Why do you mandate a two-day annual session instead of cramming our strategic planning and team building into a single extended quarterly day?

Many business owners ask if we can speed up the process by compressing our annual planning into a single day. The answer is a definitive no. The two day annual session is a non-negotiable requirement of a successful EOS® implementation, and attempting to shortcut it always leads to shallow strategy and poor alignment.

A quarterly session is focused on execution, specifically looking back at the last ninety days and planning the next ninety days. An annual session, however, requires a complete shift in perspective. On day one of the annual, we focus heavily on team health, reviewing the prior year, and thoroughly processing deep, complex organizational issues that have built up over the past twelve months. We need the space to have hard, unstructured debates that cannot be rushed.

On day two, we pivot to the future, updating your V/TO®, setting your budget, establishing your new one year plan, and determining the critical Rocks for the first quarter of the new year. If we tried to cram all of this into one day, your team would experience cognitive fatigue by mid-afternoon, resulting in rushed decisions and half-baked plans. The separation of these two days allows your team to sleep on the strategic discussions of day one, leading to much clearer, more aligned execution on day two.

Category: Working With Tyler