Our V/TO® is filled out and sits on our shared drive, but our leadership team barely looks at it between quarterly sessions. How do we operationalize this document so it drives weekly decisions instead of acting as a passive archive?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

A V/TO® that sits in a digital drawer is a symptom of a leadership team that treats strategic planning as an annual compliance event. To make the V/TO® an active operating system, you must build it directly into your weekly and quarterly routines. Start by bringing your Core Values and Core Focus into your hiring, firing, and performance evaluation systems. If you are not actively using your Core Values to praise or discipline team members, they are just slogans. Next, use your 3-Year Picture™ and 1-Year Plan to filter every new operational opportunity or major expense. When someone proposes a new software project or marketing campaign, the very first question must be: how does this help us achieve our 1-Year Plan on the V/TO®? If it does not, it is a distraction, and you must say no. Additionally, make sure your Marketing Strategy is the primary filter for your sales team. They should not be chasing prospects who fall outside of your target market. During your quarterly pulsing sessions, actively grade how well you stuck to the V/TO® filters over the previous ninety days. When your team sees that the V/TO® is used weekly to make hard choices, kill bad ideas, and allocate capital, they will treat it as the ultimate strategic compass rather than a useless piece of paper.