Cultivating Strategic Thinking as a Strength

A recent Harvard Business Publications article by Michael Watkins, titled, How to Think Strategically, raised the question “are great strategic thinkers born or made?”
His answer was that while people range in talents, strategic thinking is a skill that can be honed. Thankfully, he includes the following (summarized) concepts as valuable tools for building your capacity […]

The Best of the Best Do It

Year after year, strategic planning is continually the #1 preferred
management tool* and is used by companies worldwide with very high
satisfaction rates. Succeeding without a plan is possible, but if
you’re someone who has achieved a level of success without a plan, ask
yourself this question: Could you have grown and become even more
successful if you’d organized […]

The End Is Inevitable

Along with the discussions of scenario and continuity planning
we’ve had in the past few weeks, there is another topic that is
deserving of your attention especially if you are an entrepreneur or
department/division/group manager. Exit strategy
activities are key parts of any organization’s strategic direction
because they dictate how the business is set up for the long run and
who […]

Keeping Your Business Humming Along No Matter What

Since we’ve been talking about scenario planning in this space over the past few weeks, the natural course of discussion leads us to continuity planning. You may decide to accept one or more of the risks identified during your scenario planning, and continuity planning will help you minimize the effects if any of the risks […]

Going global

Globalization, or doing business with companies and customers around the world, is increasing as quickly as the Internet is growing. The impact of globalization has been felt in every part of our businesses and our lives. These trends stand on their own because of the magnitude of the opportunities or threats that they pose.
Here’s what […]

How Does Your Game Plan Stack Up?

When the top "most used" business management tools globally were
announced in Bain’s Management Tools & Trends 2007 study earlier
this year, the results were no surprise to us.

Strategic planning
Customer relationship management
Customer segmentation
Benchmarking
Core competencies, mission & vision statements (tied).

In fact, when asked to consider both usage and satisfaction with
management tools, the 1200 international executives participating
overall gave […]

Changing how we think about change

Increasingly today, we are witnessing the blurring of
commerce and social responsibility. Companies navigate a complex and evolving set
of economic, environmental, and social challenges, all the while addressing
stakeholder demands for greater transparency, accountability and
responsibility. Senior Advisor Allen White of Business for Social
Responsibility contends that rethinking the social contract remains one of the
most urgent imperatives of our […]

Green Thumbs Cash In On Green Trend

The trusted business planning tool called the SWOT (for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) may be familiar enough, but are you using it to your strategic advantage?
Along with the internal assessments of your organization’s strength and
weaknesses, reviewing your strategic position also includes evaluating external opportunities and threats in the marketplace.

Consider G-Sky, a Vancouver, British Columbia, […]

More planning tips for business owners

In addition to valuing your business and thinking about an exit strategy, here are some additional planning tips for privately-held companies:
Engage all your employees. Don’t leave anyone out of the planning process because in a smaller organization you run the risk of alienating some people. Although you may not think it’s appropriate to include everyone […]

Creating a strategy-focused organization

Organizations that are strategy-focused are more effective with their resources, have higher employee retention, and make more money because they serve their markets better than their counterparts. And they stay in business longer because they proactively respond to the environment around them. Want to create a culture that’s strategy-focused? Here’s a hit list of ideas […]