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 for strategic thought:

• Immersion: Placing yourself in a totally new environment and giving yourself enough time to wrap your head around how it works.
• Apprenticeships: Low-risk environments where students are taught one-on-one.
• Simulations: “Manageably-complex” environments which can be “wound back” if needed to provide a complete understanding.
• Game-theory training: Another type of simulation that examines how players work to manage limited resources and competing interests.
• Case-based education: Learning systems and formulas to frame strategic thinking.
• Cognitive reshaping: Mental exercises which are intended to create new thinking paterns.

While each is definitely worth further investigation, I found the discussion it created in the comments extra-useful- especially this excerpt from Matt Moore, of Engineers Without Fears:

Training & apprenticeships are good. Strategic thinking begins by looking at the impact of your activities outside your immediate task focus. “That’s not my job” or “I’m far too busy to think about what I’m doing” are the enemy of strategic thought. First line managers identify & nuture early attempts at strategic thinking among their staff (and those early attempts will be all over the place) then that is an important first step. A significant minority of managers do not do that however - and those embryonic strategic thinkers are lost.

What’s your trick for developing strategic thinking? Let us know and we’ll include it in a roundup.

If
organizations fail to anticipate or prepare for fundamental changes,
they may lose valuable lead time and momentum to combat them. These
fundamental elements of business are customer expectations, employee
morale, regulatory requirements, competitive pressures, and economic
changes, and they’re always in flux. Many times businesses achieve a
level of success and then stall. Strategic planning helps you to avoid
the stall and get off the plateau you find yourself on.

High-performance
organizations have fundamental differences that set them apart from
other organizations. There are tons of studies out there that dig into
the hows and whys of companies that are ahead of the pack. But instead
of getting lost in the details and differences of these studies, take a
look at the basics.

High-performance organizations
accomplish extraordinary results, and they do it with ordinary people.
If you keep waiting for extraordinary people to come along and make
things happen, you’re going to wait a long time. Instead, your goal
should be to transform your organization in such a way that your people
are capable of delivering high performance every minute and every hour
of every day.

Becoming the best at something is often
achieved by modeling the behaviors of winners and putting those
behaviors into practice. Consider the following characteristics of a
high-performance company:

• Has a purpose that focuses the energy of all its staff (typically, that purpose is to be the best there is or ever was)
• Simultaneously and continuously maximizes the self-interests of all its stakeholders
• Outperforms all others (by any measure) not because of what propels it, but in spite of any and all obstacles that impede it
• Makes it possible for ordinary people to perform in an extraordinary fashion
• Transforms its people into owners of the organization’s destiny
• Is a healthy organization committed to being great, no matter what it takes
• Knows that the execution is more important than the strategy

We’ve
said it before, and it bears repeating: A strategic plan is the means.
Growth and high-performance are the end to those means.

* Bain & Company’s 2006 Management Tools survey

Although
publicly-traded companies get all the media limelight, roughly 90
percent of US businesses are privately held. Yet, only about a quarter
of businesses with less than $200 million in sales have a formal
exit/succession plan. Business owners, in particular, have some special
considerations in their planning efforts:

• How will your business continue when you exit stage left?
• How do you establish the value or projected value of your business?

Each
of these topics influences the strategic direction of a company. While
it may be difficult to think about life after your company, it is
arguably the most important part of your strategic planning effort. And
while you may not want to share your ideas with your staff, you should
still have a clear plan for your departure.

The best time
to start planning the exit strategy is when your venture is launched or
purchased. Any number of front-end decisions and strategies can have
long-term impact on the operations. This week our focus is on the first
phase of your transition - exit planning - which directs how to
transfer the business when you leave. There are basically four ways to
exit your business:

1. Transfer ownership to a family member
2. Sell to employees or other owners
3. Sell to a third party
4. Liquidate

While
each one of these requires a unique strategy, you have the same
critical considerations to ponder as you develop your exit plan:

• Timing: You need to decide when the right
  time is based on your business life cycle.
• Value: Get an outside valuation of your
  business so you won’t be surprised when you’re ready to exit.
• Succession or sale: What is the appropriate selection process or training sequence to prepare for a smooth transition?
• Income tax considerations: Talk to your CPA about maximizing value while also reducing income taxes.
• Separate self (management) from the investment: How will you separate yourself from the value of the business?
• Purpose beyond business: Have a plan for what you’ll do without your current daily activities.

