In your mind, picture for a moment your perfect dream house. Imagine that you are able to build the perfect custom home of your dreams. Complete in every exact detail and way you would like. Think about how many rooms you would have. Would it be one-story or two-stories? Will your house have a circle driveway, a pool? Will it be made of redbrick, or stone? What will be special or unique about your dream home?

Ok, now that you have that picture perfect dream home in your mind. How do you go about making that home a reality? Well, I often think about building a dream home in a similar way that I conduct project planning and long-term strategy for my organization.

Strategy is defined as a high level plan to achieve one or more goals under conditions of uncertainty. I often equate my dream home to a desired state or positive outcome I am looking for in my organization.

Over the past few months, I have encountered multiple situations where I was discussing strategy or project planning at my organization, so I felt compelled to write a blog post using this “dream house” analogy (credit is also due to Mr. Trey Hudgens at DBU, without whom this wonderful analogy would not be possible):

5-Step Process to Building a Dream Home (aka Strategy):

• It starts with a Vision – Picture your dream home! In the end, what is the desired state or goal you are looking for at your organization? It starts with a clear vision of the desired result that you are looking for at your organization. You can’t even begin to build your dream home, or begin working on a project or strategy until you first know what the end or vision will look like. To read more about Vision, check out the blog titled: Exceptional Leaders Know How to Share their Dreams

• Draw up your Blueprint – Once you know what you would like for your dream house, or desired end goal at your organization, it’s time to start drawing up your blueprint plans. You would not dare begin building your house without first having a set of good blue prints. This goes the same way for executing a project or strategy for your organization; you simply can’t move forward without a plan.

• Identify Resources – Specifically, think about who and what you will need to actually build your dream house. Using the dream house analogy, this means identifying your general contractor, your electrician, concrete works, framers, and so on. For your organization, this means taking time to identify the people (or stakeholders) who will be involved in the strategy, project, or task. Think about who needs to know about this plan, and spend time to include them early on in the planning process.

• Stick to the Plan – A dream home does not come overnight. It takes time and usually a specific order of tasks that need to occur for the home to be properly built. Using the house analogy again, you first need to pour your concrete foundation, let that dry, put up your wooden frame, roofing, draw wall, and so on. For us guys, one thing is for certain, we will all have a 55” inch high definition plasma TV hanging on the wall of our living room, complete with a custom-made surround system. However, as cool as this TV will be, we would not dare try to hang it up until the walls are up, roof is completed, and the house is ready. Stick to the plan, identify the step-by-step process you need to successfully build your dream house, and do not get ahead of yourself!

• Buy Insurance and Maintain the Home – Once you complete building your home, the first thing homeowners do is buy insurance. Incase of flood, fire, or other disaster, they want to be sure their house is protected. Furthermore, the homeowner will take great care to maintain their home to keep it in the best shape possible. The same way, a good strategy is maintained and reviewed periodically. Sometimes the environment around you, or within your organization will change. You will need to have a good sense of this to determine if you need to add on other elements to your strategy, or decide to start building a second lake-house. Strategy is continual, just like maintaining and protecting your dream home.

I hope this was a helpful reminder for you. God Bless in building your dream home! Also, remember Joshua 24:15 – For me and my household, we will serve the Lord.