Planning in the Deep Freeze

I am not sure how it happened that we are already almost half way through the first month of 2020. As has been written and talked about in many places, January is a great time for renewal and reset. Some suggest that annual planning for the next year should be done in December, but in reality there is so much else going on to wrap up a year and the holidays that this may be great in concept but tough in execution.

So if you have not quite got to it, the next few days of extreme cold temperatures may be a great opportunity to spend some time on strategic or longer range planning. Developing that picture of what you are trying to achieve; what type of quality of life do you want; what do you need to create or produce and what is the long term vision for you operation, family and community .

Two great questions for reflection on 2019 – What happened in 2019 that energized and excited you? What did not go so well?

For those in agriculture, think of the three key areas of Land/Livestock; Finances and People and rank how you are doing in each area on a scale of 0 – 10, with 0 being poor and 10 being excellent. If you are part of a team, this can be done by other members and then share everyone’s thoughts.

Another exercise that is useful for planning is the SWOT analysis – strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. All types of businesses use this tool. Again, an important element for all these is the communication and sharing perspectives.

As we begin a new decade taking time to think about what you would like your life and operation to be like in five years is another planning tool. Then get detailed on what needs to happen in 2020 to take you towards that. Make those annual goals SMART. That is specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time connected.

Finally, it is important to also build in some monitoring tools to ensure you are on the right track or close to it. Of course life will not go exactly as planned but as Winston Churchill once said, “People don’t plan to fail, they fail to plan.”