It’s not uncommon for companies to falter simply because they’ve neglected to plan for the bad times. When FTD’s computer system failed just before Mother’s Day several years ago, the flower distribution company didn’t have a backup plan. Management was surprised by the disruption and lost a ton of orders. You don’t want disaster to strike your business, so continuity planning is a great way to prepare your business for an unpredictable future.

Continuity planning ensures that your business doesn’t stop running in a crisis and minimizes the impact for your employees, customers, and your reputation if it does. It’s a good idea to incorporate continuity planning into your regular strategic planning process because a good continuity plan should change as rapidly as your environment changes. It can be a one-page section at the end of your strategic plan, or it can stand on its own.

Use the following as a checklist for your business continuity plan. Each is an absolute necessity if your plan is to avoid panic in the presence of a threat. Consider, as well, how often and who is responsible for the tasks in each area.

• Data is backed up
• Current contact information is available in a hard copy format
• List of alternative suppliers and buyers is available
• Premises are secure
• Equipment and machinery is fully maintained
• Employees are cross-trained
• All insurance plans are current
• Employees know about the plan
• Employees are able to work offsite

Did you know that September is National Preparedness Month? This nationwide effort sponsored by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security encourages Americans to take simple steps to prepare for emergencies in their homes, businesses and schools. For more about continuity planning for businesses, visit www.ready.gov where you have access to additional detailed emergency planning information and checklists. And for further reading, check out Disaster Planning and Recovery: A Guide for Facility Professionals (Wiley) by Alan M. Levitt.

Here’s what can change the global landscape over the next then years:

• Shift of labor: Money and jobs are still flowing into India at a rapid rate. The National Academy of Sciences state that India graduated 200,000 engineers in 2004 versus 20,000 in the U.S.
• Growth of China: The sheer might of the Chinese economy may force every business to rethink its approach. The World Economic Forum predicts that China will become the second-largest global economy by 2020.
• Terrorism on the rise: Society can’t be lulled into thinking that terrorism efforts won’t increase. It is here to stay. THe business opportunity lies in providing security services and products. The threat lies in protecting your assets: physical, financial, and human.

With their annual Social Capitalist Awards, Fast Company
(Jan 2007) celebrates those leaders who “combine savvy business models with
solutions to pressing social needs in ways that challenge our assumptions about
making a profit and making a difference.”  One 2007 award winner was TransFair USA which
certifies fair-trade coffee and other developing-nation crops, then works with
certified growers to get higher prices. When CEO Paul Rice hosted Perry Odak,
CEO of the Wild Oats Markets grocery chain, on a Mexican coffee trip, the strategy
played well for Wild Oats and for the farmers. Odak was impressed to learn from
farmers that joining a fair-trade cooperative could mean scholarships for their
kids, preventative health programs, and better futures for all. With a steady
income, many more young people are also staying in their communities and returning
to work on the fields. When Wild Oats promoted their fair-trade coffee with
giant signs that described to customers the effect of the labor, price and
environmental requirements of fair trade, volume
sales went up 20% despite a $2/pound price increase (organic beans cost
more to grow). The company’s purchase also yielded more than $1.5 million in
additional revenue for 100,000 farmers and their families. Needless to say, Wild Oats has introduced
fair-trade loose tea, bulk sugar and fruit as well.

TransFair’s whole model is based on consumers’ voting with
their wallets. Fair trade consumption is growing at 75% per year, CEO Rice
says, and TransFair has sparked partnerships with Costco, Sam’s Club, and even McDonald’s.
According to Jeff Hamaouli, founder of Origo Inc., a consulting firm that helps
both nonprofits and for-profits navigate this blended arena of social
enterprise, “Companies are beginning to realize that these questions of ‘How
can I accomplish more good in the world?’ and ‘Where is the market
opportunity?’ are essentially the same question.

Consider these approaches for finding opportunities to
include social responsibility in your business

1. Scout
   new market
2. Unleash
   the consumer
3. Invent
   new products

Consider G-Sky, a Vancouver, British Columbia, company that installs
green roofs – vegetation and soil covered roofs that help lower heating
and air-conditioning costs along with dramatically reducing rainwater
runoff. According to an article in Business 2.0, the total square
footage of green roofs in the United States is already growing at the
healthy rate of 125 percent a year, and now some entrepreneurs like
G-Sky are “placing (their) bets on something even more
forward-thinking: green walls”.

