What Does Your Big Picture Look Like?

It is that time of the year when we take stock of what we accomplished, what we did not, and plan for next year. But chances are, you may be too focused on tasks you can check off when they are done and not the big picture goals or where they are leading you towards—or not. This article discusses the importance of taking-in the big picture—the goals, strategies, and tactics—as one develops and/or reviews the marketing strategy.

It is that time of the year when we take stock of what we accomplished, what we did not, and plan for next year. But chances are, you may be too focused on tasks you can check off when they are done and not the big picture goals or where they are leading you towards—or not.

First, kudos to you if you are setting aside time to review the year past and planning for the year ahead.

While you’re doing that, I would also like you to steal a look at your big picture. It’s what I am asking of all my coaching clients to do right now.

Hopefully, you are saying: Fine, Rod. But what is the big picture?

Let’s start with this directional map:

BIG PICTURE > Goals > Strategies > Tactics

The big picture is what drives us to do what we do; it’s our end game. Goals are intermediate destinations we establish to lead us to the big picture. Strategies are what we do to accomplish our goals. And tactics are how we execute our strategies.

My wife and I are past members of The Strategic Coach^® program for entrepreneurs. They had The R-Factor Question^®, which we found to be the ultimate big picture:

If we were meeting here three years from today—and you were to look back over those three years to today—what has to have happened during that period, both personally and professionally, for you to feel happy about your progress?

And there you have it. Your end game doesn’t involve checking off completed tasks; it has to do with creating the big picture you set for yourself. (For example, the goal of having more revenue is great, but what specifically will it get you closer to?)

This is Stephen Covey stuff. His second habit of highly effective people was to begin with the end in mind.

As the big picture—the end in mind—relates to your practice and life, what are the tactics, strategies, and goals that hit these key areas?

• Your Firm: Is it a flourishing local practice or one with a regional or national client base? Who’s running it with you? Who will be running it after you?
• Your Clients: If you could build your client/referral source roster from scratch, who would be on it? Who do you want to do work for? Why?
• Your Job: Do you see yourself in a different role? Will you be offering the same services, or will you branch out into a new specialty?
• Your Life: Can you create a practice around your life, rather than shoehorning what’s left of your life around your practice?

Personal example: My BIG picture goal is to put down roots in Bisbee, AZ and continue running my coaching practice for the next 10 years. During which time I will learn to draw so that I can become a satirical cartoonist. And maybe live abroad. So what tactics, strategies, and goals do I need—over the next quarter, the next year, the next nine years—that will sustain that picture?

What does your big picture look like?

Having tactics, strategies, and goals are necessary, for sure. But only if they lead towards the big picture that you are intentionally creating for yourself (and your family). Not having a big picture is how people wake up at some age and wonder how the heck they got here.

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Everyone has a different idea of what a successful practice is. The practice you want is personal because it is based on what “successful” means to you. I help practitioners focus on the strategies, tactics, tools, and tech to build/grow/scale their versions of successful practices. If you want some help with that, e-mail me at rod@rodburkert.com.