How an Annual Roadmap Drives Growth, Culture, and Purpose
"Individually, we are one drop. Together, we are an ocean."
— Ryunosuke Satoro
Most companies get it wrong. Many employees get it wrong too. If you ask either of them what employees want, they will both say the same thing, money.
Yet there are hundreds, if not thousands of companies where employees show up every day, for average pay, because they feel they are part of something great. Those companies continually do it right by creating a sense of direction for the company, empowering the employees to help them get there, thus creating a sense of belonging and purpose for not only the staff of those companies, but their customers too.
It doesn’t take much research to list a couple example companies that embody these ideals.
In-N-Out Burger
Growth: In-N-Out has always played the long game. Exemplifying deliberate decision making to prioritize quality, strategic expansion and strong customer loyalty. It shows in everything they do from how their food tastes, how clean the restaurants are and how their employees treat you.
Culture: In-N-Out has long been known for treating their employees well, paying fair wages and providing upward mobility. They stand as an ethical family run business that cares about its customers and the communities they are in. It also shows in their fanatic customers. There are endless customer posts on social media claiming In-N-Out as having the best burger and people from all over the world trying In-N-Out for the first time. Whether inside or outside the company, people want to be a part of In-N-Out.
Purpose: Fresh food has always been at the forefront of In-N-Out’s DNA. Watching them slice whole potatoes into fries, ripping fresh iceberg lettuce into smaller chunks for each burger and building refrigerated warehouses strategically near their stores to always provide fresh, never frozen beef is why In-N-Out’s mission has always been to deliver simple, high-quality food with fresh ingredients and no additives or preservatives.
Patagonia
Growth: Patagonia is often used as an example of walking the walk. As the “anti-businessman” company they have grown consistently and methodically over the years providing high quality clothing and gear to outdoor and urban adventurers all while maintaining a sustainable business. Their growth is attributed to strategically creating specific products, at high quality, that will last a lifetime. They have positioned their products as an investment in yourself.
Culture: Wearing Patagonia is a statement that you take the outdoors seriously, support efforts to create a more sustainable supply chain and are part of a larger movement to protect this planet. Employees feel the same and redefine work as not only creating a work-life balance, but as a business model for change and the future of work. Patagonia employees and customers are united as part of the solution.
Purpose: Their mission statement is clear, "We're in business to save our home planet" and they put their money where their mouth is by donating a percentage of profits to environmental causes. What’s evermore evolving is that Patagonia is an earth preservation company that happens to sell clothing and gear.
The two companies mentioned above followed similar trajectories, but in two completely different industries. What’s also interesting is that both their employees and their customers are equally passionate about their brand. These companies didn’t just happen upon success. It wasn’t an accident. They each followed a deliberate plan that set the direction, then solicited the help of their team and followers to help them get there. What is this magical spell they developed you ask? It’s called the Annual Roadmap.
What’s an Annual Roadmap?
The name says it all. The Annual Roadmap is literally the plan that outlines the steps the company will take to reach its goals within the next year. What makes it special? It's more granular than a Strategic Plan in that it’s a lot more specific. Sure, we can define the goals, but we need to understand the groups of tasks that need to be completed to reach those goals and by what time. How is it effective? Simply put, it aligns everything and everyone in the same direction, while at the same time, creates the ability to track the progress towards those goals providing a wide feedback loop. If something isn’t working, everyone will know. Let’s see a common example. If the business wants to set a goal to increase revenue by 20% over the next year, then we could easily break it down by quarter and create a goal to increase revenue by 5% per quarter over the next year. Of course saying it is a lot different than doing it, so now we ask, How will we increase revenue by 5% each quarter? What will we be doing differently this year from last year to make that happen? What are the initiatives (groups of tasks) that have to be completed to reach that goal successfully? Then this is where the strategy comes in, we know historically each quarter performs differently from the other, so which quarters will we target a 7% increase in revenue and which ones will we settle for 3%? This is just the beginning of defining just one goal and its initiatives, so get used to asking “How?” Over and over until you are satisfied.
How does growth happen?