Green walls can provide as much bill-saving insulation as green roofs,
and they put less load-bearing strain on the building. They can also
help offset the urban heat island effect caused by heat-absorbing city
surfaces that can raise temperatures as much as 8 degrees higher than
the surrounding countryside. When G-Sky started looking long-term, they
saw a world where “carbon-trading is king and companies are eager to
offset their greenhouse gas emissions”. Now, G-Sky is installing
plant-filled wall panels that can go on any vertical surface – meaning
that “G-Sky just quintupled its opportunity” since for every roof there are four walls. Early G-Sky clients include Whole Foods and the W Hotel chain.

What can we learn from this trailblazer?

• Build on your company’s strengths: Your strengths
  encompass everything that your company does well. Consider your
  company’s capabilities, skills and resources and draw on them to
  execute plans and actions.
• Consider your operational processes: What do you
  already excel at that might have other applications? G-Sky identified
  an opportunity to grow their business 4X with their existing expertise!
• Capitalize on any opportunities that may exist: Keep in mind that opportunities may be political, social, environmental or technological.

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 on staff, how will it look if everyone but two or three members aren’t included? Find ways to engage everyone in the process.

Recognize your constraints. As the owner, you probably have grand ideas and big plans. But remember not to overwhelm your staff by thinking too big or grandiose. Recognize your constraints and create a realistic strategic plan.

Have a clear vision. Being crystal clear about what the owners want to achieve is critical to the success of any privately-held business. Do you want to grow or stay small? If you want to grow, by how much (see the preceding valuation discussion)? What future do you want to create for your business? It’s really important for you to be clear about your owner’s vision. Because if you’re fuzzy on your vision, it will never materialize.

Just do it! I know this slogan can be overused, but it fits perfectly here. It seems like setting aside time for planning in smaller organizations is hard because you don’t have a person who can dedicate their time to strategic planning. Take the time to make strategy part of your culture. After the effects of executing your strategic plan are felt, you’ll realize that you didn’t have time not to do it. I promise!

• Be a strategic leader. Lead by example and prioritize your strategic plan over everything else. Stay committed.
• Cut out the jargon. Make sure everyone in your organization really understands the plan.
• Hang your one-page strategic plan in the break room or another central location.
• Involve your staff in the final development of the plan. Ask for and use employee ideas.
• Create a "champion" or owner for every goal and action. Make strategy everyone’s job.
• Ask your employees to create the action items to support their assigned goals.
• Review the plan with management or the group. Align the organization with the strategy.
• Use a scorecard to monitor progress monthly.
• Schedule regular updates. Hold a monthly meeting, one-on-one with the team leaders, where you only discuss strategy. Hold a quarterly full staff strategy meeting to report on the progress.
• Challenge underlying assumptions. Revisit and refine the strategic plan three months from now.
• Hold yourself accountable through a mentor, personal coach, or business organization.
• Link strategy to performance.
• Continually scan your environment to identify changes that may impact your strategy.
• Reward success! Throw a party when significant goals are reached.

You’ll recall that I previously recommended narrowing your
options down to a select few for your strategic plan in order to maintain
focus. Now, I’d like to encourage you to balance out your strategic priorities
by using the Balanced Scorecard. The Balanced Scorecard was introduced by
Robert Kaplan, a Harvard Business School professor, and David Norton, the
founder and president of Balanced Scorecard Collaborative, Inc, in the early
1990s and has since become the hallmark of a well-run organization. It is an
excellent management tool that helps ensure you have a holistic and balanced
strategy framework by focusing on the four key areas that all organizations
must excel in to succeed. These areas are described as follows

• Financial/Mission:
  When you provide value to your customers, you achieve your financial or mission
  goals.
• Customer:
  If you want to generate additional revenue, you need to provide value to your
  customers.
• Internal/Operational:
  In order to provide value to your customers, you must have internal business
  processes to create that value.
• Employee
  (centered on learning and innovation): In order for your business processes to
  function, you need people who are skilled and knowledgeable.

Look at your short list of internal and external priorities
from step 4 (see Agreeing On Priorities)
to note where your priorities fall, and try to develop at least one long-term
strategic objective for each area above. Again, in the interest of maintaining focus,
I would caution against too many long-term strategic objectives (no more than
five) so your plan doesn’t become unwieldy. And if you’re short in an area,
consider developing additional priorities in order to have a balanced strategy.

Financial priorities revolve around either revenue
generation or productivity improvement, and they explain how your company looks
to shareholders (i.e. owners, investors). A solid strategic plan will have at
least one goal in each of these activities. For example, your financial goals
may include increasing revenue by 10% annually and improving overall
productivity.  In these cases, serving
your customer well will increase your revenue generation, and improving your
internal business processes will enhance your productivity improvement.

