Here at Sunshine Creative Agency, we engage in a one day, 90 day planning session each quarter. We get inspired, talk about goals and dreams, review the past quarter, and set goals, objectives and key results for the next 3 months.
We learned this practice from the fabulous business coach Stephanie O’Brien. Stephanie is the kind of person that does pull ups while she’s waiting for her lunch to warm up, and thinks it is perfectly reasonable that you can reach any goal you set you mind too. Energy, inspiration, and execution all in one.
For our planning sessions, we go to a different location, ideally somewhere exotic but lately just to a different room. We each bring a video clip we’d like to share, for inspiration or learning. The resulting discussion of why we thought they were appropriate and how they apply to Sunshine Creative has been a great addition to our planning process. We learn a lot about what we each value, where we want the company to go, and what we think the others need to learn (without having to be accusatory about it).
We make time to look at our lives outside of work and make sure we are taking care of ourselves, a real skill that we are still working to perfect. A review of we have accomplished is always in order, and congrats are shared all around. Misses are reviewed for learning and reconsidered for inclusion going forward.
After that, we move on to what we have accomplished and what we’d like to accomplish. This is rubber and road stuff, and setting priorities. The Objectives and Key Results frame work is essential to get clear about what we’re doing and why, and to see the what and how to move forward.
I’ve noticed that clarifying objectives is so much easier when you have a great grasp of your core story, since that story will organically point to the next step in your organization’s growth. Those who have a firm grasp of who they are and what they value seem to be freed of the angst of constantly wondering where to go next. Those questions can answer themselves. Sunshine Creative strives to find this for others and live it for ourselves.
After years of working with performance measures in NPOs, I know some things just don’t lend themselves to measurement, and that those things are often the most important. Sunshine Creative Agency is not a tech startup, nor in the SaaS business, nor in physical product sales, so we are cautious about the use of OKRs (see Measure what Matters if you’re interested in the detailed process). Our business is based primarily on building relationships with our clients, and helping them express their own goals and meaning. This, in my opinion, can be subverted with too much emphasis on measurable outcomes. Neither the number nor dollar value of our projects are good measures of the overall joy and satisfaction we get out of doing our work. Keeping this in mind is essential for us, and for organizations that care about the how, as much as the what.
Where OKRs are very useful to Sunshine Creative is in developing and executing our own communication plans consistent with our overall plans for the future, as well as editing out the many projects we come up with but don’t have time to do. We are constantly refining our approach to create value for our clients and maximize the effectiveness of our products and services. Being the creative types, we appreciate the focus and discipline OKRs bring. While the hashing out of the details can be truly painful, when its done, we are well on our way to delivering on our own objectives, as well as those of our clients.