture, establishing real alignment is an opportunity for engagement, but also can be a challenge. Involving staffers in the annual strategic planning process is a powerful way to give team members opportunities to contribute. If the purpose statement guides the overall direction of a company, the annual plan provides employees with a roadmap to achieving purpose-aligned goals.

Once created, the annual plan drives the show for that year, creating momentum with clear demarcations of progress. By April, the team should deliver this product; for instance — by June, we should hit that benchmark. Failing to regularly examine your progress and direction can leave an organization rudderless and adrift. “Check yo’self before you wreck yo’self,” a well-known refrain by the rapper Ice Cube, is also excellent management advice.

Companies need to regularly check themselves — kick the tires, test the brakes, check the oil — to avoid driving into trouble. If employees don’t see the point of their work, where it’s all headed, they tend to lose focus and drift, making deals with the wrong clients or developing poor products. The result is increased turnover, decreased profits, and stagnation.

Bill Quirke, a top communications advisor and managing director of the consultancy firm Synopsis, says that when employees understand their role within the firm, more than nine out of ten (91 percent) will work towards its success. Fewer than one in four (23 percent) do so when they’re unsure of their role.  Those are game-changing numbers.