Customer priorities focus on meeting the needs of the customer
through products and services. Approach these goals by considering both current
and new customers. Strategic objectives here might include introducing new
products to both existing and new customers or increasing overall customer
retention.

Internal priorities serve several purposes: supporting the
customer and financial goals, focusing on administrative processes that have an
impact on creating customer value and satisfaction, and focusing on the
internal management activities and operational functions needed to support the
products and services. Essentially, internal priorities answer the question,
“To satisfy our customers, in what processes must we excel?” Examples include
improving internal processes, developing and implementing a promotional plan to
drive increased business, and increasing community outreach.

And, finally, employee priorities drive everything else in
your plan. These goals should focus on developing your people, increasing the
company’s knowledge base, improving through innovation, and discovering best
practices. Examples here include developing a broad set of skills useful for
customer support, improving your human resource development and training, and
continually adopting current best practices.

Next, you’ll need to turn your priorities into strategies,
objectives and goals. I’ll address that next time when I discuss identifying
next actions.

Since you should have already identified your strengths and weaknesses as
part of reviewing your strategic position in step 3, this next step should be
fairly easy. But don’t underestimate the value of consensus. The one concept
that most business owners, executives, and managers forget is that the lack of
a decision results in more derailments of the mission than any other cause.

I encourage you to not get caught up in a search for a single method of
evaluating all the strategic choices that may be in front of you. In my
experience, there is no single fail-safe method. Instead, set some parameters
or rules that are specific to your operating environment and use them to
evaluate your strategic choices. Some categories of rules might include the following:

PRIORITY RULE: You may prioritize some opportunities over others based on
their connection to reaching your vision.

TIMING RULE: You may prioritize opportunities based on how much money you
want to see returned in a set time period.

BOUNDARY RULE: You may prioritize every opportunity based on whether it is
aligned with your organization’s core mission and values.

HOW-TO RULE: You may qualify opportunities by first sketching out potential
implementation strategies before committing to them. If you can’t clearly
define an action plan, you know that trying to execute it will likely go
poorly.

At this point, you will also need to divide your choices into two groups –
those that have internal implications and those that have external
implications. Internal priorities include everything related to productivity
improvement such as employees, operations, technology, and anything else that
deals with the internal operations of your organization. External priorities,
meanwhile, include everything that’s related to revenue generation such as
entering new target markets, new product lines, and partnering with other
organizations. Grouping your priorities like this helps you to compare similar
things when making trade-offs which are likely as you proceed. For example,
choosing between investing in new technology or hiring new people are both
expense decisions with similar outcomes, while choosing between entering a new
market or implementing a succession plan aren’t directly related.

Finally, you’ll also need to pare your options down to a
select few. I recommend that you strive for three to five internal and external
priorities. If you have too many, you may lose focus as your plan becomes too
big. If you find it hard to limit your priorities, consider creating a
“someday” list of priorities that are important and deserve attention some day.

Now, you should be ready to starting organizing your plan
which we’ll tackle next time. In the meantime, keep in mind that agreeing on
priorities is all about maintaining focus. There are a lot of bright shiny
ideas and trends out there in the business landscape to distract your
attention, but successful strategic planning requires focus.

A recent New York Times Magazine cover story chronicled the rise of Toyota from one-time textile loom manufacturer to “not only the best automaker in the world, but also maybe the best corporation”. Indeed, according to that article, Toyota has just about every major company in the world asking the question: “What can we learn from Toyota?” In fact, “what you can learn from Toyota is something even Bill Gates has pondered publicly.”

What doesn’t surprise anyone familiar with Toyota’s strategic history is that the company "never makes rash moves or false promises." One obvious example of Toyota’s approach is the Prius hybrid. Jim Press, president of Toyota Motors North America, said that ‘about the same time the Prius made its debut, Ford rolled out the huge S.U.V. franchise’ even though ‘both of us had the same tea leaves, the same research. One of us bet on hybrid, one of us bet on big S.U.V.s.’ Toyota pondered, according to Press, that ‘First of all, long term, is fuel going to get cheaper or more expensive? Is oil going to become more plentiful or less plentiful? Is the air going to become cleaner or more polluted? And so, do you do something proactive and innovative, to be in tune with where society is going? Or do you hold on to where it has been, and then don’t let go, to the bitter end?’ Toyota’s overarching principle, according to Press, is ‘to enrich society through the building of cars and trucks’, and the company’s decision to pursue hybrids ten years ago was the answer to the question, ‘What’s the right thing to do to sustain the ability to sell more cars and trucks?’

