ALL HANDS ON DECK:

BUILDING

AN ALIGNED

ANNUAL PLAN

A Guide to Getting the Annual Pla

n

Out of the Leadership Office

INTRODUCTION

You have an annual plan, or you’r e working on one that will be r olled out soon. The time, car e, and effort you put into cr eating it will hopefully pr oduce a well- thought-out plan that guides your organization effectively thr ough the ne xt year. But that’s only half the battle. The other half is in e x ecution.

INTRODUCTION

The annual plan needs to be

everyone’s job.

This eBook contains helpful tip bo x es speciﬁcall y for ClearPoint users. Her e you’ll ﬁnd pr actical tak eaways and suggestions on how to utilize r ele vant ClearPoi nt featur es to maximize your r esults.

Use ClearPoint

An annual plan needs to involve e veryone equally . Annual planning is not just for the leadership team or the planning office—it requir es the engageme nt and buy-in of everyone in the organization. It’ s the only way to e nsur e the annual plan is actionable and effective. To engage e ve ry emplo yee, you need effective communication, alignment, transpar ency , and pr op er incentives in place. This guide combines high-le vel information with specific actions for pr actical tak eaways, helping you shift annual planning fr om being a centr alized task to a shar ed or ganizational effort.

CREATING A W ARENESS

CREATING

AWARENESS

For the annual plan to succeed, everyone must be awar e of and invested in its goals. This pr ocess involves clearly communicating the plan’ s purpose and ho w each r ole contributes to its success. Cr eating awar eness will allo w your plans to actually tak e hold in your organization. Awar eness and e x citement ar ound your annual plan—and e veryone ’s r ole in it—will gener ate a bottom-up momentum and bring your str ategy to life . Y our emplo ye es will feel inspir ed by unders tanding ho w the y can help your organization achie ve i ts mission. When people kno w the “why” behind their responsibilities, it leads to better pr oductivity and quality of work.

Communicate, Communicate, Communicate!

Use engaging visuals, such as infogr aphics or annual planning dashboar ds, to mak e the plan easily under standable. Shar e the plan thr ough multiple channels—company meetings, ne wsletters, and digital platforms. Host a launch e vent, such as an “Annual Plan Kick off Day”.

CHAPTER 1: PRESERVING INFORMATIO N

CREATING A W ARENESS

Put on your “mark eting cap ” and get cr eat ive. Use your organization ’s communications department to b uild an internal br and, or, if you alr eady have one, le ver age your br and and logo to “color and shape” your str ategy into something that is familiar acr oss your or ganizat ion. Y our t hemes, persp ectives, or e ven objectives can have speciﬁc co lors associated with them for a polished and r ecognizable aesthetic. Once you’ve created your visual, ﬁnd ways to shar e it. W e’ve all hear d advice ar ound communicating important messages, things lik e, “Say something seven t imes in seven ways” and “Unless you are really tire d of saying it, you have not communicated it enough.” There’s a r eason these ar e popular sayings—the y’ r e true! It is impossible to o ver-communicate .

Be cr eative in your communications: T urn your visual r epr esentations into posters and ﬂyers and hang t hem in confer ence r ooms, br eak r ooms , your building lobb y , and anywher e else wher e you can get e yes on the str ategy . Cr eate designed place-mats for your confer ence r ooms to k eep the str ategy fr ont and center while decisions ar e mad e. Carve out time to talk about plans at an emplo yee all-hands meeting. Cr eate notebooks or other swag items with your annual goals imprinted on them for emplo yees to use. Spread the word via a company ne ws le tte r or your i ntr anet, if you have one. Y ou can e ven cr eate a “Measur e of the Month” ne wsletter section highlight ing diﬀer ent department KPIs you ar e tr acking. Design and dist ribute wallet car ds that illust r ate the annual plan. Add a annual plan segment to your ne w hi r e orientation pr ogr am.

