Living in a 5 Game Season

(shrinking the year for astonishing results)

Mike Brown, NBA head coach of the year in 2023, coaches the Sacramento Kings in 5-game increments throughout the season. They break the season down into 5 game blocks and look at each block separately. Are we 4-1? What did we do well? What could we do better? 2-3? What can be improved?

Mike Brown realizes something powerful: an 82-game season is too long. By shrinking the season down into 5 game increments, the team can manage growth and change more effectively.

I also love that no matter what, every 5 games they have a clean slate, a fresh start.

The business equivalent – the trap of Annualized thinking

This reminded me of the business equivalent, and that is annual planning. A year is just too long for effective planning and prediction.

Too many organizations fall into the trap of what author Brian Morgan calls “Annualized Thinking.”

Annualized Thinking goes like this:

You spend a bunch of money on an annual leadership team retreat to the Bahamas and invest a bunch of time putting together a beautiful strategic plan.

You might even get the Annual Plan bound and embossed.

Then, you fly back home to the office and… proceed to quickly forget the plan on the shelf because of the urgent demands of leading an organization.

Then, as the 4th quarter gets closer, you resurrect the Annual Plan, dust it off, and panic because things are off track. The CEO then puts a bunch of pressure on the leadership team to hit their goals, and everyone works anxiously to reach the goals in the 4th quarter.

Repeat this cycle year in and year out.

It’s not super great. And it’s not very effective.

What if there were a better way?

I’m all for having a plan, but what if instead, you shrink your year down to 12 weeks?

It works. It’s amazing how much you can get done in 12 weeks if you focus on the highest priorities and make consistent progress.

Then, you do that for the next 12 weeks, and the next, and pretty soon you have 4 rounds of 12-week blocks under your belt and it’s astonishing how much can be accomplished in a year.

Imagine having a clean slate every 12 weeks. A fresh start.

We help our clients shrink their year down to 12 weeks and make consistent progress on the biggest opportunities and priorities in the organization. It’s unbelievable what gets accomplished, with a committed and accountable team.

No matter what your circumstances, you are just 12 weeks away from turning your entire organization around or taking it to the next level. Let us know if we can help you.

-Chris Cloud and the CloudNINE Team