Time to Update Your Strategic Plan
Time to Update Your Strategic Plan
An' I'll be in Scotland afore ye.
But me and my true love will never meet again
On the bonnie, bonnie banks O' Loch Lomond."
Due respect to Paul Harvey, and now, the rest of the story.
The high road was closed for repairs due to a defective stretch of recently resurfaced roadway and the low road detoured around a rock slide and didn't end up in Scotland. Unfortunately our star crossed lovers were unaware and unprepared and neither made it to their destination.
These past 14 months have been the most turbulent times any business owner has ever had to navigate. Our world has changed, and if you haven't made time to reevaluate the environment your business is operating in, you've left yourself exposed and vulnerable. If you don't take the time to get refocused on what you have to change to ensure long term success, rest assured at least one of your competitors has. Do you really want to give them a competitive and strategic advantage by default?
Does your business have a strategic plan? Not something inside the your head, or something a few Board members think the company should do, but a written, well thought out plan that actually leverages the organizations strengths, steers around its weaknesses, and takes advantage of the current economic environment?
If not, how do you extract and capture an asset of massive value, the best thinking within your organization, when all you have to do is a little digging to get to it?
What is it?
Strategy creates purpose, instills the sense of need, provides a direction, focus, and clearly helps you know what's important. When you think strategy, think chess. Strategy is thinking multiple moves ahead, thinking about what someone else will do based on something you do and vice versa.
It's the action reaction scenario, it's about knowing what you should and shouldn't be doing, it's about not being surprised, and when you are, being prepared with an appropriate response or action.
A strategic plan is the ‘how-to' part. Michele Masterfano, Professor at Drexel University, describes a strategic plan as "...understanding the external environmental as well as the internal environment - the skills, capabilities, and resources of the company. The idea is to look at the external and internal environments and develop a way to grow the business."
The actionable component of a strategic plan is SMART objectives. SMART stands for Strategic, Measureable, Action oriented, Realistic and Time bound. Strategic plans often have three objectives with two to four year timelines.
No strategic plan = opportunity lost
Companies with a history of success through good times and bad are companies that plan. They make time to gather the best thinking in their organization and reflect on it. Then they put that knowledge to work identifying the goals they must achieve in the near term to be successful in the long run.
Companies operating without a strategic plan are operating under a reactionary philosophy. They react to market conditions, competition, internal limitations, and other external forces such as regulation instead of preparing for them and acting proactively to minimize any potential negative impacts. This allows those companies with strategic plans the luxury of shaping both internal and external forces in their benefit to the extent those forces can be shaped.
I asked two successful entrepreneurs why they thought having a strategic plan was important. Doug Worth, President & CEO of Worth Group, an architectural, construction and development organization said "I always felt strategic planning was the only way we would ever find a path to becoming a larger company. A strategic plan turns a game of poker into a game of chess."
And Jim Horan, President of One Page Business Plan said "It gets the owner, executives, managers, etc., to stop and think about their business, gather their thoughts, distill them, make decisions around them, and put them down on paper as a contract with themselves."
How do I get started?
The first step to creating or revising a strategic plan is to gather your leadership team, the people who understand your business intimately. As a group, you should meet and talk about what is going on in your organization. What are people's fears and concerns, and what do they see as bright spots on the horizon.
This process is often referred to as a SWOT analysis, which stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. The discussion must be done away from the office to avoid the distractions and interruptions that are a part of every normal workday. Ideally it would be done out of town as well to avoid distractions from home.
I have two questions for you.
1. What does strategy and strategic planning for business mean to you and how would you describe it to someone with little or no experience with strategic thinking?
2. Is it important to have a strategic plan, and if so, why? What is the harm that can come from not having one, what are the benefits? In other words, as a business person, why should you invest either time or dollars into creating one?
I would love to hear from you and look forward to your ideas and thoughts.
Time to Update Your Strategic Plan - To learn more about this author, visit Larry Mandelberg's Website.
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"O ye'll tak' the high road and I'll tak' the low road,
An' I'll be in Scotland afore ye.
But me and my true love will never meet again
On the bonnie, bonnie banks O' Loch Lomond."
Due respect to Paul Harvey, and now, the rest of the story.
The high road was closed for repairs due to a defective stretch of recently resurfaced roadway and the low road detoured around a rock slide and didn't end up in Scotland. Unfortunately our star crossed lovers were unaware and unprepared and neither made it to their destination.