CHAPTER 1: PRESERVING INFORMATIO N

CREATING A W ARENESS

Your goal here is

to introduce everyone to

the plans—and get them exci

ted about it!

Try anything and everything

to get th

e

word

out.

CHAPTER 1: PRESERVING INFORMATIO N

CREATING A W ARENESS

ClearPoint makes it easy to design and shar

e annua

l

plans, strategy maps and visuals. You

can apply brand

colors to any document

, incorporate images and other

graphics, and share content internally or ext

ernally

either via the web or PDF.

Transparency in R

es

ult

s

Making everyone awar e of the plan is the ﬁrst s tep ; you also nee d to be transpar ent with the r esul ts e ach r eporting period to k eep the momentum going. (Plus, it’s just plain goo d management.) Each month, you will be r eporting on your annual plan. It is imper ative those r esults ar e communicated to the entir e or ganization. Tak e the notes fr om your performance r e vie w meetings, summar ize them for the correct audience, and shar e accor dingly . Up dates on your objectives, measur es, and initiatives can be dis tributed via email as a PDF, placed on your Intr anet site, or shar ed on TV s ar ound th e o ﬃce. Bro wn bag lunches, sometimes called “Lunch-&-Learns,” ar e gr eat opportunities for leadership to pr ese nt r esults to the entir e company . The y r einfor ce the importance of the s tr ategy , pr o vide good opportunities for tr anspar ency , and give e veryone a chance to ask questio ns. A virtual “Ask Me Anything” session with leadership is another avenue to e xpl or e. We have seen other or ganizations cr eate a simple trifold br ochur e after quarterly meetings. The outside is a quick summary of quarterly r esults (especially if it has an impact on b onuses) while the inside has the annual plan o vervie w with RA G i ndicators on each objective, as well as what adjustments are being made to improve outcome s. T he back of the br ochur e has a status update of key pr ojects the entir e company needs to kno w about, and what these r esults and changes mean to staff.

Use ClearPoint

CHAPTER 1: PRESERVING INFORMATIO N

CREATING A W ARENESS

ClearPoint has features like HTML Publishing and

Community Dashboards that allow users to share

information

internally

across

an

ent

ire

organization,

or

to selectively share strategy information with ext

ern

al

stakeholders (such as a government might do wit

h

its residents). That level of transparency goes a long

way in keeping everyone informed and engaged.

Checklist

Use ClearPoint

Creating Awareness

Communicate Plans

Transparency in Re

sul

ts

Strategy map or infographic

Branded poster

Placemats for conference rooms

Annual plan kickoff

All hands meeting

Notebook

s

Measure of the Month

Wallet cards

New hire orientation

Share annual plan meeting notes

Brown bag lunches

“Ask Me Anything” sessio

ns

Trifold brochure

Share results on your intranet

site

CHAPTER 1: PRESERVING INFORMATIO N

CREATING O WNERSHIP

Every element of the annual plan should have clear o wnership, with individuals or teams responsible for spe cific goals, meas ur es, and initiatives.

Asking that quest ion will help emplo yees understand ho w the y ﬁt into the strategic plan—a scenario that will help your or ganiza tion r each its goals mor e quick ly .

If people are aware of the a

nnual plans

and motivated to execute it, decision-

making will always prom

pt

the question,

“What will help the organization better

achieve its goals?

Objectives/Goals—These ar e usually o wned by members of the leadership team or other k e y staﬀ who look at link e d measur es and initi at ives to r ecommend appr oaches for succe ss. Measures— These ar e typically o wne d by a data analyst who is responsible for reporting q ua nt itative r esults and e xplaining the r eason fo r the r esult. Initiatives— These ar e o wned by pr oject managers or le aders who ar e r esponsible for giving status updates and suggestions f or staying on tr ack, on time, and on budget. Often times initiatives ar e r eferr ed to as pr ojects .

