strategic planning

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strategic planning Tagged Articles

Stop Ignoring the Single Most Important Skill in Business
Every entrepreneur needs skill in selling, strategic planning, and creativity. More importantly, and often overlooked, is the skill of handling conflict during the process. It’s about how to handle relationships to get to the common goal-building your business. Learn more about the 13 common patterns in the workplace that disrupt the ability to work through conflict to innovation. Read on!

Trends - Risks and Opportunities
Improve important management decisions- with a forward-looking strategic framework that takes into account marketplace trends.

You Can’t Afford Not to Plan
Everyone has heard of at least one time management tool to help focus on priorities, schedule tasks and events or delegate assignments. These all focus on today and this week’s tasks.

Four Types of Highly Effective Business Plans

Business plans are not just for start-ups raising capital. Writing a business plan-- or more accurately, the process of strategic planning, using the business plan as a framework-- has many applications for both early stage companies just starting out, as well as for mature firms who are seeking to grow, improve, or diversify their businesses. In this article, we talk about four powerful types of business plans: the Feasibility Plan, Operating Plan, Expansion Plan, and Joint Venture Plan, and we delve into the key characteristics and uses of each.

The Need for Strategic Planning
Every company should have a strategic plan, no matter what the size. In fact, it is often more important for small firms as they tend to lose focus very easily.

Nonprofit Vision Statements, Core Values & Mission Statements

In the nonprofit field, reference is often made to an organization's core values, mission statement, and vision statement. I have found that there is some confusion regarding the difference between a mission and vision statement, and that some organizations have never identified their core values. This article will help you to understand these three items, and how important they are to your organization's overall operation, funding, and future.

Fairy Tales, Success & the Broken Record
It's easy to get caught up in the daily stories of our businesses - what with the deadlines, the technology to learn, and the endless to-do lists. Understand that you will inevitably make mistakes... everyone does.

Win Franchise Sales and at Franchise Development in a Tough Economy
Winning franchise sales and at franchise development in a tough economy boils down to (3) three things that need to be looked at immediately and require strategic planning.

Gearing Up for the New Economy
This article addresses how the current recession will impact your customers' buying decisions even after the recovery and emphasizes the need for strategic planning for how to survive and thrive in the post-recession economy.

A Time To Consider Strategic Alliances

In any economy, strategic alliances can make good economic sense. Strategic alliances can strengthen the depth and/or breadth of an organization’s capabilities, giving it competitive advantage, while often reducing overhead and improving the bottom line. In a challenging economy, such alliances can be a crucial survival strategy. However, a poorly conceived, poorly planned or poorly executed alliance can be a disaster for all involved. This article covers what issues to consider and how to proceed with exploring and executing a strategic alliance.

10 Simple People Skills To Successful Management
Getting the best from your people is vital if you are to make the best progress in your business or organisation. Much comes from the way you interact personally and there are just ten key actions to take to build great, fulfilling and productive relationships...

10 Steps When You Need Help in Your Business
You start off alone. Be it as a solo business owner or a manager looking after a part of a larger business. It gets busier, you get distracted from what you want to do, because there's only one of you and you've only got one pair of hands.

Developing a Strategic Plan for Your Consulting Business

Strategic planning is like creating a map for an exciting journey you are about to take. The map will help keep you on course if you start going in the wrong direction but it isn’t so stringent that you can’t check out different roads along the way. After seven years of consulting, this is exactly what my strategic plan has done for me. Each year, I map out where I am, where I want to go, and how to get there. During the year, my plan is a guide for what I should be focusing on as well as a resource to help me do a "check" whenever I am tempted by something new and different. Sometimes, I rewrite my plan based on changes (i.e. technology, client request, economy, emerging trends) but many times it has helped me realize what is important and make the right decision with various opportunities and threats to ensure my long-term goals are met

SWOT Analysis: How to Avoid the Really Big Mistakes
Many entrepreneurs and small business owners commit a cardinal business sin every day: They make decisions without doing adequate homework. The best "homework" a small business owner can do is what's called a SWOT analysis. This is a proven strategic planning tool that gives an organization critical visibility into its internal Strengths and Weaknesses and its external Opportunities and Threats.