The New York Times Magazine article quoted a Toyota employee who said that ‘Toyota expects to be in business 100 years from now, long after oil has been depleted or rendered unusable because of its carbon content, and for that reason it has placed all its bets on hybrid technologies.’

Is your business equally prepared?

I
think it’s important to stress here that
successful strategic planning is a continuous process. It isn’t just a
one-time event; you need to make it a habit. I know how easy it is to get lost
in the process, especially when you’re also in the middle of your
organizations’ everyday operations, and in the coming weeks I’d like to share
some suggestions that should help you embed successful strategic planning
concepts into your organization. Consider them an easy-to-follow Strategic
Planning Process Checklist to help keep your team on track.

First,
I urge you to “Get Ready and Get
Organized”. This may sound elementary, but you’d be surprised by the number
of businesses that sabotage their strategic planning efforts by poor
preparation. Take your time here; this is about your past, present and future.
I encourage you to identify the specific issues and choices your strategic plan
should address. I’ll elaborate on this topic later, but for now you should
start thinking about where it is exactly you want your organization to go.
(i.e. Start thinking “big picture” and “end game”) Determine your organizational readiness.
(i.e. Do you have complete commitment and support from top leadership and key
management? Is yours a culture that is open to looking beyond the status quo to
find new ways of doing things?) Create your planning committee (i.e. Who will
you rely on to implement your strategic plan? Who will be you plan
administrator and who will be your most valuable players?). And finally,
identify the information which must be collected to help make sound decisions. (i.e.
What reporting is necessary to access your current situation and measure your
efforts in reaching your goals?) A plan is only as good as the information on
which it’s based. Don’t rely on assumptions or hunches. Again, I can’t stress
enough that you can never underestimate the power of preparation and research.

Please
join me as we continue down the Strategic Planning Process Checklist in this
space. Next time, I’ll discuss “Articulating
your mission and vision”. Meanwhile, keep in mind that success is not a matter of chance, but rather success is a matter of
choice.

1. Get ready and organized: Identify specific issues and choices the process should address.

• Determine organizational readiness
• Create the planning committee
• Identify the information which must be collected to help make sound decisions

2. Articulate the mission and vision: Owners/managers clarify why the organization exists and what the end game is.

• Determine its primary business and organizational purpose
• Identify the corporate values
• Create an image of what success would look like

3. Review strategic position: Gather up to date information to develop an understanding of the critical issues. Information should include:

• Internal strengths and weaknesses
• External opportunities and threats through a competitive analysis
• Market opportunities through customer surveys
• Synthesize into a SWOT

4. Agree on Priorities: Identify the broad approaches for addressing critical issues

• Solidifying the organization’s competitive advantage
• Determine long-term goals/objectives
• Select strategies for customer segments
• Establish SMART short-term goals/objectives and the results to be achieved
• Draft this year’s action items

5. Organize the plan: Put the pieces together into one coherent document with the following reports:

• Complete Strategic Plan - for reference
• One-Page Strategic Plan - for communicating

6. Roll out the plan: Communicate the plan across the organization:

• Everyone in the organization has received a copy of the plan in some form (printed, emailed, posted on a wall in the break room)
• Identify the strategic plan leader
• Provide budgetary and resource support

7. Identify next actions: Make the plan tangible to each member of the team by clearly identifying what he/she is responsible for:

• Scorecard - for measuring
• Action Sheets - for executing

8. Hold everyone accountable: Monitor your plan by reporting performance metrics on a monthly or quarterly basis.

• Identify the source of each metric associated with measurable goals
• Set up systematic process for monthly or quarterly reporting
• Communicate to each responsible person when Nd how to report on their goals
• Hold monthly or quarterly strategy meetings
• Regularly monitor, evaluate, and adapt

This should help you develop your plan and keep that plan on track. For additional reading on developing and implementing your strategic plan check out Strategic Planning For Dummies by Erica Olsen.

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The standard growth strategies are numerous (and
confusing) such as partnerships, market expansion, acquisition, product
extension, and franchising. While these strategies are important and useful, I
believe growth is ultimately determined by providing value to your customers,
the people you hire, the processes they develop, and culture you choose to
build. So instead of thinking about the detailed strategies themselves, let’s
look at a few exciting and practical ways to help you move closer to the $1
million mark.

Drive the organization with big
vision. Growth requires thinking big,
then executing like crazy. Success is 10 percent inspiration and 90 percent
persistence. But that 10 percent is critical, otherwise the 90 percent is lost,
aimless, and unproductive. According to Alvin Toffler, “You’ve got to think
about the big things while you’re doing the small things, so that all the small
things go in the right direction.” Growth comes from pursuing a worthwhile plan
with measurable rigor.