CREATING OWNERSHIP

CHAPTER 1: PRESERVING INFORMATIO N

CREATING O WNERSHIP

A Goal Champion is assigned to each goal in the annual plan; these individuals are responsible for ensuring tha t all meas ur es and initiatives r elated to their goal ar e updated in a timely manner, as well as d e veloping and r eporting a synopsis of ho w that goal is performing. Positioned corr ectly , the r ole of Goal Champion is a privilege. The Goal Champion is given a chance to be in fr ont of leadership and manage part of the annual plan. It is a form of r ecognition and an opportunity for the organization to de velop futur e leaders. It can also help with buy-in because, if your annual plan has ten objectives, no w you have ten employees—across d iffer ent departments—bought in and actively pr omoting the annual plan. Goal Champions can come from anywher e in the or ganization. In local go vernment, for e xample, we have e ve n seen the Fir e Chief tak e ownership of goals related to “Economic De velopme nt & Inno vation.” This appr oach pr o vid es a r eal opportunity to br eak do wn silos and foster cr oss- departmental collabor ation. Pr aise and r ecognize your Goal Champions, and have them serv e a one- or two-year term before passing the r ole to s ome one else in the organization. Recognizing and ele vating staff in this way will drive true o wnership and engagement with the annual plan.

Be sure to take advantage of the “Owners” and

“Collaborators” functionality in ClearP

oint

to help

create ownership. You can also create custom user

pick-lists for

other roles in your strategy, like analyst,

champion, or approver. As

signing accountability and

making that information readily availabl

e encourages

better performance and also lets everyone know who

to reach out to if t

hey have ques

tions about a specific

objective, measure, or initiative.

Use ClearPoint

CHAPTER 1: PRESERVING INFORMATIO N

CREATING O WNERSHIP

Checklist

Creating Ownersh

ip

Assign owners and collaborat

ors to each

element of your plan

Appoint Goal Champions

In ClearPoint, you can make objective owners Goal

Champions. You could even customize t

he name of

the owner field, renaming the role as Goal Champion

or Objective Champion, depending on your preferred

terminology.

Use ClearPoint

CHAPTER 1: PRESERVING INFORMATIO N

INTEGRATING PLANS WIT H O THER MANA GEMENT PROCESSES

INTEGRATING THE

ANNUAL PLAN WITH

OTHER MAN

AGEMENT

PROCESSES

For your annual plan to be e x ecuted and managed successfully , it needs to be linked with rele vant interna l p r ocesses. Integr ating certain key activities into the annual plan is critical in or der for the plan to become a unifying for ce r ather than an isolated, stand-alone document.

Annual Plans

Integrating Processes

Many organizations dir ect individual de partments to cr eate a department business plan or wor k plan. Department busines s plans should include:

CHAPTER 1: PRESERVING INFORMATIO N

INTEGRATING PLANS WIT H O THER MANA GEMENT PROCESSES

An outline of the department’ s goals The steps the y will undertak e to achie ve those goals The timeline during whi ch these goals should be achie ved These business plans need to be linked to the s tr at egy to ensur e alignment and sho w departments and staﬀ ho w thei r work ties to the lar ger organizati onal goals. It’s also smart to integr ate your budgeting pr ocess into your annual plan.

We’ve s een organizations implement fr ame works wher e e very budget request needs to be tied to a per for mance measur e. The logic holds that if these measur es ar e your succe ss indicators, then the budget r equest should impact the performance measur e and your annual plan. Similarly , pr oject budgets can be connected to goals in the o ver all str ategy as well. T ying division and department budgets to the annual plan will natur ally stimulate more goal-r elated discussions among leader s and staff. During the budgeting process, the y will need to consider ho w their d epartment fits into the bigger pictur e and ho w their day-to-day work, oper ations, and budget align. The y ar e also mor e lik ely to ask important questions and engage with the annual plan in deeply meaningful ways.

