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VOLUME 43 | ISSUE 5 | SEPT/OCT 2024
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The Three Ps to Achieving Excellence:
Prioritization, Planning, and Polish
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By Michele Raftery, FSMPS, CPSM, WELL AP
FEATURE
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I learned early in my career that excellence is not a one-time achievement—excellence requires a consistent pursuit of strategic focus, thoughtful execution, and a commitment to detail.
In the fast-paced and ever-evolving professional world, A/E/C marketers and business developers can consistently achieve these qualities using the "Three Ps to Achieving Excellence": Prioritization, Planning, and Polish. These three Ps provide a structured approach to personally and organizationally harvest success. When woven into the fabric of daily operations, they help ensure that progress is meaningful, efficient, and sustainable. So, let's explore how the three Ps, augmented by strategic insights from the SMPS Foundation's recent report, BUILDING RESILIENCE: A/E/C's Path Beyond 2025, contribute to achieving excellence in today's competitive environment.
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Prioritization: Focusing on What Matters Most

In any business (and in life), prioritization is crucial for success. Within the A/E/C industries, we face countless demands and limited resources, where individuals and teams cannot afford to focus on everything at once. Leaders must strategically prioritize long-term goals while managing the daily demands of the business. This requires a strong commitment to identifying high-impact tasks to ensure time and energy are spent where they generate the most value.
Prioritizing long-term strategic goals—like succession planning, technology adoption, achieving sustainable projects, and remaining profitable—against the daily pressures of project delivery can be daunting. Yet, failing to do so leaves firms reactive instead of proactive and can lead to missed growth opportunities or falling behind in competitive markets.

Effective prioritization allows businesses to focus on what's vital: aligning company goals with employee efforts and tracking progress through measurable benchmarks. The ability to balance immediate needs with visionary leadership, like addressing ownership transition or embracing the influence of private equity on firm dynamics, sets successful firms apart.

How to Master Prioritization:

  • Use a Priority Matrix: Tools like the Eisenhower Matrix help categorize tasks based on urgency and importance, focusing on activities that move the needle while enabling a framework to evaluate and reprioritize when circumstances change.
  • Set Long-Term Strategic Goals: Establish clear benchmarks for firm-wide objectives like technology adoption, leadership transition, and financial sustainability.
  • Track Measurable Progress: Create a system of tracking milestones for high-priority tasks to ensure that long-term goals remain in focus amid daily challenges.
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Planning: Think Slow, Act Fast

The philosophy of "think slow, act fast" underpins the second pillar: Planning. In the A/E/C industries, developing a forward-thinking strategy that anticipates uncertainties and opportunities is essential for maintaining a competitive edge in a shifting economy and marketplace. However, as industry leaders know, creating a robust strategy is just the beginning—effective planning enables teams to apply strategy to action and generate results.
In fast-evolving industries with varied business dynamics, thoughtful planning can overcome hurdles like recruiting and retaining talent or keeping up with new technologies. Leaders must ensure that plans are not just theoretical but actionable. This involves mapping out detailed steps, preparing for contingencies, and ensuring the team is equipped to move quickly when the time comes. Everyone in an organization must understand the strategy and consistently apply it to guide decision-making across all levels of an organization, leading to favorable outcomes.
Without a clear roadmap, companies risk falling behind or becoming stagnant, particularly in the face of external pressures like private equity investment or the ever-shifting demands of winning and delivering successful projects.

Planning Strategies for Success:

  • Reverse Engineer the End Goal: Start with the firm's desired outcomes—whether it's market differentiation or sustainable practices—and work backward to define actionable steps.
  • Set Milestones for Major Goals: Break larger goals (e.g., ownership transition or technology adoption) into smaller, measurable milestones to track tasks and progress.
  • Develop a Contingency Plan: Given the unpredictability in industries like A/E/C, always have a "Plan B" (and "Plan C" for riskier goals) to adapt quickly to unexpected challenges.
  • Allocate Proper Resources: Successful planning requires having the right team in place with sufficient time and resources to complete their tasks. Be realistic about what's achievable to ensure the team is properly supported.
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Polish: The Difference Between Good and Exceptional

The final component of achieving excellence is Polish—the fine-tuning and attention to detail that elevate good work to exceptional work. In the A/E/C world, where precision and quality are paramount, the final touches can make or break a firm's reputation and resulting opportunities. These last steps ensure that everything, from client presentations to completed projects, reflects the firm's highest standards.
Polish is what sets excellent work apart from simply satisfactory work. It's about going beyond what's merely required to exceed expectations. For example, many A/E/C firms face the challenge of positioning themselves in a market where differentiation is critical. By investing in marketing, positioning experts as thought leaders to share their unique voices, and refining how the firm is perceived internally and externally, firms can create a powerful brand.
Polish means taking the time to review, edit, and enhance a project until it reflects your highest standards. Whether it's a complex proposal response and associated presentation, a creative project, or a strategic report, the final 10% (those last adjustments) often make the biggest impact. This is where you go beyond basic functionality and aim for distinction.

Ways to Polish Your Work:

  • Review and Refine: Before finalizing work, seek external feedback and be willing to iterate until the result meets the highest standards.
  • Focus on Brand Presentation: Ensure that everything from marketing materials to client deliverables reflects a unified, polished brand image that communicates excellence.
  • Invest in Expertise: Position your employees as experts through strategic communication plans that bolster your firm's reputation in a crowded market. Use third-party experts to critique your work and continue to elevate your standard to align with your strategic brand.

Applying the Three Ps Requires Strategic Leadership

Incorporating the "Three Ps" into the strategic framework of an A/E/C firm requires a consistent effort at both the leadership and operational levels. Leaders must establish buy-in across the company, ensuring that strategic plans are communicated clearly and that employees are not only aligned but embedded with and immersed in contributing to the firm's long-term vision.
For example, prioritization is critical when addressing the complex challenges of ownership transition and leadership development. Creating pathways for younger or less experienced employees to advance in their careers keeps them engaged and reduces the risk of their becoming disengaged or poached by competitors. Planning plays a crucial role in technology adoption strategies, where firms must ensure that new tools integrate smoothly into existing processes and enhance the firm's ability to remain competitive. Finally, Polish helps to position the firm as a leader in its field through carefully crafted public communications and deliverables, employee development, and reputation management.

Conclusion

The "Three Ps"—Prioritization, Planning, and Polish—provide a clear roadmap for any business, particularly for A/E/C firms facing a complex, evolving landscape. By prioritizing high-impact goals, planning thoroughly, and polishing the details, A/E/C professionals can turn action into results that rise to meet today's challenges while preparing for tomorrow's opportunities.

How can you better prioritize, plan, and polish to achieve excellence in your work?

As a Principal and Partner at 4240 Architecture, Michele Raftery, FSMPS, CPSM, WELL AP, wears many hats—leading everything from project pursuits and business strategy to research, office management, and HR. She’s also hands-on with visioning and analytics for key projects. Currently serving as President of the SMPS Foundation, Michele is passionate the Foundation’s mission to deliver game-changing insights and intelligence that help growth professionals and leaders navigate trends, embrace change, and thrive in an ever-evolving, competitive marketplace.
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