Short Term Action Planning By Michele Molitor, PCC
An Action Planning Guide for Business Success

7 Factors to Consider When Creating Strategic Action Plans to Reach Your Goals

Dreaming big dreams is the first start towards achieving a fulfilling goal. The main difference between a dream and a materialized goal is that goals are specific things written down with a specific plan to achieve that. When you have a clear picture of what you want, your mind begins to look at the world differently. Through these new lenses, you begin to notice the people, resources and ideas that will help you get closer to your goal. However, if your goal is not specific enough, your mind might not know exactly what to look for that will help your each your end destination.

What if We Brought in a Facilitator?
Suggests four meeting situations when it pays to use a facilitator, explains what a facilitator typically does and offers five criteria to use in selecting one.

The Marketing Plan As A (Strategic) Planning And Steering Tool
In fact every company needs a marketing plan in order to plan the way to its success, to steer it and to control or adapt it.

Strategic Planning Takes GUTS

Developing a strategic plan may not seem to be a walk in the park. It may become the most challenging task you have ever undertaken as a leader. It starts with your ability to articulate a vision in writing that your management team can use as a baseline to build a "Roadmap to Success"; the strategic plan. This vision for the future or "End Game" as I call it can be used at any time in the future to measure whether the business is maximizing success or on the road to failure. As a result, many presidents and CEO's will put this strategic planning process off as long as possible. However, those leaders that step into the strategic planning arena quickly come to realize an abundance of benefits.

Management Priorities - Where Clear Focus Is The Vital Challenge
For any manager, one of the biggest daily challenges is to be very clear on where the priorities in the moment lie - with a very close eye on how that fits their overall strategy. And there are four key components...

I'll Do It Tomorrow
“Procrastination is opportunity's natural assassin.” ~Victor Kiam

Negotiation Checklist to Ensure a Successful Outcome
Purpose of negotiation is to resolve situations…negotiate more effectively with help of this negotiation checklist & ensure a successful outcome.

Bill Gates' Secret Weapon: Stop to Think
Bill Gates stops to think at least twice a year. Bill escapes to his wilderness lodge every six months for one week. It is during these times that he develops strategy for Microsoft. It was one of these thinking sessions that helped him to move his company to embrace the Internet and the related opportunities.

Do You Own The Business? Or Does the Business Own You?

It's not about the money. I have made this statement often, but today it takes on a new meaning. Today I am not talking about value over price in a sales model. I am talking about why business owners are in business in the first place. At their core, most entrepreneurs and small business owners are in business because they want freedom and opportunity. How sad, then, to know that all too often they end up with neither because their business goals are not aligned to their personal goals or because their life is out of balance trying to make their business live up to their dreams and expectations.

Strategic Planning - What It Is & Why It Is Important
Strategic planning is critical to a nonprofit organization's future direction and survival. As such, it is important to understand what strategic planning is and why it is so important. This article provides a definition of strategic planning and why it is important to nonprofit organizations.

Components of Strategic Planning
There are certain components of the strategic planning process that should be in place to develop, implement, and effectively monitor a strategic plan. This article provides a brief overview of the steps involved in strategic planning.

Three Mistakes to Avoid in Relation to Strategic Planning
There are three mistakes that an organization should avoid in relation to the strategic planning process. This article describes what these three mistakes are and what you should do in order to ensure you will avoid them.

Prioritize your Strategic Initiatives
Strategic planning is a great way to identify which initiatives can add the most value to your organization. The next step is to prioritize initiatives with a systematic method. Use our downloadable Priority Index Tool to guide you through the prioritization process, and help you drill down on the value added for each proposed initiative.

Strategy vs. Tactics: Which Drives Your Organization?
You don't have unlimited time or resources to do a hundred things. If your organization is 'raining down' with tactics you could be chasing stuff as opposed to being guided by the stragegic direction you have set.

