Whether you’re launching a new business (or division), planning a new project, or working on an existing strategy, you must ensure that you have the following critical components in place:
– An easy-to-communicate and sound business strategy;
– A practical execution plan;
– Efficient supporting processes and systems (covered in Stage 4); and
– Tools to measure progress and guide strategic adjustments.
Most business strategies and plans fail for three reasons:
– Lack of clarity in the plan (and, therefore, an inability to communicate the strategy);
– Lack of knowledge and skills required to execute the strategy; and
– General lack of willingness to ‘change’ – new strategies require a lot of “change energy”.
As your business grows, more things get loaded onto your plate. If you think that there’s a lot to manage now, just wait until tomorrow! It’s up to you, the owner and founder, to manage customers, suppliers, staff, and administration requirements – you may forget about the tax man for a while, but he never forgets about you!
At this stage, most entrepreneurs begin to feel frustrated with the fact that everything seems out of control. Things just don’t pan out as planned. You are always playing catch-up. As you start to lose your focus, you may easily neglect to write out your strategy or business plan. Please keep in mind that, without a plan, you are unlikely to progress any further than the frustrations you are currently experiencing.
Instead of letting things drift, you need to sit down and develop a business strategy and execution plan that will do the following:
– Design a market-fit value proposition and business model…
– Supported by a practical execution plan…
– That contains a scorecard with Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) to help track your strategy every month.
– Outline ALL the job roles and resources you need to execute your strategy.
– Identify and develop ALL the business processes and tasks that will simplify the path to executing your strategy.
REMEMBER!
PLANNING, IMPLEMENTING, MEASURING and PERFECTING your business strategy is much easier when you work with an experienced strategic partner.
This may be a good time to start consulting with a business strategist, or to find a partner with a business improvement consultancy and experience in the field.
LET’S BE CLEAR:
A business strategy gives you:
– A foundation from which to create a proper plan;
– A framework according to which you can measure success and failure;
– A model for making informed business decisions;
– Clarity when explaining the business to other people; and
– A plan of action that everyone within the business can understand and follow.
STRATEGIC PLANNING AND BUSINESS PLANNING – SPOT THE DIFFERENCE
VERY OFTEN, THE PHRASES “strategic plan” and “business plan” are used interchangeably, as if they are essentially the same thing. In reality, they are very different things, and every entrepreneur must know the difference.
The idea behind a business plan is to create a document that communicates with people who aren’t part of the business. Often, you need to tell banks, potential investors and others where your business is at, and what it needs to do to progress. The business plan does this. Because each audience is a little different from the next, business plans may change and evolve.
A strategy, or strategic plan, is very different. This is something that defines the methodology or template that people running and working in the business will use. The strategic plan is what allows people inside the operation to work towards achieving a clear, commonly understood, objective.
