What's Driving Your Business: Defined Strategy or Destination Unknown?
How 3 Simple Questions Will Tell You.
By Peter Christian • Published July 2010
How to Prepare
After determining who will be involved, there are some key principles to creating a productive planning environment:
- Leaving assumptions at the door
Assuming is an unproductive action. This process will challenge you to think differently and will require an open mind. The statement "but we've always done it that way" also needs to be banned.
- Agreeing on priorities
Creating an outline to identify critical issues and desired results helps align the team's priorities.
- Understanding your financials
From assessing risk to measuring productivity to knowing your profitability, it's critical to have a firm understanding of how the company makes and spends its revenue.
- Learning from the past
Hindsight is 20/20, so take advantage of learning from past mistakes. Understanding why they happened will help you avoid those mistakes in the future.
- Thinking strategically
This sounds difficult, but not if you organize the discussion around these buckets: Economical, Social, Political, Technological, Environmental.
- Acknowledging the truth about your products and services
News flash on this one... all products and services are not created equal! Using a tool like the GE Matrix will open your eyes to which items make you money and which ones are loss leaders.
- Focusing on what you do - BEST!
After being honest about the strength and marketability of your offerings, a SWOT (Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats) Analysis is a very effective way of uncovering your competitive advantage(s).
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