Steering Committees Increase Program Success

Developing a strong governance process requires cross-functional alignment on marketing decisions. Implement a Sales & Marketing Steering Committee to formalize your strategic planning, prioritization, decision-making, investment, and performance measurement processes. Use Demand Metric’s downloadable Steering Committee Charter Template to kick-start the formation of your committee and establish your mandate.

Dave Thomas Quotes
Dave Thomas Quotes

Jim Sinegal Quotes
Jim Sinegal Quotes

Best Practices for Sustainability and Communicating Sustainability

A sustainable best practices program involves a comprehensive and holistic approach that encompasses everything a business does that impacts the environment. A successful sustainability initiative demands the willing participation of employees. Businesses also need to understand how to communicate sustainability in a way that conveys their environmental initiatives while enhancing their internal and external brand.

Business Planning, The Process
The ability to set and implement a business plan is a key skill of good leadership. A business plan determines EVERYTHING that happens to and in a business. To a large extent it determines the level of excellence that can be reached. This article outlines the process.

Does Volume Make Up for Low Price?
Your ability as a salesperson is not in how much you sell, but in how much you earn for your company...Here’s how to ensure you are not only protecting profit, but also ultimately in a place to increase it!

Kaya's Easy 5 Step Strategic Planning Process
If the idea of strategic planning scares you or makes you want to crawl into a hole, use my 5 easy steps to begin the process and you will be on your way.

The Corporate Crystal Ball

From local governments and charities to multinationals, a well-planned and implemented strategic planning program has helped these organizations plot their preferred future, rather than simply scrambling to react to change – good or bad – as it happens.To be effective, strategic planning must have structure. Thus, there is a pre-process. The course it travels will, naturally, vary according to resources, need, and whether or not this tactic has been tried in the past. But whatever the circumstances, there are a few basics to consider.

Where Did "Why" Go?: The Role of Critical Evaluation in Strategic Planning
This article explores the importance of critical evaluation in strategy planning and asking, “Why?”.

Strategy Misalignment: The Symptoms, Dangers and Treatment

Strategic misalignment is insidious. It creeps into organizations silently, tenaciously takes root and over time begins to undermine successful organizations. There are tell-tale symptoms to watch out for and many dangerous implications when it goes untreated. This article reviews the symptoms to watch for; evaluates the damage that occurs over time if left unchecked and reveals methods to correct the ailment and reverse the damage that occurred.

A Clear Vision Sharpens the Focus
A clear vision sharpens the focus. It says, â€œHereâ€™s our direction, hereâ€™s where weâ€™re going, hereâ€™s how weâ€™re going to change the world.â€

How Long Should It Take To Complete A Strategic Plan?

Given the opportunity to better leverage the art and science of strategic planning, organizational leadership should strive to better understand strategic planning and unlock the competitive advantages it can bring them. This article examines the process of strategic planning In the corporate world and explores the required effort the process takes to accomplish the organization’s go-forward plan for the future and accompanying desired outcomes.

Is strategic planning for small businesses, or only the “Fortune-ate”?
We often find that small business leaders are intimidated by management consulting firms and others who offer strategy planning services. Whether they believe it’s too expensive or that they’re too small to benefit, or simply that they lack the time and energy to focus on strategy planning, it is certain that companies of all sizes can benefit from a structured strategy planning process.

5 Secrets to Successful Corporate Strategy Implementation
A well crafted strategy provides essential vision, direction, and goals for the organization. Yet what happens when many organizations attempt to realize the outcomes of those meaningful strategies? This article explores 5 secrets to successful corporate strategy implementation.

Align Culture and Communication for Better Strategic Planning Results
It is well accepted among organizational theorists that companies with strong cultures and well devised communications plans outperform those without such ingredients. Communication motivates employees and unites them toward a common goal. As such, in our strategic and operational planning engagements, communication is a vital component.

Think You’re Ready to Hire a Corporate Consulting Firm?

