Strategic Planning
Written by Charis Musick
Imagine with me…
Christmas was a couple days ago, and the majority of the year is now behind you. You’ve thought about it on and off, but now you have officially reached the point where you are fully reflecting on 2025 in anticipation of 2026 and what you want for it.
Where was I in January? What were the goals I set for myself? My health? My habits? My daily rhythms? What’s the status of those goals? How am I different today on December 27th compared to January 1st?
Or maybe your reflections sound more like…
How did I get here? Why didn’t I set goals for myself? I’ve felt aimless all year. Not planning didn’t feel like freedom after all.
I only have a few more days left of this year… is it too late to really plan for 2026 on purpose? I need to do something different.
Some of us have gone into years with full plans and energy and motivation knowing that whatever may come we at least have some kind of road map less the expected detours to Who-Knows-Where.
Some of us got overwhelmed mid-year and trashed the map entirely, possibly scribbling feverishly like a panicked cartographer on the nearest napkin. And some of us started without a plan and have sworn to never do that again… maybe.
And all of that is just in our personal lives.
When it comes to our personal lives, perhaps there is less of a broad, negative impact on others when we don’t have a plan, don’t cast vision, don’t go into the year resetting and preparing, and just treat the new year as nothing more than buying a new calendar since you ran out of months.
However, when it comes to our businesses, the people following our lead, walking with the ones beside us through our professional lives, the fallout is a lot more impactful when we fail to plan, are indifferent about a vision, or choose to ride on the coattails of last year’s decisions. That may “work” in your personal life, but not for your people, my friend. There is a deep sense of security and stick-with-it-ness for an individual whose leader communicates clearly:
“This is where we’re going. I need your help for us to get there.”
At Dryve, we define leadership as “taking people places they would not or could not go on their own”. But even in that, the truth remains that the leader also needs the people—their team—in order for them to go places, further places than they would go or could go on their own. This is why we talk so much about having a Shared Purpose—we believe it changes everything. It’s how we grow as individuals and leaders, and it’s how we grow our businesses… sustainably.
Shared Purpose is a collective understanding and commitment to the “we.” It’s often expressed through identity statements—mission, vision, and core values—and mutual goals, creating alignment of personal motivations with organizational objectives.
A Shared Purpose answers these questions:
What do we have in common?
What would we like to change together?
What difference can we make in the world together?
How powerful do you think it is when an organization answers these questions together and then works together to make it happen? From having the opportunity to watch this play out within organizations time and again, I’ll tell you it is INCREDIBLE! And the place that starts? Strategic and Operational Planning.
We gather representatives of every level and department in an organization to facilitate an all day workshop to:
Review who you are—mission, vision, core values—as an organization
Assess how you are—SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis, and
Define where you’re going together—define long-term goals, identify strategic objectives, and outline specific, actionable steps to achieve them effectively.
It doesn’t really benefit you to reflect on where you’ve been and do nothing with it. But to reflect with your team where you’ve been—both in wins and growth opportunities—and then develop a strategic, operational plan to identify and solve problems together AND share ownership, that’s where sustainable growth begins.
While we are entering Quarter 4, now is the perfect time to start reflecting on 2025 and planning for 2026 if you haven’t already begun. Now is also the perfect time to review who you are, assess how you are, and define where you’re going together.