These past 14 months have been the most turbulent times any business owner has ever had to navigate. Our world has changed, and if you haven't made time to reevaluate the environment your business is operating in, you've left yourself exposed and vulnerable. If you don't take the time to get refocused on what you have to change to ensure long term success, rest assured at least one of your competitors has. Do you really want to give them a competitive and strategic advantage by default?
Does your business have a strategic plan? Not something inside the your head, or something a few Board members think the company should do, but a written, well thought out plan that actually leverages the organizations strengths, steers around its weaknesses, and takes advantage of the current economic environment?
If not, how do you extract and capture an asset of massive value, the best thinking within your organization, when all you have to do is a little digging to get to it?
What is it?
Strategy creates purpose, instills the sense of need, provides a direction, focus, and clearly helps you know what's important. When you think strategy, think chess. Strategy is thinking multiple moves ahead, thinking about what someone else will do based on something you do and vice versa.
It's the action reaction scenario, it's about knowing what you should and shouldn't be doing, it's about not being surprised, and when you are, being prepared with an appropriate response or action.
A strategic plan is the ‘how-to' part. Michele Masterfano, Professor at Drexel University, describes a strategic plan as "...understanding the external environmental as well as the internal environment - the skills, capabilities, and resources of the company. The idea is to look at the external and internal environments and develop a way to grow the business."
The actionable component of a strategic plan is SMART objectives. SMART stands for Strategic, Measureable, Action oriented, Realistic and Time bound. Strategic plans often have three objectives with two to four year timelines.
No strategic plan = opportunity lost
Companies with a history of success through good times and bad are companies that plan. They make time to gather the best thinking in their organization and reflect on it. Then they put that knowledge to work identifying the goals they must achieve in the near term to be successful in the long run.
Companies operating without a strategic plan are operating under a reactionary philosophy. They react to market conditions, competition, internal limitations, and other external forces such as regulation instead of preparing for them and acting proactively to minimize any potential negative impacts. This allows those companies with strategic plans the luxury of shaping both internal and external forces in their benefit to the extent those forces can be shaped.
I asked two successful entrepreneurs why they thought having a strategic plan was important. Doug Worth, President & CEO of Worth Group, an architectural, construction and development organization said "I always felt strategic planning was the only way we would ever find a path to becoming a larger company. A strategic plan turns a game of poker into a game of chess."
And Jim Horan, President of One Page Business Plan said "It gets the owner, executives, managers, etc., to stop and think about their business, gather their thoughts, distill them, make decisions around them, and put them down on paper as a contract with themselves."
How do I get started?
The first step to creating or revising a strategic plan is to gather your leadership team, the people who understand your business intimately. As a group, you should meet and talk about what is going on in your organization. What are people's fears and concerns, and what do they see as bright spots on the horizon.
This process is often referred to as a SWOT analysis, which stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. The discussion must be done away from the office to avoid the distractions and interruptions that are a part of every normal workday. Ideally it would be done out of town as well to avoid distractions from home.
I have two questions for you.
1. What does strategy and strategic planning for business mean to you and how would you describe it to someone with little or no experience with strategic thinking?
2. Is it important to have a strategic plan, and if so, why? What is the harm that can come from not having one, what are the benefits? In other words, as a business person, why should you invest either time or dollars into creating one?
I would love to hear from you and look forward to your ideas and thoughts.
Time to Update Your Strategic Plan - To learn more about this author, visit Larry Mandelberg's Website.
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David AchesonDavid Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns. David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website |
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Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
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John PowerJohn Power, founder of Biltmore Franchise Consulting, has extensive experience developing and marketing franchises and business opportunities. He has been in and around franchising for over twenty years. From 1980 through 1990 he conceptualized, organized, and developed the American Video Association. He grew AVA to 2,000 national members, before selling the company it 1990. It was later merged into another home video marketing company. From 2000 to 2005 he worked as a contract marketing and human resources consultant to several local and national companies. In 2005 Mr. Power began working as a franchise development consultant on a full-time basis. Since that time he has helped more than three dozen companies initiate and develop their franchising program. He notes that there are many companies interested in developing a franchise program, and who need his specialized assistance. Mr. Power is a “hands-on” franchise consultant. He said, “I am the ‘nuts and bolts’ person who tends to the details for my clients.” Mr. Power holds a B.S. degree with a major in Marketing. See: www.biltmorefranchise.com You may contact Mr. Power at: jpower@biltmorefranchise.co - Visit John Power's Website |
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