You cannot maximize your effectiveness in

executing your annual plan

without linking

your plans to stra

tegic pr

iorities.

CHAPTER 1: PRESERVING INFORMATIO N

INTEGRATING PLANS WIT H O THER MANA GEMENT PROCESSES

ClearPoint offers multiple ways to tie activities to

overall strategy. You can include links to measures in

your budget books; utilize ClearPoint chart

s to display

data in your bud

get

documents; and even create

custo

m fields in ClearPoint to notate which

budget line

items are related to each measure or initiative.

If you ar e just starting out with annual planning, r e vie w your curr ent budgeting appr oach to find ways it can be tied to the annual plan. No matter the outcome, you will learn something. If you ar e not able to fully integrate the budget pr ocess and the annual plan in your ne xt budge ting cycle, then try it in phases. Link what elements you can, and incr ementally work to formalize the connection and mak e it your organization ’s cultur al norm. It may tak e time, but the payoff is tr emendous. Project management has lik ely alr ead y been going on at your or ganization, but no w , you will be working to integr ate those appr oaches and pr actices into your annual plan.

The Project

Management Office has

always been about “doing things right,”

but with annual plans and strategy,

there will be more of

an emphasi

s on

“doing the right things.”

Use ClearPoint

CHAPTER 1: PRESERVING INFORMATIO N

INTEGRATING PLANS WIT H O THER MANA GEMENT PROCESSES

Integrating Data

More than likely , your or ganiza tion is alr eady collecting a variety of data, and data tr acking may e ven be part of depa rtment business plans. That’s a good thing because the information you need for successful annual plan execution lives thr oughout the or ganiza tion, and all those data streams must be viewed and analyzed toge the r, in conte xt. Those employees supplying data will need to understand the imp ortance of pr o viding updates that influence annual planning and decision-making. You can work with data owners to streamline the ir collection a ctiv ities and impr o ve their ability to shar e what may have be en pr e viously siloed information. With department data being ele vated to or ganization-wide data, it may be necessary to do some data clean-up. Cr eate a data go vernance policy to ensur e consistency . All involved parties will need to agr ee on certain formulas, data sources, measur e definitions, and an appr oach to mak e collection simple and accur ate.

To simplify data collection, use the Data Loa

der

to automatically add or update data from mult

iple

systems into ClearPoint. You can add element

s (like

objectives, measures, and initiatives) and upload

numerical values from Excel and databases as we

ll as

qualitative analysis. You can also bring raw values into

ClearPoint and have the application run

calculations

and evaluations, and visualize your dat

a. ClearPoint

can even document d

ata sources for transparency

and show element linkages to illustrate how

everything fits together

.

Use ClearPoint

CHAPTER 1: PRESERVING INFORMATIO N

INTEGRATING PLANS WIT H O THER MANA GEMENT PROCESSES

Checklist

Integrate Plans with Other

Management Processes

Integrating Pr

ocesses

Integra ting Data

Link department business plans to

the strat

egy

Connect budget to annual plans and strategy

Work with the project management offiic

e

Connect dat

abases and link data

Create a data governance policy

Define measure formulas and definitions

Document the d

ata-gathering process

CHAPTER 1: PRESERVING INFORMATIO N

ALIGNING COMPETENCY AND SKILL DEVEL O PMENT

ALIGNING

COMPETENCY

AND

SKILL DEVELOPMEN

T

Depending on your organization and your annual plan, tackling something ne w may r equir e doing things differ ently . If your curr ent emplo yee pool lacks the right skills and competencies to adapt to these changes, your annual objectives may not be attainable. To meet this challenge, look at your annual plan and define the skills necessary for its e x ecution. Then, with those skills in mind, assess the status of the organization ’s skillset today . If ther e is a gap, ho w will you work to close it o ver time? Investing in staff tr aining or hiring for those specific skills ar e two options. Another is to partner with an outside organization that offers those competencies. Be sure to include human r esour ces in these d iscussions, but do not fall into the tr ap of tying skill acquisition to performance r e vie ws—at least not immediately . First, conduct a high-le vel r e vie w , set out clear needs and criteria, and then incorpor ate emplo yee de velopment goals as appropriate based on your gap ana ly sis. Over time, with clearly articulated goals, you can tr ack ho w well your organization is closing the skills and competency gap to support the successful e x ecution of the annual plan.

