Strategic Plans Always Add. The Best Ones Subtract.
Every strategic plan adds. They rarely subtract.
When we contacted communication leaders this spring to interview them about their strategic plans, many were interested but had too much on their plates. The task of scheduling interviews inadvertently informed the research — adding work without subtracting creates chaos rather than clarity, paralysis rather than momentum.
It’s natural for organizations to take on new initiatives and tasks. It’s much harder to stop an effort that’s already underway. Adding reads as ambition while stopping reads as retreat. Every program has a champion, and ending one will disappoint someone. Overload, however, disappoints everyone. Projects fall off because of exhaustion rather than strategy.
Our ambitions and empathy lead us to keep saying yes, even though saying no to priorities and programs often leads to better outcomes.
The psychiatrist Viktor Frankl taught that when we can't change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves. Leaders lean on that wisdom in hard seasons. But it carries a corollary we rarely acknowledge: When you can change the situation, you should.
An overloaded calendar is not something that happens to your organization. Leaders have the power to choose a different path. Here’s how to start:
Gather the leadership team in a room with the words “stop,” “start,” and “continue” at the top of a whiteboard. The communications lead needs to be in that room, because every department's additions eventually flow through their team’s work.
Declare four rules.
For every new item you start, identify a stop of comparable weight.
A stop only counts when it’s specific (a program, a report, an event, a standing meeting) and when the person who owns it agrees out loud to retire it.
Show gratitude for the stops: Tell the stories of what they made possible and thank their champions.
Everything in the continue column must earn its place by naming which measurable objective it serves.
Set a timer for an hour, and work through the plan.
If nothing on the stop list stings when the timer goes off, you haven't subtracted. You've tidied.
This process delivers more than capacity. It creates hope and excitement on your team.
Staff believe a strategy when the vision about what’s most important is clear. And when the inevitable crisis arrives, that discipline makes it easier to reprioritize and make the tough choices it demands.
The first step is the hardest, especially if you’re not accustomed to subtracting. But as you set priorities for the year ahead, now is a perfect time to get started.
The organizations that grow and make the biggest impact aren’t those with the longest to-do lists. They're the ones with clearly defined priorities and teams aligned around achieving them.
That’s when the value of subtracting really starts to add up.
