Reach Your Family's Goals with an Actionable Plan
(aka... a business plan)
Dream Summit spot, but really our honeymoon in Thailand.
The What
So What Is a Summit?
TL;DR: An annual strategic planning session to check progress towards goals.
The Summit is a strategic and tactical family planning session to review major topics that need to be planned for and executed within the calendar year or slotted into future years. Goals are set and plans are created. It is an in-depth discussion of what steps need to be completed and the resources needed to reach those goals. Resources, inputs, and timing are all planned out and prioritized. Progress against previous goals is assessed and adjustments are made.
In addition, it is time to discuss philosophies that guide how you approach issues as a family. As an example: If you have kids, you might want to pay for their college education. What is your philosophy guiding this? Do you pay for all of it? Do you give them a set amount of money to apply to tuition? Do you cover public school, but if they want to go to a private university, they need to cover the rest? Are there any criteria they need to meet in order to have school paid for (GPA)? There are a surprising number of paths and how you approach this might be very different from your partner. This is a time to discuss, talk through, and align with each other. Your assumptions might be slightly or very different from your partner. By proactively discussing at the Summit, not only are you aligning and can start planning for that expense, you are also potentially avoiding conflict in the future.
Want help getting started? Let me know!
Or, check out my Budget Template and Sample Topic List to get going.
Our favorite Summit location. It's the perfect set up: privacy, outdoors, warmth, outlet.
The Why
Goal Setting + Strategic Planning = Success!
Success, in this case, equals happiness - however you define it. It takes a little bit of effort, but approaching your personal life with the same practices that successful businesses use to plan for their growth, leads to more goals being met, a more realistic sense of timing, and improved decision making throughout the year.
These 2 spend the Summit weekend with family.
Actual footage mid-Summit.
The How
Pre-work and a Focused Day-of Working Session are Key
Prior to the Summit
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Pick a location. A place where you can talk freely about finances, personal matters, and other hot topics uninterrupted. A place with reliable WiFi and easy access to food and drinks.
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Create an agenda. Each person adds topics and reviews agenda, giving each other a solid pre-read of the day (NO surprises). Topics are consolidated, ordered, and prioritized to keep the conversation efficient and thorough.
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Create a budget. Most topics will have to do with money. By having expected income, expenses, and discretionary funds ready to discuss, you will be able to make educated decisions on the day vs having to follow up later.
Day of Summit
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Bring: computer, agenda, calendar, budget
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Be in the right frame of mind. This is the day set aside to discuss a lot of different topics. Be ready to dig in, research, and resolve during the Summit. Take advantage of this time which is dedicated to talking out every little detail while you both are in the Summit "zone." These may be conversations you don’t want to revisit.
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Take notes, assign tasks, and have clear follow ups where necessary.
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Decide if you need a mid-year Summit check-in before you leave and set that date.
Want help planning? Let me know!
The Who: About Me
I first heard about the idea of a family summit from a good friend. Every New Years Day, Rachael and her husband discuss annual goals and plan out the upcoming year. This was such a great idea, why had I not thought about it before??
As I outlined our first “Orloff Summit,” I realized it had the potential to be even more than a goal and planning session. So I took Rachael’s idea and started to build on it.
The business strategist in me wanted a solid plan with timing and resources allocated, in order to give me confidence that we’d reach our goals within the expected timeframe. The mom in me wanted a break after the holidays to just focus on me and my husband - to connect as a team and make sure we were set up for a great year.
As I created that first agenda, I realized there were a few topics that I wanted to discuss with my husband but had avoided for a few reasons. 1) Taking a fun, normal evening and turning it into a “serious discussion evening” felt so heavy. 2) The discussion could be a lengthy one, and starting that after we put the kids down made me tired just thinking about it. 3) The topic had the potential of becoming emotional which usually led to some sort of argument with my husband.
By adding these topics to the Summit agenda, we had dedicated time to discuss. We were both aware of all topics (pre-read, no surprises!) and we could concentrate on the outcome of the topic versus the emotional side. We were both coming to the conversation with a team mindset and a positive attitude. No need to avoid!
The pieces started to come together - it made perfect sense to take the skills and tools that made me successful professionally and apply them to my family. I credit my career success to my disciplined and strategic approach to running a business. I’ve led international marketing at Gap - growing revenue simultaneously across countries with different customers and priorities. I’ve developed the marketing strategies for growth businesses at Stitch Fix. And I’ve planned new product pipelines at Revlon, planning 3-7 years into the future. The common thread across my career has been aggressive goal setting with a realistic plan to reach the goal. Sounded like a great approach to my personal life as well.
As I started telling friends about our Orloff Summits, I started getting requests from friends and friends of friends who wanted to know how to do their own Summits. I created a google doc that I could share, but people would still reach out, asking for personalized help. And I was so excited! “Summitting” has not only been a great tool in helping my husband and I plan our future, it has helped us communicate in an effective, positive, and productive way. I’m so happy that people are interested in doing this.
Questions? Want to Schedule a Consultation?
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