I would like to share with you a process we do with our clients, at the beginning of every new year, to support them in having the year be more productive, more successful and more satisfying than it otherwise would be. The process is based on two fundamental principles which determine the success of an organization. The first principle is that nature abhors a vacuum and, by creating a vacuum in your company or firm, you create a space for the things you want to come into your experience. The second principle is the principle of alignment discussed in detail in the article entitled The X Factor: Alignment. Simply stated, this principle says that the success of an organization is directly a function of the degree to which the people in it are aligned on a common objective. Said another way, every successful enterprise consists of a group of people working together on behalf of future they have all committed themselves to.

With these two principles in mind, the purpose of this process is to complete 2008 and align everyone in your company on your objectives for 2009. This process should be done as soon as possible after the first of the year, because dragging things from 2008 into 2009 will, in and of itself, sabotage any intentions that you have for 2009. Also, not having all of the members of your company aligned on your goals for 2009 will rob your organization of its power.

Completing 2008

If you have a set of commitments, objectives or goals for 2008, the first step would be, in a group session, to read those commitments, objectives or goals out loud. The next step would be to have everyone acknowledge their accomplishments for 2008. There is no room in this discussion for any 'yeah, buts' or 'if, onlys,' just the acknowledgment of accomplishments. Next, have everyone acknowledge what occurred in 2008 that was a source of pleasure. Then, have everybody express their disappointments, unfulfilled expectations, thwarted intentions and sources of displeasure in 2008. It is really important that everyone express everything .

The next question for everyone is: 'Who do you need to forgive and for what?' It is crucial that people be willing to forgive themselves and each other for whatever happened that was a source of upset. The next question is: 'Who do you need to thank and for what?' When we do this in a group, it is usually the most inspiring part of the process as people go around the room and thank each other for all of the wonderful things that happened during the year. By the way, don't forget to thank yourself.

The next question is simply: 'Is there anything else you need to say about 2008 in order to be complete?' Whatever is necessary to be said to be complete will be readily apparent. The final step is simply to declare yourself complete.

Designing Objectives/Commitments

The next question for the group is: 'Standing in your vision for the future (i.e., your purpose and strategic objectives) and looking at your present circumstances from there, what shows up as missing?' In other words, what you want to do is to compare your present circumstances to your vision for the future and see what's missing. Not what is bad or wrong, because those terms involve judgments which defeat the purpose of this process, simply what is missing. The idea here is simply to make a list of what you see to be missing.

The subsequent question is: 'Standing in your accomplishments and in your vision for the future, what shows up as possible?' In other words, given what you accomplished in 2008 and given your vision for the future, and given everything else, what do you and the other members of the group consider to be possible? Allow yourself to freely speculate and come up with a wide range of possibilities. Even allow yourself to be silly and frivolous. Again, there is no room in this discussion for any 'yeah, buts' or 'how could we possibly do that?', just an opportunity for everybody to speculate about what they feel is possible for the future of your firm. Again, all you want to do at this point is make a list.

Now it is time to get down to the matter of commitments. A commitment is not a hope, dream or wish. It is not a goal to write down, stick in a drawer and hope you'll obtain. A commitment is something that you'll organize your life around and work seriously towards the fulfillment of. It is not something that you should do, it is not even necessarily something you want to do. A commitment is something that will forward you in the fulfillment of your vision. As an aside, the reason why most New Year's resolutions aren't fulfilled is because they are mostly a hope or a wish, not something that people authentically commit themselves to. In this process, we're looking for authentic commitments that your company will work on throughout 2009.

Another thing not to be concerned about is how you will fulfill on the commitments. The nature of commitments is that they create the how for themselves and most people don't know that. So, don't let the fact that you don't know how you will fulfill on a commitment stop you from making the commitment.

The next question for the group is: 'Standing in the possibility for the future and looking from here, what are we committed to accomplishing in 2009?' Answering this question involves four steps. The first step is to simply let the members of the group freely generate what they would like the company to commit itself to for 2009. After all of the commitments are generated, the second step is to re-read the list of possibilities for the future and see if the group wants to commit itself to those possibilities for 2009. You will find that many of the possibilities are still possibilities, but the group is unwilling to commit itself to them for the coming year.

When this is done, the third step is to go back over the list of 'what's missing' and see if a commitment has been made which handles the missings. So, for example, if a missing was '4 satellite offices' and the group committed to opening up 1 satellite office in 2009, that 'missing' would no longer be missing. Similarly, if 15 sales people were missing and the group committed to adding 4 in 2009, again, that missing would be handled.

What now results is a list of commitments for the year. The final step is to re-read aloud all of the commitments, one at a time, to make sure everyone is willing to put all of their energy behind the fulfillment of each commitment. If not, don't include it on your list of commitments because nothing will happen if the commitment doesn't have the group's undivided support.

The final question for the group is: 'What does the future look like from here?' This question gives the members of the group an opportunity to express their enthusiasm about what they have accomplished in this process.

Author: Scott Hunter

About the author:
Scott Hunter works with CEO's and senior management teams to create breakthrough outcomes and extraordinary performance by transforming the paradigm within which companies operate. He is the author of the ground-breaking book, Unshackled Leadership.

Article source: Free Management Articles.