At each year’s mid-way point, we (at Magnetic MarCom) construct a simple one-page document that reminds the “troops” what we are working towards, and ratchets-up our goals and expectations for the following year…Sort of our yearly Declaration of Independence.

Don’t believe that you can plan your business for the next year using a single document? I would suggest that you take a moment and read the actual Declaration of Independence, a single-paged document that launched a powerful, free nation and inspired the world.

Most companies, usually by force of habit or procrastination, will begin forecasting and planning their “grand plans” for the following year somewhere between Thanksgiving and New Years Day. I, on the other hand, have become quite fond of making my grand business statements in line with when our forefathers did the same with the United States Declaration of Independence.

It just seems appropriate, and frankly the end of the year is generally a super busy, stress-laden, holiday and tax season cluster. While summer tends to be laid back, less busy with non-work related “stuff,” and lends itself a tad better to “lofty” thoughts, rather than tasks that must be completed by holiday deadlines.

There are 4 pieces to any declaration that must be included (in my humble opinion), and that generally fly in the face of how business documents are traditionally formulated. This document is not about managing risk, or incremental improvements. This is time for sweeping grand statements, imagining the “impossible,” and rallying the troops to make it happen in spite of that “fact”.

Paint a picture of how things should be

So many business documents spend the majority of their time focusing on what has happened rather than what should be happening. But if you are properly implementing Inbound Marketing within your business…you shouldn’t need to spend large amounts of time or resources on reporting. Rather, it is simply built into your day-to-day processes.

Within this document, focus instead on what you envision the business looking like in a year, on how everyone will be rewarded for their efforts achieving these goals…rally the troops.

Make grand statements

If you have done your job in painting a clear picture of why your team would want to follow you on this year-long endeavor, then otherwise unheard-of expectations seem achievable…because your team will actually want to achieve them, not feel obligated to do so (big difference) because it is part of their job description.

Set “unrealistic” goals

This is not about BS-ing your team, it’s about getting buy-in for your vision. Steve Jobs was a master of this. When in his now famous “reality distortion field,” Jobs was able to “act as if.” As if what he desired in his products already existed, creating an environment where amazing things could not only occur…but were expected. These expectations did not only come from Jobs, but from the employees themselves.

Believe it can be done.

This is undoubtedly the most difficult, yet most important part of any declaration. Because, if you do not whole-heartedly believe that what you are pronouncing can and will be accomplished…it will undoubtedly fail.

This exercise is not about making outrageous forecasts and commitments for their own sake. That would never work. Rather, it is about creating a shared vision of what you whole heartedly feel the business can and should look like in the near future.

Every business needs a point-man or woman, sometimes this can be accomplished with a small and core team…but there is never a doubt who is “steering the ship”. This declaration must first “ring true” with this person or core group …and it is their job(s) to inspire the troops. “Just like the small group of men who declared the rag-tagUnited Statesarmy would defeat the military juggernaut of England.”