Don’t Drift Into the Next Year: How to Build a 2026 Plan That Inspires Action, Accountability, and Ownership

By Meryl Simmons

Every year I watch it happen:

CEO hits Q4 and says, “We need a plan for next year.”

Then a familiar cycle begins:

• A planning meeting is booked.

• A slide deck is created.

• The plan gets filed away and is never seen again.

By February, the business is back in reaction mode - putting out fires and basically drifting through.

It’s not that the plan failed. 

It’s that there was no system to execute it.

Why traditional planning fails

Traditional annual planning feels good in the moment. It's exciting to brainstorm goals, dream big, and envision growth. But here’s why most plans fall apart before they generate results:

1. The vision stays in the leader’s head

The team hears it once, then goes back to business as usual.

2. There are too many goals

When everything is important, nothing is important.

3. There's no accountability rhythm

 If you don’t keep score, you can’t win.

4. The plan lives in a 20-page deck no one revisits

 Strategy without execution is just wishful thinking.

Businesses don’t struggle because they lack ideas. They struggle because they lack clarity, focus, and follow-through.

How to break through: Purpose-based planning

Creating a meaningful 2026 plan starts with a shift:

“People don’t commit to goals…they commit to what they helped create.”

Your job as a leader isn’t just to set the direction. It’s to help your team own it.

Purpose-based planning gives every team member ownership of:

• Daily activity

• Quarterly priorities

• Annual goals

• The long-term vision

With this approach, 2026 becomes something your team is building, not another event.

The framework: Vision → Traction → Accountability

To build a 2026 plan that inspires execution, not just excitement, you only need three components:

1. Vision: Define the destination

Most companies operate below potential because don’t actually lack clarity. They lack documented clarity. Once your vision is written down, it becomes repeatable.

Use a simple, 2-page tool (like the Vision/Traction Organizer®) to answer:

• Where are we going?

• What does success look like?

• What must we say no to?

2. Traction: Make the vision move

Break the annual goals into quarterly priorities, called Rocks.

Three rules:

• Fewer is better

• Each Rock must have one owner

• Every Rock must be measurable

Because if everyone owns a goal… no one owns it.

3. Accountability: Keep the plan alive

A Weekly Scorecard™ is a document (like this below) with 5 - 15 leading indicators that keeps progress visible.

Not monthly.

Not quarterly.

Weekly.

You need this in your business because monthly reporting tells you what already happened and weekly reporting tells you what’s about to happen. Here a little video I made showing how to create this for yourself

A real example

A consulting firm I worked with used to start each year energized…until Q2 came and no one could remember what the annual goals were.

We implemented the Vision/Traction Organizer®, set quarterly Rocks, and introduced a Weekly Scorecard™.

In 90 days:

• The team was aligned

• Accountability improved

• Revenue increased because everyone knew exactly what to execute

Nothing changed about their talent. Everything changed about their focus and discipline.

You can choose to drift into 2026, or you can design it.

A plan on 20 slides is a presentation and a plan broken into weekly actions is inevitable progress.

I’ve put together a free 2026 Vision-to-Execution Clarity Kit to help you get started. You’ll get the exact 2-page planning tool I use with clients in full-day, $6,000 strategy sessions free. Work your way through the kit, and you’ll be rewarded with a completed plan for 2026…clarity, priorities, and accountability included.

Here’s to a profitable, well-executed 2026!

Connect With Meryl

www.claritycoach.io

www.linkedin.com/in/merylsimmons