Create a report in ClearPoint list

ing your objectives,

measures, and initiatives, and use it as the basis for

your gap analysis. Once you’ve determined how to

proceed in addressing your

skills and competency

gaps, you can then create the appropria

te measures

and initiatives in ClearPoint needed to trac

k y

our

progress toward

closing them.

CHAPTER 1: PRESERVING INFORMATIO N

ALIGNING COMPETENCY AND SKILL DEVEL O PMENT

Checklist

Aligning Competency and Skill

Development Connect with HR

Create a skills gap matrix

Report on pro

gress in closing the gap

Use ClearPoint

People join an organization because the y belie ve in the mission and want to help make it a r eality . Ho we ver , p eople often genuinely do not kno w wher e their job ﬁts into the mission or ho w the y can help. It is your job to motivate people to understand wher e the y ﬁt in, so the y ar e both able and inspir ed to work to war d e x ecuting your str ategy .

CHAPTER 1: PRESERVING INFORMATIO N

ALIGNING PERSONAL GO ALS

ALIGNING PERSONAL

GOALS

CHAPTER 1: PRESERVING INFORMATIO N

ALIGNING PERSONAL GO ALS

Personal Alignment and

Awareness

Everyone must kno w ho w the y contribute to the or ganization’s annual plan to mak e it a success. Countless decisions ar e made each day by individuals at all le vels of the organization. Ideally , all these decisions will tak e the annual plan into account—as long as people ar e awar e of it. Consider meeting individually with staff members in each department to walk them thr ough their contributions to the annual plan. Give staff an opportunity to ask questions that may be unique to their departments or work, and be open to their feedback. Br o wn bag e vents work very well for this appr oach. As you discuss the annual plan, e xplain the performance measur e s and tie them to departmental measur es to illustr ate the impact of the department’s pe rformance. Also, sho w ho w their departmental goals, business plans, or initiatives tie to the broader strategic p lan. Not e very department objective needs a dir ect connection to organizational goals, but se ver al of them should align.

In ClearPoint, you can utilize parent and child

linkages to show how department o

bjectives tie to

organizational objectives. Views like the Alignme

nt

Matrix help show contrib

utions to t

he strategy from

each department. Linkages can also be explored to

show how everything ties t

ogether.

Use ClearPoint

CHAPTER 1: PRESERVING INFORMATIO N

ALIGNING PERSONAL GO ALS

An

nual Plan Branding

Annual plan br anding—which we mentioned pr e viously as a way to str engthen the pr esentation of your annual plan to the workfor ce—can also be very beneficial for pr omoting individual alignment. For e xample, one local go vernment designed its annual plan ar ound the mantr a of “W e build community .” As their departments work ed to war d achie ving objectives, many used terminology lik e “W e build community by [each department’s contribution her e].” This appr oach helps all staff clearly see ho w each team’ s work impacts the organization’ s larger goals. As departments lean into the annual plan and this appr oach, r ecognize them. Use their buy-in and success as an e xample to motivate other departments. Encourage department head s to connect and s ha r e best pr actices, and lean on solid case study e xample s as inspir ation.