Here are 5 ways to know for sure. Organizations typically seek the help of outside corporate consultants to provide strategic advice or solve complex problems that cannot be sufficiently handled internally. Usually, the process of hiring a consultant is surrounded by excitement and anticipation of what the consultant will do for the organization. At the same time, an outsider can bring out a mix of fear, doubt, and uncertainty that, if left unchecked, will act as roadblocks to an otherwise successful process. Too often, leaders call on consultants without understanding the attributes necessary to work effectively with an outside firm.

Strategic Planning: Taking Time Out to Work "ON" Your Business
Strategic Planning, 5 Traps of strategic planning, alignment of management team, management

Strategic Planning: Taking Time Out to Work "ON" Your Business
Strategic Planning, 5 Traps of strategic planning, alignment of management team, management

The Critical Step of Current-state Analysis & Review in Strategic Planning

What is the definition of success and how can you get there if you don’t know where you are starting from? Obviously it makes sense that you need to know your point of origin to determine the optimal route to your desired destination. If that is the case in our day-to-day lives, then why do so many forget to apply that simple concept in business – and in this case – in our business planning? This article focuses on a major step of critical importance in your planning process – a review and analysis of your organization’s current-state. Learn how to do it and what information you will need in the analysis.

Advertising Keeps Commerce Alive
A first-hand look at the inner workings of an advertising agency.

Finding and Keeping The Organizational “Keepers”
As we hopefully near the end of rough economic times, many organizations fear and dread an increase in turnover rates. In this issue of Astronology, we discuss what it takes to find and keep employees who will stay with an organization to help it succeed and grow.

Five Steps to Overhauling Your Business
Doing a major overhaul of your company is not an easy thing for many businesses to do. We assess the feasability of of overhauling your business to meet market needs and demands using succinct and implementable steps, then execute them while revamping your business model.

Top 11 Ground Rules for Conducting a Strategic Planning Session

Conducting a good strategic planning session is critical to the success of a solid strategic plan; one that includes specific and measurable goals and objectives, providing a clear direction for the organization. To ensure that the actual planning retreat is as productive as it can be, ground rules should be established and discussed prior to commencement. This article provides a list of 11 ground rules I believe are imperative in managing a successful planning retreat.

Change Agents: The Power Behind Effective Change Management
Change-agents are those within our organization who help facilitate strategic transformation. We need change agents on our side to clear the path, especially when it comes to making “game-changing” change. But how do we enlist the type of change agents to make critical changes possible?

Top Five Responsibilities of Nonprofit Board Members
I have seen effective and ineffective boards of directors. Good boards of directors are clear about their roles and responsibilities versus those of the Executive Director, and they don't overstep their boundaries. This article highlights what I consider are the five most important responsibilities of board members.

Board Member Job Descriptions - Which Roles and Responsibilities Should You Include?
Prior to developing a job description for board members, take time to determine what you expect from them. What roles should they adopt and which tasks, projects, and activities do you want them to be responsible for? This article provides some items you should consider including in board member job descriptions.

Only Losers Cut Their Prices
Discounting is for losers...In order to achieve the highest potential possible a salesperson needs to believe in their pricing as much as they believe in their selling skills.

What Is a Strategy Map & Why Do I Need One?
Review of Strategy Maps and how they enhance the strategic planning and execution process. Strategy Maps are the foundation for Balanced Scorecards.

The most important thing to know about your strategic plan.

As part of the product development process for RapidInfluence we had numerous sessions with individuals both inside and outside of our target market. The purpose of these discussions were to work through the premises of our Strategic Planning Manifesto and to preview the first version of our product. One of the more insightful sessions we had was with Ian Smith of Portfolio Partnership and the author of The Smith Report, a must read for growth companies. In our session we discussed the need for companies to create strategic plans and more importantly to implement them. During our discussion, Ian rightly pointed out that success in strategic plan implementation was largely dependent on knowing what the status of various action items are within the strategic plan.