Account for big goals. Every organization sets goals, but sometimes they aren’t
big, and sometimes they are not written down! A big vision is achieved through
accomplishing big objectives and goals. That’s all execution really is – your
organization’s ability to achieve goals. First, pick 3 to 5 strategic goals
that you will focus on in 2007. Make sure all of these goals are focused on
growing your business to $1 million. Second, develop action plans for each
goal. Identify a responsible persona and a due date for each action item.
Review regularly and hold people accountable. Create a culture that people that
people feel responsible for “not missing a due date here.” That’s all there is
to it – it doesn’t have to be complicated, confusing or time consuming.

Celebrate wins along the way. Publicly share big accomplishments, milestone, project
completion, revenue goals. This sharing drives growth in two ways: 1) It
motivates the people driving those accomplishments to press on. 2) Success and
profit sharing breeds confidence, fueling enthusiasm for further growth.
Everyone wants to be appreciated and we often dwell on what we failed to
achieve, instead of celebrating the small wins. Do something special for yourself
and your team. After all, it’s the journey, not just the destination that
matters. Enviable growth business happens when you create something with ‘a
feeling that we’re in this together.’

Seek out new ideas. Invite left and right-brained people into your
organization to create a complete “brain trust” of skills and competencies. You
need both perspectives to invent creative solutions, challenge the status quo,
find hidden connections, new models, analyze data for discoveries, and explore
parallel industries for new methods. Henry Ford could not have grown faster
than everyone else had he not borrowed the division of labor manufacturing line
concept from a meat packing plant. Walgreens could not have grown as fast had
they not changed their approach to increased convenience instead of big stores,
big ticket items. Southwest could not have grown had they not reinvented
airline service and the hub-and-spoke approach. Challenge conventional wisdom
to solve your customers’ issues and pains with non-traditional approaches.

Ignore distractions. In tandem with new ideas, we must focus! This is the
never-ending struggle for entrepreneurs – too many ideas, too little resources.
In an increasingly competitive environment, growth comes from being great at
one thing at a time. Succeed at one thing that you know customers need. That
takes focus – focus on the customer and focus on what you choose to do better
than anybody. Use your vision as a filter to keep out distractions. If the
activity is not line with your big goals, even if it is a good idea, table it
and move on.

Empower through ownership. Inside almost every motivated employee is a frustrated
entrepreneur. As we know, entrepreneurs like to build and own their work. They
are achievement-oriented and take pride in results. Feed these engines with
premium fuel by assigning ownership. Recognition is the number one motivator.
You can unleash powerful output by clearly defining roles and responsibilities.
Give ownership of action plans. And help everyone in your organization
understand their purpose and impact on the big picture.

Neutralize negativity. There is no such thing as “try,” there is only “do.”
That’s the attitude of a sustainable growth company. The question is never,
“Are we going to make it?” The question is “What do you need to make it” and
the answer is “here’s how we can”. But be realistic. Most growth companies
don’t grow quickly without sustaining some damage. Consider how to avoid road
blocks and road bumps along the way.

Know your market cold. As a wise person (I can’t remember
whom) once said – sell something that people want to buy, not something you have to convince them to buy. In other words, know (don’t guess or assume)
the needs and wants of your customers. Offer them something that solves their
problems, makes their life better, something they can’t live without. Talk to
them, go to their business or home, and learn as much as you can about how they
use your product or service. And use that information to make your offering the
best it can be. Don’t forget, it is your customers that will get you to that $1
million mark!

Passion overall. If you’re motivated and excited about what you are doing,
people will follow and your organization will grow. This may be the most
important element because it is the true spirit behind growth.

To everyone out there who is striving to hit $1 million
(me included), may you hit that goal and them some!

Business Strategy Execution: 4 Reasons Why Your Company’s Strategy Isn’t Working

Momentum,
by its nature, requires a lot of upfront push to get the ball rolling.
Here are ten tips to jumpstart the momentum in your life:

Create your picture of success and make it a reality.
It’s true – if you can’t see your vision of success, you’ll never get
there. So what does success look like for you day to day? How do you
want to spend your time? How do you want to define success for yourself
this year. Write your vision down and post it somewhere you will see it
everyday.

