blog

Taking the Time to Prioritize

by Lee

Most companies do a poor job prioritizing - largely because they either haven't thought about how to do so effectively or haven't taken the time.

We wrote about various prioritization approaches in a recent Industry Analysis brief, and there are many that can help, but a favorite of mine is the strategy offsite. We have our semi-annual strategy offsite coming up next week at kasina, and these sessions, which we began shortly after starting the firm, provide our team with a chance to step back, review our progress, and re-evaluate our priorities as an organization. They have proven invaluable in keeping everyone on the same page.

Despite the immense value that I have seen in taking the time away from the daily grind to set strategy, I find that that most of our clients do not have mechanisms in place to do so. It is easy for priorities to get muddled when they are tackled on a one-off basis, and I encourage every firm to:

1) Schedule at least an annual, if not a more frequent, session to set the strategy
2) Do these sessions offsite somewhere (depending on the size of the team, you can even use a team member's back yard)
3) For the day (or days) that you are there, be there - no cell phones, BlackBerrys, etc...
4) Plan lots of breaks (these sessions are exhausting)
5) Have fun - it shouldn't be all about setting strategy - it is important for team building as well