What's Driving Your Business: Defined Strategy or Destination Unknown?

How 3 Simple Questions Will Tell You.

By Peter Christian • Published July 2010

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Caution: Heavy Lifting Ahead.

At first glance, they seem like simple straightforward questions. Here's the challenge... can you answer them without hesitation?

1. "What do we do, and what SHOULD we be doing?"
2. "Who do we do it for?"
3. "How do we beat or eliminate competition?"

How did you do? Maybe you answered the first one with no problem, but had to collect your thoughts on #2. And well, #3 just stopped you cold. Now, pose these same questions to your employees, from the sales team to your top financial person to the guys in shipping. Can they answer without hesitation? Are their responses the same as yours?

95% of workers do not understand the strategy of their company.
(source: Balanced Scorecard Collaborative, Inc.)

If employees cannot answer quickly and concisely, it's because they don't know the purpose or goals of the company. That situation exists for only one of two reasons: either the company's mission and vision (a.k.a. road map and destination) have not been effectively communicated throughout the company or sadly there is NO plan to share. If the latter is true (and statistically it probably is), you need to develop a Strategic Plan pronto!

Now Strategic Planning will require "heavy lifting", meaning you and your team will need to face the tough issues that have stalled the forward progress of the company. Issues like old assumptions, outdated processes, lack of communication and more. This process will cause you to look backward initially to analyze past mistakes — and learn from them — in order to take significant strides forward.

Planning

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