How do we handle the inevitable operational emergencies that tempt our team to cancel or reschedule a scheduled quarterly session day?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Rescheduling or canceling a quarterly session because of an operational emergency is almost always a mistake. The very existence of an emergency that threatens to derail your strategic planning day is proof that your business needs the session. It shows that you are still operating in a reactive, firefighting mode rather than a proactive, systematic one.

My policy on this is firm. We do not cancel session days due to internal operational chaos. The quarterly session is your opportunity to step out of the business so you can work on the business. If a critical client issue or operational fire is burning, we address it during our IDS® portion of the session. We bring the issue to the table, identify the root cause, and solve it permanently.

If you cancel your session, you are choosing to prioritize the immediate short-term problem over the long-term health of your company. It breaks the ninety-day cadence that is vital to maintaining traction. Your leadership team must commit to treating these session days as sacred and unmovable. That is how you build a self-sustaining business that can survive emergencies without the leadership team constantly stepping in to save it.