Know what you love and do what you love. You
know what they say, either fix the problem or quite complaining about
it. If you hate your job, get a new one. Go to school and learn a new
profession. Start that business you’ve always dreamed of. Pick up that
crazy hobby you’ve been thinking about. Sound too scary? Facing too
many roadblocks (time, money, naysayers)? Why not tackle one of them.
Explore your options, and then take action. There is no time like the
present!
       

Pick a BHAG.
What is that big, hairy, audacious goal you want to achieve this year
that will help you step into your vision of success? Write it down
along with the one thing you can do today to make it happen. Here is an
example of the power of a written goal: A study was conducted among a
graduating class at Harvard to see how many had concrete goals around
how much money they wanted to make. Only 3% had written their goals
down. Ten years later, that 3% were making more than the other 97%
combined! Now that is power!

Eliminate your energy drains and recharge yourself.
Energy drains are those things that drag you down. Things that recharge
your energy can be anything that inspires you and puts you in a good
mood, like a room in your house, a place to relax, an activity, or a
person. Spend more time doing the things that give you energy and stick
a post-it next to each drain with an idea for getting rid of it.

Remove your fears.
The greatest source of procrastination is often a deep-seeded fear –
fear of success, change, failure, ridicule, the unknown. Take a daily
step to remove your fears by asking yourself every day, “What would I
do today, if I were not afraid?”

Take control of your finances.
Do you feel like you are on a treadmill, working more to pay for ever
increasing bills? It seems like the more we work, the more we spend to
do the things we don’t have time to do while we are working
(housekeeper, take-out food, dry cleaner, etc.). Spend a little less
here and a little less there and stop hemorrhaging money. Make sure
what you purchase is in line with your values. Run a QuickBooks report
to see exactly what you are spending your money on. What if you
decreased every category (except maybe your mortgage and other loan
payments) by 10%? Use your money to fuel your dreams instead of feeding
the treadmill.

Create a braintrust.
Identify a handful of people in your life who can help you move your
life forward. Consider pulling from a wide range of backgrounds, ages,
experience and opinions. Sometimes those who are most critical provide
the best insights. Call on them together or individually to help you
move past any roadblocks and keep the momentum going.

Find the time. One
of the biggest challenges to having the life we want is finding the
time to do all we want to do. Track how you spend your time for a week.
At the end, tally up the time spent on each thing – such as sleeping,
eating, shopping, checking email, etc. Look at each category. What
things can you do to cut time in each area? Be creative and find the
time to do what you love to do, instead of what you have to do.
       

Let things evolve. When
the flywheel of momentum starts to turn, pay attention to clues,
connections, and opportunities that are presented to you. Allow your
future to unfold and change in ways you might not have been able to
imagine when you started dreaming.

Commit to your dreams.
Creating momentum starts with commitment. Commit to doing one of the
ideas above that will move you closer to your dreams.
       

We all know that life is short. So, shouldn’t we all live the best life we possibly can?
Absolutely! Because remember – how we spend our days, is how we spend our lives.         

Erica Olsen is the vice president of marketing for M3 Planning (www.m3planning.com),
which helps growth-oriented organizations develop and execute their
strategies. Erica is also the author of the newly released Strategic
Planning For Dummies. Carol McClelland is the owner of Transition
Dynamics (www.transitiondynamics.com) and author of Your Dream Career For Dummies.

Strategic Planning
by Maria George
Tuesday 12th December, 2006   Posted: 15:13 CIT   (20:13 GMT)
http://www.caycompass.com/cgi-bin/CFPnews.cgi?ID=1018550

Strategic planning is often viewed by businesses in both the private and public sector as an impractical process.

As a result most companies focus their efforts on addressing short
term concerns, as opposed to gaining a long term perspective on the
direction of the company, by developing a strategy that can help to
ensure a consistent and sustainable level of long–term growth,
operating efficiency and profitability.

The need for companies to develop viable business operations in
today’s marketplace, which has become increasingly customer–driven,
competitive and encompasses multi–dynamic business environments, is now
very prevalent.

The process

Establishing a strategic direction involves analysing the
opportunities and restrictions in the business’s external environment,
designing a plan to address them by leveraging the strengths of the
company, and then providing structured implementation of the plan
throughout the company. In developing a strategic plan, management
needs to recognise that there are challenges involved in pursuing
growth initiatives for the company, and as a result identify ways to
address these challenges. Ultimately the implementation of strong
growth strategies will allow management to mitigate the potential risks
of the ventures in which they are involved.

This article is the first of a two–part series that will highlight
the benefits that can be derived to small and mid–sized businesses that
are characteristic of the markets in the Cayman Islands and to the
public sector through an effective strategic planning process.