Hidden Opportunities in Economic Downturns
Despite the economic conditions, or more appropriately because of the economic downturn, now is the time to seize the advantage. It may sound counter-intuitive, but a downturn opens up rare opportunities to outmaneuver rivals. Many companies simply fail to see the opportunities hidden in economic downturns.

10 Signs You are the Bottleneck to Your Growth
Are you the bottleneck to your growth? From control issues to lack of decision making systems, entrepreneurs unwittingly get in their own way and it stifles their revenue growth, their sanity and their ability to get massive results.

Think and Prepare for the Future with Strategic Planning
Great leaders understand that the thought and planning process is critical to long term sustainability, future business growth and achievement of goals. In the big picture, this is more important than day to day operations and activities read on to learn more...

The Small Business Owner’s Conundrum
In the current economic climate, small business owners understand that under-performing is not an option. Not if they want to survive, that is. They constantly face situations that call for skills or experience they may not possess on their own. Add to this the fact that small business owners often wear far too many hats and face a unique set of pressures that only they can fully appreciate.

HALF-TIME STRATEGY SESSION for Business Success

It's July and we've already reached the half-way point of 2009. If you are serious about your business, you need to perform regular "check ups" on how it is (and you are) performing. Now is a great time to do it. Take another look at what you wanted to accomplish this year... assess your progress, and carve a more strategic path forward. This article is second-best to personally being coached by leading international business and marketing coach, Michelle Pippin. WARNING: This article isn't meant to be READ, but implemented!

Five Resounding Reasons to Review Your Strategic Plan
Events of the past three years have rendered many business plans either partially or completely obsolete. Here are five quick potential wake-up calls to help you determine if one of your most important leadership tools is in need of repair.

Optimism is a Selling Skill. Is Your Sales Glass Half-empty or Half Full?

Everyone is looking for a competitive edge in this post recession economy. Should we engage in social media tools? Hold a strategic planning session to determine best course of action? Roll out a new marketing plan? Here’s an idea that won’t cost you any money: take a look at the emotional intelligence skill of optimism. Just in case you think this is going to be a ‘Pollyanna’ article, don’t despair. There is evidence that shows optimistic salespeople make more money.

Creating Your Own Web Marketing Strategy
When I built my first website (a few years ago now), I naively thought, build it and wait for the money to come rolling in. Then I could relax, work an hour or 2 a day and become a millionaire…easily within a few months. Well, that’s what all the Internet Marketing ads said would happen. It was a long, long way from reality.

Strategic Planning - Business Executive Essentials - Part 1 of 12

Business executives are always wanting to improve their company's performance by laying out a better business plan and strategy. Many ask the question “where can I find a decent business plan template for the new year?” * Have you given much consideration to the possibility that your strategic and operational plans may be far less effective than they could be? - Do you know what your strategic plan should accomplish? - How would you begin to measure the effectiveness of your current strategic planning process? - Does your own planning process consistently define meaningful goals that get achieved as expected when the plan is followed? This article is part one of a series that describes the components of a comprehensive business strategic plan and provides a checklist for evaluating strategic planning process effectiven

Strategic Planning - Business Executive Essentials - Part 2 of 12

In part one of this article series, we acknowledged the ongoing quest of business executives wanting to improve their company's performance by laying out a better business plan and strategy. We began the journey by examining the benefits strategic planning brings to business organizations, then explored a number of common factors that can get in the way of a strategy ever coming to life when it is time to execute. In this article segment, we will delve into the elements of a successful strategic plan.

How Not To Network
Networking is a learned skill. It may not come naturally to some people. It requires that you understand human nature, a skill that is woefully neglected in this world of fast friends and instant communication.

How to Choose Business Success Instead of Failure
Anyone who has ever started a business knows there is work involved. It takes a clear vision, strategic planning, marketing and more to be successful. The two traits of successful businesses that I see most often (regardless of the type of business) are consistency and communication. To truly choose success, you must incorporate both into your overall strategy.

