Annual Planning Sessions On Ninety
How Ninety powers annual planning for your organization.
Written by Kris Snyder
Updated at August 12th, 2024
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Using Ninety with EOS
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Account Options and Troubleshooting
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Integrations and Beta
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Measurables
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Rocks
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To-Dos
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Issues
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Meetings
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Headlines
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V/TO
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Accountability Chart
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1-on-1
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People and Toolbox
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Directory
Table of Contents
As I wrote in this blog, 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. EOS® recommends leadership teams take two full days for annual planning. Most departmental teams only need one day.
Annual Planning Session Objectives
- Improve team health
- Gain clarity and alignment on your vision
- Strategically plan for the next quarter
- Discover solutions for all key Issues
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.
Preparing for an Annual Planning Session
Ensure your team has their information in Ninety up to date to prepare for a successful annual planning session.
Scorecards
During the annual planning session, your team will review your data from every Scorecard with relevant Measurables:
- Weekly
- Trailing
- Monthly
- Quarterly
- Annual
At least a week before your meeting, send your team a To-Do reminding them to have all their Measurables updated.
📖 Learn how to use our Scorecard tool here.
Goals
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.
Issues
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.
- Short-term Issues are the problems, obstacles, ideas, or opportunities to discuss and solve weekly as a team.
- Long-term Issues are Issues that you may not have time to discuss during a typical Level 10 Meeting™ or are obstacles/ideas your team couldn't take on during the previous quarter.
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.
V/TO®️
Leadership teams use annual planning sessions to review, revise, and reaffirm the organization's vision in their V/TO®️. Departmental teams may have aspects 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.
SWOT Analysis
A SWOT analysis provides a holistic overview of your organization/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.
Starting an Annual Planning Session
To start your annual planning session:
- Click Meetings from the left navigation.
- Choose the correct team from the dropdown.
- Click Start Meeting.
- Select Annual Session.
Your team members can quickly join the meeting by clicking Meetings > Join Meeting.
Annual Planning Session Agenda
The following agendas are pre-built in your Ninety account. Learn how to modify agendas or create a new one here.
Day 1 Agenda for Leadership Teams
- Objectives — 5 minutes.
- Check-In — 30 minutes.
- Review Prior Year — 15 minutes.
- Review Prior Quarter — 15 minutes.
- Team Health — 165 minutes.
- Organizational Checkup — 60 minutes.
- SWOT — 60 minutes.
- V/TO®️ Review — 60 minutes.
- 3-Year Picture™️ — 60 minutes.
- Conclude Day 1 — 5 minutes.
After completing this agenda, click Finish Day 1 on the bottom left of the page. Day 2's agenda will populate in this team's Meeting tool. Simply click Join Meeting to begin. We'll send a meeting recap email after the completion of day 2.
We'll automatically archive a copy of your team's V/TO®️ when you start your annual session.
Day 2 Agenda for Leadership Teams
- Objectives — 5 minutes.
- Check-In — 15 minutes.
- Review Issues list and 3-Year Picture™️ — 15 minutes.
- 1-Year Plan — 120 minutes.
- Rocks — 120 minutes.
- Key Issues — 195 minutes.
- Next Steps — 7 minutes.
- Conclude — 8 minutes.