There’s a difference between planning and strategy. Planning is future-oriented, and strategy is action-oriented.
Business is akin to a professional game. Like any team sport, the players don’t go out onto the playing field and ‘wing it’. The coach, captain, and every player have alignment – they each know their role and the value they add. Even when there’s cause to pivot, the team is able to easily recalibrate because they’ve (ideally) planned for different scenarios.
In business, the ‘coach‘ and ‘captain’ will manage their teams’ activities. In order to do this, a comprehensive plan needs to exist, and needs to have been shared with the team so that each team member knows what they’re responsible for and how their actions cascade down to the next individual or team.
By taking the time to carefully plan, you can ensure that your business is heading in the right direction and is well-positioned to achieve its objectives.
Here’s a simple GPS guide to help you plan:
(G) Identify Your Goals
Clarity is a necessity when you’re identifying your business goals. Without clarity, you’d be journeying to nowhere, and run the risk of wasting time, money, resources, effort, and energy. With clarity, you are able to set the right goals and identify which of them are short-term goals and which are long-term goals. Record your goals wherever they’ll stay top of mind: a sticky note on your monitor, a digital planning app, a wall calendar or go the extra mile and keep them in a personalized notebook made just for you.
(P) Establish Your Priorities
Break your goals down into achievable milestones so that you can establish your priorities – consider what are the most important things that are going to make the biggest difference. Your priorities should be organised so as to create a ‘domino effect’ once you begin.
(S) Develop Your Strategies
Once your priorities have been outlined, identify 3-5 action steps to be taken to achieve them. These action steps should be created with defined targets and specific timelines. Ask yourself the correct questions to help you determine these targets and timelines – for example, are you in control of whether the action step gets completed or do you need to rely on someone else?
Start
With a meticulously crafted plan, you now have a clear sense of direction and execution – the destination is in sight. All that’s left to do is start.
You may be doing well, but having a plan will help you do even better.
Planning puts your business in a better position to minimise risk and uncertainty, more effectively allocate resources, enforce good decision-making and inspire confidence, leverage innovation, capitalise on opportunities, and create a competitive advantage.
Lastly, it is imperative that you set aside time to regularly review your plans. We recommend that business owners and their teams do this once a quarter – review your progress, and if you haven’t made any, then review your goals and realign. In our experience, whether it’s one page or ten, writing down your plans significantly increases the chances of moving your business forward.
Next steps…
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