Not Outdated, Just Unpolished

 I got an email recently from a client asking for a tool to help their team with prioritization or evaluating return. I couldn’t think of one right off the top of my head, but I assumed that over the years, we’d created something like that for a client. I messaged a couple of SWIM Team members who’ve worked on projects that required a lot of prioritization, and they confirmed that we have a tool called something like “Opportunity Screener.” So, the search began...

If you use Google Drive, you know that although it’s the most powerful search engine in the world when it comes to finding out who played Charlie Bucket in the original Broadway cast of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Warehouse (and yes, it would know I meant "Factory"), it struggles to find a document in your own files if you put a space in the wrong place.

Anyway, I eventually found the tool from 2016—a time when our tools weren’t what we call “SWIMified” yet (our process of formatting, branding, and generally updating). Still, I thought I’d send it along as is, with a note that it came from the archives and might need some updating for their purpose.

The response?

“YES – this is terrific! Thank you so much."

The lesson?

Just because something’s an old idea and might lack a little polish, doesn’t mean it’s bad or irrelevant.

In a few recent strategic plans, I’ve looked at past plans and thought, “Wait, these goals actually look pretty good. Do we really need to spend time writing an entirely new plan that ends up looking similar? Or should we spend resources listening to stakeholders, evaluating progress, and deciding what we should accelerate, adapt, release, or add to keep moving in the direction we still want to go?”

Maybe your old plan just needs to be SWIMified?

Take our Strategic Plan assessment and schedule a discovery call today! 

Access our Opportunity Tester here.