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Ever find
yourself and your business back at square one? Are
you facing challenges you have seen before? Feel
like you are running in circles? Stop cursing fate and
outside factors and take stock of your strategic plan.
What's that? You don't have one??
Or maybe you
have one, but you haven't looked at it since you got
your last round of financing (after all, aren't business
plans just a way to get investor interest?)
We've got
news for you. A sound strategic plan will keep
your company focused on profitable business and stop you
from drifting. It's like the old saying - "If you
don't know where you're going, you will never get
there."
The first
steps to preparing (or revising) a plan is to assess
your current situation. What does your company do
to make money? What are your competitive
advantages (what do you do better than the rest?)
Who is your competition and how do you stack up?
Who are your customers and are you reaching them
effectively? Is your business profitable?
Who do you
discuss these important questions with? Many
companies have a board of directors or an advisory
board, and these are people you should be getting input
from - that is really what they are there for, right?
If you have a board that is just window dressing, then
maybe now is the time to consider changes at that level
as well.
Key
employees would be a solid addition to the planning
committee. They know how things get done (or don't
get done) and can provide a great deal of information,
from systems analysis to employee morale.
Including key employees also tells your entire
organization that everyone is important.
Once you
have a handle on where you are, it's time to decide
where you want to go. You will need to develop
both strategic (long range) objectives as well as
tactical (short range) building blocks.
The
strategic objectives can be broad and general, such as
increasing sales, reducing costs, etc. The
tactical objectives need to be detail oriented and
designed to bring about the strategic objectives in a
focused and measurable way. Keeping your goals
reasonable and attainable will keep your team from
becoming disappointed.
Finally,
when you have developed a strong strategic plan,
communicate that plan to your stakeholders. This
means simply that every employee, stockholder, and
anyone who has a stake in your business should
understand your goals and objectives. Once the
team has a shared sense of direction, the merry go round
will stop turning and you will find yourself riding a
powerful locomotive! |
