Vistage Group KEY 125 with completed goals - both personal and business
Over the past 16 years I have designed and led some 40 goals retreats. Each year they evolve and usually improve. The majority have been retreats for my own Vistage members from whom I am blessed with a very honest and immediate feedback loop!
Every year I reflect and try to design the next one better. Sharing the main considerations and influences I consider allows you to shape how you want to translate your vision or dreams into action through the social interaction of a group retreat.
Balance of LIFE
There are some principles worth considering when helping business leaders be truly fulfilled:
We work to live not live to work, but some of us love our work!
Work / Life balance is the wrong paradigm. One’s professional career, whether you are an entrepreneur or not is a fulfilling part of your life, just as other elements such as family, friends and the community.
Balance may be an objective but it is artificial construct. Marcus Buckingham observes that nature is not balanced - there is always movement. Balance, if achieved, will be temporary.
Awareness of where leaders spend their time, now, and how they need or would like to spend their time in the future. I review this with my members every year.
PERSONAL Goals vs Business Goals
Unless there is a specific executive team approach, by definition we start with the individual. But for a business leader and/or owner it is not as simple as that.
Leadership can be framed as a personal objective. It is probably the source of most of our emotional ups and downs over a year. Clarity of how you show up and the consequent results from that are fundamental.
In my experience, when business leaders review their goals at the end of a year, by and large the business objectives have been achieved and the personal ones forgotten about. Personal goals need greater focus because the drivers behind them are more hidden.
LONG TERM vs Short TErm
“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”
Kokorazashi
“The heart of the Samurai”
Gary Keller in his book “The One Thing” emphasised the importance of focus in the short term. “What is the one thing I can do such that by doing it everything else will become easier or unnecessary?”
Our objective in setting goals is to be clear what the first steps need to be. But how do we prioritise? What is the basis of our focus?
I increasingly use the concept of Kokorazashi, “The heart of the Samurai” to frame thinking and discussions. We need to understand what grounds us. By doing that, we can select the few goals that we can work on in the short term, revisiting the longer term on a regular basis.
The process of Goal setting
There is a reason why New Year Resolutions don’t work particularly well. Achieving goals is a process.
Processes need to be designed. In the above diagram, we need a process to reflect on each stage.
Purpose and foundations.
The type of process here is not rushed but very clear and purposeful. This is the work that individuals can do on their own, but the inputs to this reflection come from many sources.
A 2 day walking retreat
For personal goals, this can involve reading, catching up with old friends, seeking advice, watching videos. Some of this is ongoing all year round, feeding the hopper of ideas.
But at some point, categorising and labelling what is important in life is useful on your own. Several years ago, I heard a great Vistage speaker, Walt Sutton, share his “Autodidactic journey” about his journey as a business owner and CEO. One suggestion he made was for leaders to take a “personal retreat” to reflect on a number of big questions.
Defining and Refining
Too often, even good goal setting is done by writing down the goals. Straight up. Done.
How about challenging? Is it really the best way of defining this? What else is required? Why is this so important? Could we do even more? Are there dreams we have which we’ve ruled out because they are too hard?
This needs a process too. An iterative one. Key elements include:
The most important goals, not a long list
Frames clearly why the objective is so important, be explainable to others
Add up to something as a whole, framed by the purpose and foundations explored previously
A refinement process, a tightening up on what success looks like.
Finally, a commitment to achieve.
The writer and speaker Michael Bungay-Stanier, in his book, “How to Begin”, talks about creating a “Worthy Goal” which he defines as Thrilling, Important and Daunting, You can define an important goal against these three categories and can explore how you can improve the goal.
Many people think that the detailed plans need to be drawn up at the same time the goals are defined. In my experience, the clearer the goals are the easier the plans are to put together. More to the point, others can contribute. For a business leader, maybe a rough idea of action plans might be a start, allowing the executive team to flesh it out and take ownership.
Accountability and Follow Up
This process needs to be defined in advance. Anticipate how reviewing progress will be achieved. Often we can’t directly check on progress on end goals, so we need to define how we are going to monitor progress.
It is always best to anticipate the next point a review will take place. In a world of rapid change, the priorities may well have changed by the next review, but it allows the goals to be recommitted to or adapted to the new reality.
A GOALS RETREAT is focused on refining, not GOAL SETTING, Goal sharing, OR planning!
These days I intentionally use the term “Goals retreat”. I expect attendees arriving at the retreat to have a fairly good idea of what they want, both in the long term and over the next period. I encourage ideas to be half baked, as daunting as they can push themselves.
It isn’t goal setting. For some it might be confirmation, clarification or expansion.
It isn’t really goal sharing either. In the first couple of years Chairing my peer groups we endured interminable presentations; death by powerpoint. What it should allow is the story to be told, having been refined by others through conversations. This story benefits from multiple rehearsals, and the essence of main goals can be shared.
It isn’t planning. Whether it was Abe Lincoln or not, the attributed quote “Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe” makes the point well. If the Objectives are clear, and success also well defined, then others can help and should. In business goals this is essential. The sharpening of the axe is the refinement and clarification of the goals.
THE process of Refinement
To achieve refinement there are several critical ingredients:
A Vistage buddy group challenging and refining
A small number of Important objectives that should combine to tell a story.
A considered, best even characterised, background of long term and purposeful intentions
Clarity on the different time horizons. If a year is the focus, there are longer term objectives which can’t be achieved by then AND there is a shorter term focus of the first steps or “the one thing”
A framework for deconstructing the goals. These days I use the Objectives and Key Results approach for both business and personal goals.
An environment for curious and challenging conversations. I am a great fan of visual boards, especially in the era of electronic presentations, small buddy groups and a clear mandate for the buddies to not accept the status quo.
Some evaluation criteria. Using the Michael Bungay Stanier dimensions of Thrilling Important and Daunting or a simple “confidence score” allows a discussion of how to refine.
THe final rule
One absolute rule as a facilitator I always follow is that the goal owner is the goal owner. While our job is to help leaders refine their goals, if they wish to stick to their original version even after challenge, that is up to them!
My Vistage KEY group at Binna Burra, Queensland in 2024
