Once a year, your teams should step outside of working in the business for an annual planning session where they'll work on the business. Kris Snyder, Ninety's Professional EOS Implementer®, explains how in EOS® Annual Planning: A Guide for Leadership Teams. EOS recommends leadership teams take two full days for annual planning. Most departmental teams only need one day.

Watch the video below for an overview of the annual planning cycle in Ninety, from preparing for the session to carrying the plan through the rest of the year.

The video covers:

Annual Planning Sessions are part of the proven EOS Process®. As you can see from the image below, annual meetings are part of the 90-Day World® that keeps your organization moving toward mastering EOS and achieving its vision.

Ensure your team has their information in Ninety up to date to prepare for a successful annual planning session.

During the annual planning session, your team will review your data from every Scorecard with relevant Measurables:

At least a week before your meeting, send your team a To-Do reminding them to have all their Measurables updated.

Also open the Quarterly and Annual Scorecards and check that the Measurables tracked on your V/TO® have both goals and actual results entered, so the team can compare the year against the plan.

To learn how the Scorecard works, read Introduction to Scorecards.

Part of gaining traction involves setting and completing goals. The annual session replaces the quarterly, so you'll still be planning for the next quarter's Rocks for your team. You'll also take this time to recalibrate your 3-Year Picture™ and 1-Year Plan.

Your team members should be prepared to review the previous year's goals and propose targets for the next 12 months.

Similar to quarterly sessions, your team will cover short-term and long-term Issues. Some of your team's long-term Issues will become Rocks or annual goals.

Your agenda will also include an opportunity to tackle key Issues. This is when you'll identify, discuss, and solve the Issues standing in the way of completing your goals for the next quarter.

Leadership teams use annual planning sessions to review, revise, and reaffirm the organization's vision in their V/TO. Departmental teams may have parts of the V/TO that are unique to them. At the very least, they'll need to be prepared to update their goals, Measurables, and Issues.

For more on the V/TO, read Ninety's blog Align Your Future with the Vision/Traction Organizer®.

A SWOT analysis provides a holistic overview of your organization or team and its position in the market. While reviewing your existing SWOT, turn any item into an Issue to discuss by clicking the ellipses and selecting Make it an Issue from the dropdown.

For more, read Ninety's SWOT analysis guide.

Day 1 includes a 60-minute Organizational Checkup® review. Ninety's built-in Org Assessment covers the same Six Key Components®, and Owners, Admins, and Implementers can launch it from the Assessments tool. Send it to your leadership team one to two weeks before the session, with an end date before the meeting so every response is in. For the steps and a video walkthrough, read Measuring Your Six Key Components® with the Org Assessment.

Whoever facilitates the session prepares the logistics and the data ahead of time. Here's what to cover:

Ask each team member to complete this prework:

The video below walks through both checklists.

To start your annual planning session:

Your team members can quickly join the meeting by clicking Meetings > Join Meeting.

The following agendas are pre-built in your Ninety account. To change them or build your own, read Create and Customize Your Meeting Agendas.

After completing this agenda, click Finish Day 1 on the bottom left of the page. Day 2's agenda then appears in this team's Meetings tool. Click Join Meeting to begin. We'll send a meeting recap email when Day 2 is complete.

The video below walks through how each part of the two-day agenda builds on the one before it. Day 1 is for reflection: reviewing the past year and quarter, team health, the Organizational Checkup, SWOT, and the V/TO review. The Organizational Checkup, SWOT, and V/TO review each add obstacles and opportunities to your Issues List. Day 2 turns that work into the 1-Year Plan, next quarter's Rocks, and IDS on your Key Issues. If you can't fit two full days, shorten or drop sections to suit your business.

Team health opens the annual session because a team that trusts each other has more productive discussions for the rest of the two days. If you work with an EOS Implementer®, they'll choose and lead the exercise. If you self-implement, choose one based on how much openness it asks of each person, and start with a lower-risk exercise if your team is new or doing team health for the first time. Here are common options, from lowest to highest risk:

The video below explains each option and how to choose one. A slide deck for each exercise is linked in the video's YouTube description.

After the leadership team's annual session, each leadership team member can run a shorter session with their department, so the department's plan builds on the leadership team's decisions. Keep the group to about 10 people or fewer so the discussion stays collaborative.

A typical department agenda includes:

Most departments need one day, so the one-day Quarterly Session agenda is the easiest starting point. Owners, Admins, Managers, and Implementers can edit a team's agendas. Here's how:

These changes apply to the team's Quarterly Session agenda, so review it again before the department's next Quarterly Session. The Quarterly Session is available on the Accelerate, Thrive, and Legacy plans. For more on editing agendas, read Create and Customize Your Meeting Agendas.

To bring a leadership team Rock into the department session, share it with the department's team. The Rock keeps one owner and one record, and both teams can see its progress. Any Owner, Admin, Manager, Implementer, or Team Member on a paid plan can share a Rock. For the steps, read Sharing Rocks Across Multiple Teams.

The video below walks through the department agenda, the agenda setup, and bringing leadership team Rocks into the session.

A plan sticks when people hear it more than once, at every level of the organization. In the two weeks after the leadership team's session, most companies:

Week to week, the Level 10 Meeting keeps the plan in front of the team. Link each Rock to the 1-year goal it supports (read Using the Planning Board to Plan Rocks Across Quarters), and keep the Measurables from your V/TO on the team's weekly Scorecard so the team discusses any that fall off track.

The video below covers keeping the plan in front of every team through the rest of the year.