Personal

Scorecard

Y our or ganization may also want to conside r cr eating personal scor ecar ds for your staff. While certainly not r equir ed, this technique can assist your annual planning and HR performance management efforts in a big way . Cr eating a personal scor ecar d involves giving individuals a set of goals and measur es that link dir ectly to the annual plan objectives of their department (which should ther eb y link to the o ver all str ategic plan). The individual’s performance is me asur ed and e valuated based on outcomes and r esults. Each personal scor ecar d objective should be part of a cause-and-effect chain that r epr esents the emplo ye e’s contribution to annual plan r esults. Personal objectives included in the scor ecar d should be r ele vant to both the emplo yee ’s r ole and r esponsibilities as well as within the emplo yee ’s contr ol. The OKR appr oach has emer ged as a leading fr ame work for personal scorecar ds. OKR, which stands for objectives and key r esults, focuses on goal-setting objectives and their outcomes. This fr ame work can be a valuable tool, but goals must be aligned to the department’s annual plan and the organization ’s br oader annual objectives to be successful.

CHAPTER 1: PRESERVING INFORMATIO N

ALIGNING PERSONAL GO ALS

ClearPoint summary report views can be filtered by

individual for the purpose of viewing and t

racking

individual contribut

ions. These views can be set as the

homepage so they display immediately upon login.

Checklist

Aligning Personal Goals

Personal Alignment and

Awareness

Personal

Scorecard

Meet individually with each department

Utilize department and tea

m scorecards

Create staff wallet card

s

Integrate with HR measurement process

Explore OKRs

Use ClearPoint

CHAPTER 1: PRESERVING INFORMATIO N

ALIGNING INCENTIVES

Employees who are awar e of the annual plan, under stand ho w their job ﬁts int o the appr oach, and ar e high ly motivated to achie ve your or ganization’s annual goals ar e all good ind icators for success. But you can st ill do mor e to guar antee r esults by usi ng incentives.

Incentives r einfor ce desir ed behavio rs while simultaneously incr easing awar eness of the annual plan. The y pr o vide an opportunity to talk about and message the plan in a new and diﬀer ent way . As pa rt of that pr ocess, you are answering the question silently r epeate d in e ver yone’s mind: “What’s in it for me?” Mak e sur e your appr oach to incentives answers that ques tion. Ther e ar e two categories of incentives: ﬁnancial and non-ﬁnancial. Depending on your industry and your or ga nization, ﬁnancial incentives may not be an option, so let’s begin with the non-ﬁnancial optio ns.

ALIGNING INCENTIVES

Incentives drive the type of beh

avior you

want to see, and thus have a big role to play

in executing your annual p

lan effectively.

Non-Financial Incentives

Financial incentives ar e usually thought to be mor e eﬀective, but no n- ﬁnancial incentives can be very po werful on their o wn. In fact, the y tend to be used mor e often because the y oﬀe r opportuni ties to inspir e people in creative ways that money simply can’t. Just as the inge nuity of your “mark et ing cap ” came in handy to r aise awar eness of your annual plan, you’ll need to don that same cap again to dr eam up some ne w ideas for incentives that will appeal to yo ur speciﬁc workfor ce.

CHAPTER 1: PRESERVING INFORMATIO N

ALIGNING INCENTIVES

Get creative! The best appr oaches fo r incentivizing without spending mone y (or spending a nominal amount) re volve ar ound r ecognition. Highli ghting emplo yees who ar e doing gr e at work is a str ong motivator. It enco ur ages the continued behavior in the person being r ecognized while also demonstr at ing the behavior to o thers. Ever hear d of FOMO (fear of missing out)? It truly works to drive result s. Plus, giving oﬃcial r ecogni tion aﬀor ds another opport unity to talk about the annual plan! Think about the diﬀer ent avenues you could le ver age to r ecognize those doing good work: Does your organization have an internal newsletter ? If so, wri te a s hor t piece about their accomplishment s and include a pictur e. Print oﬃcial certiﬁcates and cr eate whate ve r categor ies or achie vements you want. Y ou can r ecognize staﬀ for goal achie vement, pr ocess impr o vements, stellar measur e performance, or well-e x ecuted pr oject s and outcomes. The list goes on and on depending on what behavio rs you want to drive.

