The Power of Quarterly Strategic Planning in Your Elevator Business

When I think back on the growth of my company Madden Elevator, one of the things that made the biggest impact was carving out dedicated time every quarter for our leadership team to get together, step away from the day-to-day operations, and talk about where we were taking the business next.

When we first started doing quarterly strategic planning, you wouldn’t believe that there were just four or five of us sitting around my kitchen table talking through what was happening in the business, what needed our attention, and what we wanted the next 90 days to look like.

Pic for proof:

As the company grew, those meetings started to look a little different.

Eventually, we would rent an office space in a high-rise building in downtown Louisville overlooking the Ohio River. We'd spend two full days there as a team. We would order lunch, take breaks throughout the day, and dedicate that time to having the conversations that were difficult to have when everyone was caught up in the daily demands of the business.

The location may have changed over time, but the purpose of the meeting never did.

We needed to get everyone on the same page and make sure the whole ship was rowing in the same direction.

Whether you have four people sitting around a kitchen table or an entire leadership team in a conference room, the purpose is the same. You have to create space to work on the business instead of always working in the business.

Getting Out of the Day-to-Day

One of the biggest reasons we liked getting out of the office for these meetings was because it changed everyone's perspective.

When you're sitting inside your own building, it's easy to get pulled back into operations when someone needs an answer or something comes up that’s urgent.

That's the reality of running an elevator business.

But if you never step away from the daily fires, it's difficult to think strategically about where the company is going. Quarterly planning gave us dedicated time to look at the bigger picture.

And those conversations were a big part of how we continued growing.

Start With Honest Conversations

Before we ever started creating new goals, we always looked at where the business currently stood. That meant asking:

• What's working?
• What's not working?
• What challenges are we running into?
• What's going well within the leadership team, and what needs some attention?

The goal was to get everything out on the table (without pointing any fingers), so we could have productive conversations and solve problems together.

As your company grows, communication becomes even more important. Things that seem small today can become much bigger problems later if nobody talks about them. These meetings gave us the opportunity to address those things before they slowed us down.

Look Back Before Moving Forward

Another important part of our quarterly planning was reviewing the previous 90 days. We would look at what we accomplished, what goals we completed, and what challenges showed up along the way.

Sometimes we hit our goals and other times we didn't. But either way, there was always something to learn.

Maybe the goal was right, but the timeline wasn't realistic. Or maybe we didn't have the right resources in place. Maybe another priority came up that forced our hand and changed direction.

Taking time to understand those things helped us make better decisions moving into the next quarter.

Revisit the Bigger Picture

After looking back, we would zoom back out and talk about the future. We would revisit our mission, our vision, our values, and our BHAGs (Big Hairy Audacious Goals).

• Are these still the things we want to work toward?
• Does this still represent the company we're trying to build?
• Do we need to adjust anything?

When you're moving quickly, it's easy to get caught up in what's right in front of you and forget about the long-term vision. Quarterly planning helped us make sure the decisions we were making today aligned with where we wanted the company to go years down the road.

Get Every Opportunity on the Table

This was always one of my favorite parts of strategic planning. We would start talking through every opportunity we saw for the company. This list could get pretty long with upcoming projects, potential contracts, new markets and big ideas.

Not everything was something we were going to tackle immediately, and that was okay. Some opportunities were for the next quarter, and some were several years down the road.

The point was getting those ideas out so we could discuss them as a team and decide which ones aligned with the direction we wanted to go.

Turning Opportunities Into Rocks

Once we had talked through the opportunities, we started narrowing our focus on what needs to happen in the next 90 days.

Those priorities became what we called Rocks.

A Rock is a specific goal or objective someone owns for the quarter. The key word there is owns.

Every Rock needed someone responsible for driving it forward. That person would determine the milestones, develop a timeline, and what needed to happen to accomplish it.

Then, throughout the quarter, those Rocks became part of our normal meeting rhythm.

We weren't waiting three months to find out whether something got done or not. We were checking in consistently, talking about progress, removing any obstacles, and making sure everyone had the resources they needed to make it happen.

Your Team Needs to Know Where You're Going

At the end of the day, quarterly strategic planning is all about alignment. Your people want to know where the company is headed and they want to know how they contribute to the bigger picture.

That's your job as the leader. You have to create the space for those conversations to happen.

That might look like gathering around a kitchen table with a small team or sitting in a high-rise overlooking the city. The goal is still the same.

Get everyone together, decide where you're going, and make sure the whole ship is rowing in the same direction.

One of the most important parts of quarterly planning is understanding where your business stands today. Before you can decide where you’re going next, you need a clear picture of what needs your attention.

• Are your systems supporting your growth?
• Is your team aligned?
• Do you have the structure in place to reach your next stage?

You can answer these questions by taking our Elevator Growth Quiz.

In just a few minutes, you’ll discover where your business currently stands, what could be holding you back, and what areas deserve your focus as you continue growing.

Take the Elevator Growth Quiz and find out what your next stage of growth looks like.