How being strategic might help your business and team

Strategic
planning is a critical a part of your business and calls for action. It provides
direction for your business while you grow and enables you as well as your teams to stay
on track.

There are
important steps involved in this process. The first step is to possess a Strategic
Vision. To define this, you will have to ensure that all the stakeholders are
involved and inputs from your employees and team members are thought. 

For small businesses, following a business plan becomes challenging as we tend to ask ourselves, “Do I need a strategic business plan if I am just starting small?” The answer to this is “Yes”, if you want to prosper and grow there should be a plan and you need to be flexible to adapt for ongoing changes. 2021 has been exceptionally challenging for the entire world and it has taught us why planning is a crucial part of any business.

As a small-business owner, a strategic plan is very different from that of big organisations. It's important to understand this to ensure that you are heading in the right direction. The following tips can help in planning and implementing it in a manner that will deliver results:

Perfect plan: Do not try to be perfect. Remember, as George S. Patton said, “A good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow”.

Overplanning: Do not spend too much amount of time in
defining the mission, vision, goals. Make it simple and in line with your
business and values. Concentrate on where you are at and where you need to be. A
strategic plan can help you get there.

Marketing: Do not overspend on marketing.
There are methods and means of marketing your product or service and services through
networking, person to person and by asking for reviews. Finding and using the
right marketing collaterals will be light on your wallet.

Technology: Keeping yourself updated on how to
make the most of technology will help you achieve your business goals without
having to spend too much.

SMART
Goals: An
effective way to plan a strategy is to have Specific, Measurable, Achievable,
Relevant and Time-bound goals. To do this a SWOT analysis can provide a
clear picture of the present state of your business and can help you plan for
the future state.

Once you
allow us a workable plan by considering critical elements that guide your
business, helps you in achieving your goals and keeps you and your team on
track then comes the most important bit- Implementation. A plan is not worth
anything when not implemented well. It's such as the great ideas that stay in
our heads and never begin to see the light of the day.

During the planning phase, should you did not assign ownership of goals to your team members/employees based on their skills then you can do it now. As the owner of a company, you are the Leader and you need to trust, encourage and empower your teams. Once tasks and goals are assigned then support it with unconditional support to your team and let them own it. You can check-in with them if they're facing any challenges.

Here is really a quote that articulates the science and art of strategy, by Pete Johnson:

“Technique is a style of thinking, a conscious and deliberate process, a rigorous implementation system, the science of insuring future success.”