There are several metaphors for this, but anytime you track something, forward progress is the result. Tracking makes you more self aware and gives you opportunities to adjust along the way. If the decisions you make start to get you off track, you can make the necessary adjustments to get back on the rails. The focus is always moving forward. Growth succeeds by not only setting goals and initiatives correctly, but by spreading out responsibilities for achieving those goals and objectives across the whole team. This is a kind of insurance where you now have multiple redundancies so that on any particular day, progress is still being made despite any small setbacks. In parallel, you will have your teams collaborate more frequently, hold each other accountable and achieve the holy grail of employee commitment, ownership. When this happens, magic truly unfolds. “Taking ownership” is when employees across your organization take responsibility for a particular outcome and push forward on their own initiative committing to its success. Well defined communication and transparency are the required tools to spark this growth. As you can see, the idea of the “roadmap” is coming more into view.
Can culture really flourish?
Have you ever experienced or had a friend tell you they loved their job? That’s the first sign of a great culture in a business. What that initially tells you is that the employee feels valued, they are fairly compensated for the work they are doing and feel that there is a career path for growth within the company. It sounds simple, but many companies struggle to achieve even one of those. Real culture goes beyond that. We’ve all heard of businesses having pizza on Fridays, ping pong tables, a coffee bar and the ostentatious office slide. That’s not culture. Whether we’re allowed to admit it or not, yes employees want some of their work experience to be social, but humans have other needs as well. We want to feel smart, needed, included, excited, responsible, trusted, respected and even wanted. As workplaces have become distributed, flexible and remote, it’s even more important to make the added effort to ensure that employees experience these traits and feelings. Creating an Annual Roadmap provides incredible value, direction, security and stability for an employee. Nothing is more effective at undermining productivity at work than uncertainty. It’s the number one reason why companies that manage by fear always fail. Work is not just a job, it’s part of our self-fulfillment which creates a deep sense of satisfaction and accomplishment. It’s how many of us define our self-worth. Companies that create that, embody that and embrace that within their organizations tap into a limitless supply of community, growth and success. It’s ingrained into how they talk, act, work and make decisions. It becomes second nature and part of the fabric of the business. These businesses not only flourish, they transcend into a movement where their ideals and values go beyond their walls attracting customers who not only want to be a part of that, they want to be that. This is good fanaticism based on enthusiasm and devotion. That is great culture.
Purpose is the destination
We hear a lot about finding your purpose, but what does that really mean? Employees say that they want to do meaningful work that will change the world, but not every company is in that position. Sure, you can try to change the world one oil change at a time, but how? Giving good service? Creating a new experience for people while they’re waiting? Both are a great start! It begins at the top with the business providing a good product or service, building a sustainable company and treating their employees right. Purpose goes beyond what the employee “gets” or the company “provides.” Sometimes purpose is simply doing great work with integrity. Purpose provides guidance and nuance in developing an Annual Roadmap. The selection of goals and initiatives are deliberate and considerate with the idea of the whole in mind. Without purpose, there are no goals to aspire to. The end is vacant, the motivation is shallow and the timeline is dire. Your business will not succeed without purpose. When purpose is one of the pillars of a company, everything changes. People view the company internally and externally through a different lens. You become that entity. Your purpose is who you are and you are the purpose. Expectations are different now and you act accordingly. Success soon follows and the distant memory of operating without an Annual Plan seems misguided. Purpose is the guiding light. Without it you will wander aimlessly waiting for something to happen to you, instead of making it happen for you .
This is real business
I wish it was easier. There’s nothing more that I would like to do than to come into a business and tell them I was going to save them and it’s going to be easy from here on out. You can’t hustle your way out of growing a successful business. People try and it costs them a tremendous amount of time, money and stress. At times they will do the same thing over and over again expecting a different result. “Maybe this time it will work” they will say, and then it doesn’t. Every real sustainable business has a plan. You have to do the work. The hard work. The work that makes your head hurt so hard that you just want to walk away from it all. It’s too much, but you show up the next day and keep going. I promise you, this is the way. I’ll go so far and tell you that when you actually do have an Annual Roadmap, it does get easier. Everything gets easier. There is no showing up every morning wondering what to do today. It’s in the Roadmap. If you ever wonder how the company is doing, the Roadmap will tell you. Feel like you made a mistake? Change the Roadmap to fit your new conditions. Annual Roadmaps are how real business gets done. It’s not an oracle, magic eight ball or ouija board, it’s in the name, it’s a tool that will help guide you safely to your destination. That’s good business.