Episode 51: The Problem With Strategic Planning (and what to do instead!)
Show notes
Episode 51 is another milestone for this podcast, being the one year anniversary of the beginning of the podcast! In this episode, Sam shares why planning is so critical for getting off the hamster wheel we’re all on, as well as the mistakes our industry makes with how we traditionally do planning.
Sam covers the reason it’s a mistake to wait until January to do planning, and the difference between the investigate skill and the strategic planning skill. Plus, she shares a real life example of how the Investigate framework was applied in starting this very podcast.
Sam also explores why our industry has a problem with strategic planning and the power of getting buy in with clients when going through the Investigate framework. She also shares a practical example of how to use this with your clients and the questions to ask yourself and your clients during this process.
Finally, Sam shares how a BlueprintHQ client got great results using this framework to get to their goals, and the importance of doing this Investigate process as early as you can.
We are offering a short, sharp Investigate session to help you with this process before the new year. Email us at admin@blueprinthq.com.au.
Listen to an excerpt
What we cover
Why planning is so critical for getting off the hamster wheel
The mistakes our industry makes with how we traditionally do planning
The reason it’s mistake to be doing new year planning in January
Why BlueprintHQ is doing 2021 planning in November
How the Investigate planning framework makes the difference for achieving goals and pivoting when disruptions occur
A real life example of how this framework was applied when starting this podcast
The difference between the investigate skill and the strategic planning skill
Why our industry has a problem with strategic planning
The power of getting buy in with clients through Investigate
A practical example of how to use Investigate with your your clients
The questions to ask yourself and or your clients during this process
What this could look like in your firm and why you should consider it
How a BlueprintHQ client got great results using this framework to get to their goals
The importance of doing this Investigate process as early as you can
Quotes
“One of the things I think is so hard and was so hard for me early on is getting off this hamster wheel that we're on. You wake up every day, and you get to this time of year and say ‘I don't want to be doing this this time next year,’ or ‘I want to get off this hamster wheel.’ …Coming into December, we're super tight, we're going to take two or three weeks off, have some rest. And then we do it again going into July as well, obviously with lodgement deadlines and stuff from an accounting point of view, but I'm sure other experts out there will have their own hamster wheel cycles. If we want to get off this, we have to actually plan for it. We have to actually throw a spanner in the works and say, ‘What are we going to do differently?’”
“This is not a COVID thing. It's been happening for a while: technology, how we do things, disruption, whether it be major viruses, such as COVID, or quick changes in legislation or technology as I said before, bushfires for us here on the east side of Australia last year, floods, etc. There's going to be stuff thrown at us and it's going to put us off our plans and we'll have to pivot. So what's really important to sit down and think, ‘Where do I want to be in a year?’”
“As an industry when trying to plan, a lot of our planning is done on numbers. E.g. How many tax returns can we churn? How to get to $1 million? And every year, we didn’t do funnel planning or anything like that, and we grew because we grew. We put these numbers on, but there wasn't a lot of asking how we're going to get there, what's going to actually change?”
“When we talk about the advisory process, we look at assessing a situation, investigating deeper, and then delivering what the client wants: all skills and also steps in client engagement, also in advisory. So you can ramp those skills up and down. The investigate piece of it is really the process of holding space and facilitating others or yourself to explore what they/you want, what's the most important [priority] and where they're/you’re currently at. It does that in a systematic way. And then by helping uncover blocks and levers for success, and creating a roadmap of how to get there.”
“This is one of the big blocks that we [accountants have]. We look at everything—as we do tax returns and as we've been trained to do—as we're going to do it for our clients, or we're going to have it done for us. How do we actually look at it as ‘let's do it with you’? Let's investigate, let's get deeper, let’s ask questions. You're going to have buy in, you're going to really get down to what has happened previously and what can change. They’re very different. It looks on paper very similar, but it’s different.”
“What we're doing in [Investigate sessions] is we're not doing it for clients, we're doing it with them.”
“I would do strongly suggest sitting down and using this framework. Where do you want to be? What do you want to be doing next year? Do you still want to be doing what you're doing? Be very real with yourself about where you are right now.”
“[At BlueprintHQ] we're trying to solve the problem of people feeling a little bit overwhelmed and not being able to put a good space of time and just giving [Investigate planning] least a little bit of a priority so we can start changing something to get everybody off this hamster wheel that we're on. Because if we don't get off it, that change is going to be really hard.”
Enjoying the Show? Let us know!
Are you a fan of The In Demand Accountant podcast? If the ideas and tips we share in each episode are inspiring you to become a more powerful professional, advisor and leader, subscribe to the show and leave your honest review to let us know!
Head over to Apple Podcasts to subscribe and review - would mean the world to us!
