Last May, from my room in Toronto, I saw something I wanted to share by way of analogy. I was in the “True North” teaching a sales class (the Producer Academy) for the Insurance Brokers Assn. of Canada. The course is 12 days long, taught for 3 days once per quarter. For the last year and a half, my room had overlooked the same general vicinity in downtown Toronto.

Like many big cities, Toronto is in a relatively constant state of construction. Construction cranes fill the air and jackhammers sing. The hotel is near the site of a new condominium and hotel complex where construction began more than 2 years ago.

Of note is the fact that in six trips over 18 months, all I have seen is the digging, pouring and stabilizing of the foundation of this massive structure. As yet, not a single wall or door or window has appeared. No bricks, two-by-fours or metal beams are in place. Not a drop of paint has been seen. Almost 2 years, and we still had only the foundation.

This is a massive structure that is going to be 60 stories or more, and will include underground shops and a connection to the Toronto PATH. The true foundation of this creation is already about 10 stories deep.

This brings me to an important point about foundations and the critical impacts they have on building our businesses. Foundations must be firm, deep, solid, well planned and meticulously built. We cannot rush the process of building the base for our agencies or our lives. We must spend much of our time, effort and money on the underpinning of our mission. Our structure simply cannot stand if we are not properly preparing the fundamentals. This process is difficult because it takes the longest and you really can't see it once the “building” is up. You'll need great discipline to stay the course and to do that part right.

So if you buy into the idea that you have to build that solid foundation, where do you start and what are the steps? What “materials” do you need? Because foundations must start at the beginning to be effective (as author Stephen Covey would say: “Begin with the end in mind”), that's where I'm going to start with this list:

1. Define who you are as an entity. Some call this the vision or values statement, used more internally than externally as a guide to the big decisions. It's the short phrase or paragraph that defines how you want to be seen by the outside world. It's your guide to creating the type of culture you want in your shop. And it's the code by which your employees are hired, trained, disciplined or fired. It can even help define the type of clients you want to serve. So in this new year, consider brushing off your value/vision statement and check to see how well you've lived it. Update it if needed. Get your team involved in the process.
2. The mission statement is quite familiar to most agencies. Many already have a document, plaque or web page dedicated to the mission. It's an externally used statement, telling the world what you want to contribute. Who will be your customers? What geographic markets will you serve? This statement is short, direct, and will fit on the back of your business cards. If your organization is large enough, you may need to have a mission statement for each division.
3. Long-range planning looks down the road 3 to 5 years to determine where you will be organizationally and how you will get there. You should consider everything, from client base to employees needed to the financial impact of each decision. This is not a step to take lightly. Without it, you simply careen into the future without direction. Even if your business is booming and you are rolling in money, you may be a runaway train heading for the washed-out bridge.
4. One common excuse for failing to conduct long-range planning is lack of time. You have as much time as anyone else, and if you don't make it a priority, in this the consequences are significant. Sure, you may still get rich, but you might have been richer. So take the time to look down the tracks and decide what you want the organization to look like in 5 years. Dream big, and adjust as you go.
5. Staffing has to be done carefully, too. Without your staff, nothing happens. It's easy to get complacent here and just keep doing what you've always done. Management is an art backed by science and we get better at it all the time. We should keep up. Organizational charts should be reviewed at least annually. Do you still have the best people in the right spots? Have job descriptions been updated in the last 12 months? How do you handle staff reviews? Are you consistent? When you are hiring, do you conduct interviews consistently and according to human resource law? Is there a formal performance plan for struggling employees? Remember, we don't want to punish the good employees by hanging on to the bad ones too long. That sends the wrong message to everyone.

You might be thinking that I'm just reciting a long list of documents for you to create. That's true, but the documents themselves are not the focus. The importance is in the conversations that happen between staff and management to create and update the documents. It's a major part of why we put the document together in the first place. Documentation as a defensive tool is secondary. The creation and agreement upon what goes in them helps us learn to communicate with one another in a whole new way. Writing down plans helps us to stay accountable. The very articulation of the concepts of values, missions and organizational charts helps us see who we are and who we can become. If we can't even talk it out and write it down, how can we expect to accomplish anything?

I was back in Toronto again in November. The building that was only a foundation after the first 18 months is now a towering 10 or more stories tall. The floors are not finished, but they've come a long way in those 6 months. Once the foundation is complete, you can really make swift progress toward your success. And that success is what makes it all worth it. Happy New Year!