Have You Already Lost In 2024 Due To Your Annual Strategy Planning And Budgeting?

This is the time of year when everyone seems to begin to plan for next year.

In this case, people are looking at 2024.

What boggles my mind is the amount of opportunities people give up in the last 2 months of the year, but that is an article for another time.

I was reading a fantastic newsletter that I regularly read which talked about many problems with Annual Strategy Planning and Budgeting.

However, they focused on a Marketing perspective (that is their specialty, so it makes sense).

They also mentioned many things that I felt could be expanded on by applying a Regenerative Legacy Perspective on this topic.

The Leadup

Now, I've noticed many signs that businesses are ALREADY failing in their plans for 2024 - and it hasn't even started yet!

I first wrote about this in my article The Dumbest Move Leaders Could Make Going Into 2024 - Plus What They Should Do Instead.

It discussed that many businesses are making a short-sighted decision to overinvest in AI at the cost of making an already horrible Employee Experience even worse.

In fairness, I understand "why" they are thinking about that, but it's still the absolute wrong decision.

Then I saw some statistics that reveal Leaders have a COMPLETELY broken Mindset when looking at the next Decade for their Organization.

I'd argue those Mindsets will backfire significantly faster than a Decade.

Then, just yesterday, I contrasted Designing a Regenerative Legacy with the Pioneer Legacy Problem.

This Problem helps to explain why we are seeing so many Organizations Struggle right now.

The fun part is taking these Ideas, and applying them into 2024 with the Regenerative Legacy Trend.

How To Tell If You're Already Losing

Let's look at the questions to ask:

• What Time Frame are you Planning for?

Most Organizations are focused only on a 1-year Time Frame or less.

If this is you, you have already lost.

In fact, 40% of Leaders think their business won't even be viable in the next Decade!

These Organizations are falling into the Pioneer Legacy Problem.

Decimating their Resources on Short-Term Growth until Collapse.

From a Regenerative Legacy Perspective, you want to Design an Organization that lasts LONG into the Future, ideally MUCH longer than 10 years.

If your business has a noticeable countdown meter ticking down, it's time to rethink what you're doing!

• Is your Team Fighting Internally for an Increased Budget?

Here's the Reality.

If your Team is Fighting internally, you're losing.

This is the Pioneer Problem unfolding "in" your Organization, which is worse than just in your Industry (which is already bad enough).

Your Teams are Fighting for "land" that is becoming more scarce as they continue to Fight.

Businesses should be places of Growth, not Warzones.

This only leads to increased Dis-Stress, Losers, Resentment, and Silos.

All of these things destroy Organizations.

Budgets should be utilized in ways to benefit the entire Organization.

Flourishing Is Mutual.

Budgets and Plans should be bringing Regeneration and new life to ALL teams.

There needs to be Unity if your Organization is to Grow.

• Do you have a Plan for Eliminating Burnout?

The #1 Problem businesses are facing right now is Burnout.

It is preventing Employees from reaching anywhere near their potential.

It creates Quiet Quitting, or worse, Active Disengagement.

It also leads to Employees who refuse to follow Demands, as we have seen for months with failed Return-To-Office "Mandates".

This is the Pioneer Problem in the Leader-Employee Dynamic.

You can only steal so much from your Employees before they Revolt.

Just ask the Kings and Queens of Medieval Europe.

A Regenerative Legacy is also about Regenerating Employees.

If you don't have a plan, then you will lose.

Healthy, Vibrant Employees are always more Productive than those who are Burnt Out.

• What is your Employee Experience plan?

Most organizations face the Pioneer Problem here as well.

They are wasting money on things that are not improving the Employee Experience.

On the one hand, you have Wellness programs that have had ZERO impact on Burnout.

On the other hand, you have Leadership Development programs that Fail 80% of the time, with only "limited" success the other 20%.

This has led many organizations looking to reduce or eliminate these programs, altogether.

This is understandable, but it doesn't solve anything.

In fact, it makes it worse because now it looks like you DON'T care about your Employees at all.

Instead, you need a Regenerative Legacy Approach.

Anything that is supposed to improve "Wellness" needs to increase Energy (specifically Mg-ATP).

Any programs that fail to improve Mg-ATP will fail to get to the source of Dis-Stress or have any impact on Burnout.

If you want to improve your Leaders or create new Leaders, you need a Leadership Cultivation approach.

Ideally, you should also be looking for programs where the end goal is Group Flow.

From the Psychophysiological perspective, this is where you want your teams to be.

• What does your Resource Outlook look like?

When it comes to Resources, there are 2 approaches.

You can fight over Limited Resources that dwindle, leading to increasing prices and demand.

But eventually, this Pioneer Problem approach will implode.

OR, you take the Regenerative Legacy approach.

How can you access Resources that are easily Renewable?

Think Electric vs. Gas.

If you take it further, how can YOUR Organization contribute to Regenerating the Resources faster than they are utilized?

This leads to decreasing prices and the ability to Exceed Future Demand.

• What does Customer Acquisition look like?

This is a nuanced question when we look through this lens.

Is the goal of Customer Acquisition to drain as much money as possible from the "market"?

This Pioneer Problem will fail in a multitude of ways.

If you are not the Category King/Queen in a market, you are already in a losing battle.

Essentially, you are fighting over around 25% of the total addressable market if you aren't the Category King/Queen (According to Category Design Science).

Even if you are the King/Queen, if your goal is to drain customers, seeing customers as "Money" instead of "People", you're competing with the Necessities of life.

If you haven't noticed, those Necessities have become Astronomically High in Price.

This approach will always leave you chasing and forcing you to convince Customers that "your" product/service is more needed than other products/services (even those not in your Industry!)

You are fighting over the Increasingly Diminishing Incomes of customers.

Instead, your Customer Acquisition needs a Regenerative Legacy Approach.

You don't need to "prove" to Customers that "your" product/service is more needed than anything else with this Approach.

You just need "your" product/service to noticeably Improve your Customer's Life - they need to Regenerate.

This leads to them "desiring" your Solution because it truly makes everything else better for your customers.

There is no competition with this Approach.

• What is your Current Customer Outlook?

This ties in closely with the previous question.

How are your Current Customers looking at your Product/Service?

Do they feel that it is Regenerating aspects of their lives?

Or are they debating using "your" solution over others?

If something else comes along, are they ready to drop what you provide for something better?

Do you need to keep your Customers "Addicted" to keep them coming back?

These are all concerns for those with the Pioneer Problem.

You can see this problem rampant in the Streaming Industry.

Loyalty determines a lot in business.

Those who Design a Regenerative Legacy don't worry about these problems.

They have Customer Loyalty.

Even in the case that something "better" did come along, your clients won't abandon you.

They are just wondering when your version of it will be released.

Since your Product/Service is Regenerative, they don't want to lose you.

You don't need Addicted Customers, you have True Loyalty.

• What Plans do you have for the World's Future?

As the World becomes increasingly more Interconnected, people are seeing the Impact we have on the World.

More and more people ask, "What Impact do you make?"

Customers are asking this.

Employees are asking this.

Investors are asking this.

Politicians are asking this.

Are you adding to the Pioneer Problem?

Decimating Energy and Resources in the name of stealing ground in diminishing territories?

Or are you creating a Regenerative Legacy?

Improving the Energy of everything around you.

Adding to the Resources that exist so that we can all Flourish.

Expanding Diversity and Opportunity in the marketplace.

These are what people are demanding.

If you are not starting to prepare to answer these questions going into 2024, you're on a steepening, downward slope to Irrelevance.