This article aims to dispel the notions of strategic planning as
purely academic or impractical, and highlights strategic planning as a
necessary process in the challenge for today’s company to ultimately
create and realise value for its stakeholders.

The second part of this article will focus specifically on strategic planning for public sector entities.

Business challenges

Strategic planning is often considered a management tool suitable
mainly for large organizations; however the following points highlight
that there is a need for all businesses to develop a strategic planning
process if there is any vision for future growth, development or
potential to add value to the business.

The need for clear objectives

The growth of any business is often accompanied with issues such as
the type of target customers upon which efforts should be focused, the
type of products or services that should be offered, and in general
what action should be taken in order to achieve the vision for the
company.

In order to provide results supporting the company’s vision,
employees require clear objectives and plans to achieve these
objectives from management. The Strategic Plan provides an action plan
that can be used to guide the entire organisation throughout the
process.

Creating a sustainable competitive advantage

A company can outperform its competitors if it can establish an
advantage that it can maintain. The aim of creating a sustainable
competitive advantage is to provide greater value to customers, create
comparable value at lower cost or deliver both simultaneously. Creating
a sustainable competitive advantage requires developing and
implementing a strategic plan that enhances competitive advantage.

Ease of translation of strategies into actionable steps

The time–intensive and complex effort involved in the implementation
of strategies across a company is another growth challenge faced by
businesses.

The rapidly changing pace of today’s business environment calls for
strategies that may be 80 per cent correct and 100 per cent implemented
as opposed to being 100 per cent correct but is not consistently
implemented throughout the company.

Value is derived through the actual implementation and translation of strategies into the daily operations of the business.

Strategic planning is a creative process, which aims to identify the
core competencies of a company, coupled with a strategy that drives all
the key decisions made in a company.

It is critical to the business in its ability to influence how
individuals act in day–to–day issues. The strategic planning process
involves assessing the business environment as well as developing and
implementing a detailed business strategy that provides protection,
leverage, develops the core competencies, and determines how these
competencies can be developed into competitive advantages.

Environment assessment

During the initial phases of the strategic planning process it is
necessary to understand the current and future states of the industry
in which the company operates through an analysis of the four key
drivers within an industry – markets, competition, technology, and
regulation, in order to determine their influence on the current and
future states.

The analysis of these drivers is performed by identifying the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to the business.

The aforementioned drivers are identified by examining the environment that is both internal and external to the business.

The company must obtain an understanding of the external environment
by analyzing the opportunities and threats in the industry in which it
operates, and the factors that are required to address them. The
reasoning behind performing this external assessment is that the
opportunities are identified in order to improve the company’s success
in these areas, whilst the threats to the success of the company are
identified in order to prioritize the action points necessary to deal
with the restrictions that are within the company’s control.

Additionally, an assessment of the internal environment is performed
in order to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the company
relative to its competitors.

The strengths are identified to ensure maximum leverage, whilst the
weaknesses are identified to allow prioritization of action plans to
address them. This assessment helps to determine whether the company is
capable of capitalizing on any opportunities or counteracting any
threats that may have been identified.

Strategy development

A company must establish a strategic direction along with the
initiatives necessary to support its vision or plan, by utilizing its
core competencies to address the opportunities or threats identified.
In order to establish a direction each opportunity or threat identified
should be developed into a strategic option, where strategic options
are what a company can choose to do in order to compete effectively.

An example of which is, the ability to transfer a company’s core
competencies may open avenues into new markets. The strategic options
should leverage the core competencies of the company or specify how new
competencies should be developed in order to create sustainable
competitive advantages.

An analysis of the strategic options developed will then determine
the levels or risk or reward associated with each. The most viable
options will determine the strategic direction and will demonstrate the
potential for significant rewards whilst minimizing potential risks.
The chosen option will be broken into specific initiatives that will be
the basis of the Strategic Plan and will determine how it will be
implemented.

Strategy implementation

In order to gain buy–in from all stakeholders of the business, and
also allow for an easier implementation of the Strategic Plan, the
strategy that has been developed needs to be communicated to the entire
organization, along with the target plans that will help to outline the
tasks required of each individual.

This article was prepared by Maria George, a consultant with
Deloitte’s Economic & Business Consulting services division, and is
an MBA graduate with over five years of professional work experience
within the domestic Caribbean region, The United States of America, and
Italy. Deloitte Consulting provides a wide range of economic,
strategic, human capital and business planning services including
detailed business plans, business and marketing strategies, financial
analysis and feasibility studies and business valuations.