Throw a small celebr ation to r ecognize individuals or ac hi e vements. T ry to have someone fr om the lea dership team in attendance to d rive home leadership buy-in and the importance of the annual plan. Be sure to tak e pictures and pub licize the p ar ty , and specify what the department or team is doing so well . In the instances wher e this appr oach was emplo yed, other d epartments wer e said to have enthusiastical ly r eached out afterwar d wanting to up their game.

Skilled software users sho

uld get points, too!

ClearPoint users can be recognized for anyth

ing from

competency and training completion

to number of

updates and coolest dashboard.

Use ClearPoint

CHAPTER 1: PRESERVING INFORMATIO N

ALIGNING INCENTIVES

• Create awards to hand out. It’s tempting to de fa ult to r ecogni zing individuals, but ther e is no rule saying you can only give an awar d to one person. Recognizing departments doing gr eat work with performance management is a power mo ve . We have seen departments leading the way re war ded with doughnuts, pizza, r otating coveted parking spots , and other surprise s to gr eat eﬀect. Handing out swag is always a soli d appr oach, and you can mak e it str ategy-themed too. With any recognition or re war d, be sur e to call attention t o the eﬀor t, the journe y or pr ocess, and the outcome. At ﬁrst, you may ﬁnd you ar e recognizing the eﬀort emplo yees ar e making, b ut with co nsistent focus, you will be recognizing and celebr ating outcomes befor e yo u kno w it!

Financial Incentives

Y ou have spent signiﬁcant time and ener gy to cr eate a str ategy . No w it’s time to commit ﬁnancial r esour ces to the plan—the pr o ve rbial “Put your money where your mouth is” moment. With ﬁnancial incentives, ther e ar e two main appr oaches; if feasible , you can do both. First, you can tie ﬁnancial r esour ces to your annual plan, which we highl y r ecommend. Align your budget to your str ategic goals to ensur e that you’ r e spending your resour ces in the right ar eas. Second, if you already have, or are consider ing se tting up, a bo nus pay structur e, try linking it to your ne w st r ategy . If tying the str ategy to a department’s budget gets staﬀ to lean forwa r d in their chair with inter est, just wait until you tie thei r compensation to the str ategy . At the beginning of th is section, we suggested you must be able to answer your staﬀ ’s question “What’s in it for me?” By linking annual plan results to your organization ’s bonus structur e, it could not be mor e ob vious wh at is in it for them.

CHAPTER 1: PRESERVING INFORMATIO N

ALIGNING INCENTIVES

Your strategy is signiﬁcantly ampliﬁe d once it is b r ought i nto the comp ensation conversation. Work with leadership and HR to develop a mod el that is b oth fair and eﬀective. Start small, with leadership only , befor e e xp anding it to all emplo yees eligible for a bonus . Tak e the personal scor e car d we mentioned abo ve and tie a speciﬁc bo nus allocation to it. Some organizations cr eate a b onus pool that is funded based on organization-wide measures, a nd bonuses ar e paid out based on personal measur es. Additionall y , you could begin by tying o nly a portion of the bonus to the str ategic plan. For e xample, 25% of the bonus is calculated based on the str ategic plan r esult s while the r emaining 75% is calculated using other deﬁned criteria. Remember th at the lar ger the bonus per centage tied to str ategy , the more engaged employees w ill be . As you design the progr am, be mi ndful of the or ganization ’s o ver all ﬁnancial health. Some organizations have jumped into ﬁnancial incentives t oo quickly only to later realize the y wer e paying out bonuses on the wr ong me asur es when their ﬁnances were still underperforming. Consider e nacting a ﬁnancial thr eshold to fund the bonus, and dis tributing mone y only when the ﬁnancial thr eshol d is met. It is a two-part pr ocess, but the added laye r ensur es your ne w bonus pr ogr am does not put you at ﬁnancial risk.

T ying bonuses to your o ver all plans may not be pr actical or feasible for all organizations, b ut if it is on the table , it deserves very str ong consi der ation.

ClearPoint can be used to calcula

te bonuses in various

ways based on annual plan performance. One

example would be to weigh

t various element results

to give you a bonus coeffiicient t

h

at can be used to

calculate the payout for each im

pacted employee.

Use ClearPoint

CHAPTER 1: PRESERVING INFORMATIO N

ALIGNING INCENTIVES

As you work to incentivize plan-r elated performance, always put your self in the shoes of your staﬀ . It’s human natur e to vie w any kind of change thr o ugh a per sonal lens (as in, “What ’s in it for me?”). Whether yo ur options ar e non- ﬁnancial, ﬁnancial, or a combination of both, don’t be afr aid to try something ne w and iter ate.

Checklist

Aligning Incentives

Non-Financial Incentives

Financial Incentives

Newsletter recognition

Intranet recognition

Award ceremonies

Team recognition

Pub

licize the recognition

Tie bonuses to performance

Don’t lose sight of your overall financial health

CHAPTER 1: PRESERVING INFORMATIO N

Most organizations fail to achie ve the annual goals the y set out for at the beginning of the year. Often because the str ategy is ne ver fully integr ated into the fabric of the organization. If you tak e the important steps outlined in this ebook—ar ound communication, alignment, tr anspar ency , and pr oper incentives—you will set your or ganization up to be one that beats the odds and succeeds. You’ve work ed ha r d to cr eate your annual plan, and while e x ecuting it can be a challenge, it r eally is the moment you have been waiting for and working to war d. Have fun with it and embr ace it! Keep donning that “mark eting cap ” and be cr eative. As you work to get the annual plan out of the leadership office and into the entire organization, always be on the lookout for ne w ways to engage emplo yees. Network and le arn fr om others who are in a similar r ole at other or ganizations, both within and outside of your industry . We have a r obust ClearPoint Community that is always looking to e x change ideas. We have combined all the chapter checklists into one comprehens iv e version (belo w) to help you k eep in mind all the ideas shar ed in this ebook. As always, ClearPoint—our software and our team—is her e to help in a variety of ways. We welcome your feedback, ideas, and thoughts ar ound r olling out, implementing, and e x ecuting your annual plan. If appr oaches you ar e trying ar e working well, let us kno w! The same goes for things that ar en’t going so well. We ar e available at support@clearpointstr ategy .com and hope to continue to be a partner in your success. Have fun bringing your annual plan to life!

C ONCLUSION

CONCLUSION

CHAPTER 1: PRESERVING INFORMATIO N

CHECKLIST

ALL HANDS ON DECK:

BUILDING AN ALIGNED

ANNUAL PLAN CHECKL

IST

Creating Awareness Communicate, Communicate, Communicate!

Transparency in Results

Strategy map or infographic

Branded poster

Placemats for conference rooms

Annual plan kick-off

Notebook

s

Strategy sheet cake

Measure of the Month

Wallet cards

New hire orientation

Share annual plan meeting notes

Brown bag lunches

“Ask Me Anything” sessio

ns

Trifold brochure

Share results on your intranet

site

CHAPTER 1: PRESERVING INFORMATIO N

CHECKLIST

Creating Ownersh

ip

Assign owners and collaborat

ors to each

element of your plan

Appoint Goal Champions

Integrate Plan with Other

Management Processes

Integrating Pr

ocesses

Integra ting Data

Link department business plans to

the strat

egy

Connect budget to annual plans

Work with the project management offiic

e

Connect dat

abases and link data

Create a data governance policy

Define measure formulas and definitions

Document the d

ata-gathering process

Aligning Competency and Skill Developm

ent

Connect with HR

Create a skills gap matrix

Report on pro

gress in closing the gap

Aligning Personal Goals Personal Alignment and Awareness

Personal Scorecard