Strategic Planning - Business Executive Essentials - Part 3 of 12
The previous edition of this article series (part 2) went into an overview of what a strategic plan should address - at a minimum. In that same edition, a graphical depiction of the elements of strategic planning was introduced. In this edition of the series, we will begin walking through the layers of the graphical model, relating to the “business ecosystem”.

Wealth: 7 Ways to revitalise your Business and Create future wealth

Whether your business is a startup or has been around for many years, there are things we all need to do to ensure its success. I have for years seen and heard of things that have helped businesses grow and prosper. These 7 ideas, when acted upon, are all things that successful business owners have done, which have helped them say to themselves – “I am a success”. Read on, to see if maybe one or all of these ideas could help you. Have self belief, if you believe in yourself, so will others.

Strategic Planning - Business Executive Essentials - Part 4 of 12

Last week’s post (part 3 of this article series) began going into the layers of the strategic planning model in the context of of the business ecosystem analysis. This model was introduced two articles ago and depicted as a graphical representation of the key elements of strategic planning. In this week’s edition of the strategic planning series, we will continue walking through the layers of the graphical model relating to the “business ecosystem”.

Strategic Planning - Business Executive Essentials - Part 6 of 12

The article series was prompted by the ongoing quest business executives endure trying to improve their company's performance by laying out a better business plan and strategy. Over the past five weeks, we have been exploring the critical components to good strategic planning. In last week’s article, we left off on the sub-topics of change management and communication. Change management and communication sub-strategies are far too often underestimated in terms of their importance and impact to strategy implementation.   We continue the series this week with more discussion on those topics.

Businesses Failure – 10 Reasons Why It Happens And What To Do To Avoid It.
Many, many businesses fail – and most would not have done so if only the entrepreneur had ensured that they had fully planned out and set up their new business first. Here’s ten vital areas to get right!

Strategic Planning – Planning for Success using your Strategic Roadmap.
So what is a business strategic plan? Basically it is a combination of what you want your business to be and a roadmap to get. Here’s how to get your company focused, stable and profitable.

Besting Your Plan’s Performance: The Time To Start 2012 Strategic Planning is Now

Corporate plan management is a day-to-day and week-by-week activity. The long-held belief that strategic plans are addressed once a year serves to obfuscate the ever-green nature of what plans really represent. They require a switch in our mindset away from treating strategic planning as if it were a project. Instead, it is an ongoing journey that requires us to recheck our position against the map frequently to avoid getting lost.

Strategic Planning - Business Executive Essentials - Part 9 of 12
How do you assess your process for strategic planning and know if it is on track or as optimized as it might be? The analysis this week, and over the next three segments article series, should help you to objectively evaluate your planning process and identify potential issues and risks that may exist in your organization's current planning world. How would you answer these questions?

Want more sales? Who doesn’t? Have you considered introducing new products or services to demonstrate that you are truly listening to your loyal customers?
Want more sales? Who doesn’t? Have you considered introducing new products or services to demonstrate that you are truly listening to your loyal customers?

Six Keys to Success's Door
That's a pretty accurate description of how most sales reps enter the marketplace. They understand their title and their assignment, but nobody ever tells them how to fulfill their responsibilities. What is needed are tangible sales tips and techniques that can help them unlock the door to success.

Why Outsourcing HR Makes Sense with Budgets Under Pressure
Outsourcing your businesses HR function is an efficient way to add value and contain cost in a difficult economic climate. Small to medium sized businesses need access to high quality, up to date HR information without the requirement for a full time HR manager.

The Marketplace is Changing, Is Your Business Standing Still?
Big shifts are taking place. What does it all mean to you and your business? The strategic planning process offers a set of tools to help you logically think through complex business choices. Read about some concrete ways on how to move forward with confidence

Strategic Planning - Business Executive Essentials - Part 10 of 12

In last week’s article, we covered the first two questions related to planning effectiveness. In the continuation of analysis this week, and over the final two segments of this article series, we will cover others. These questions are intended to help you to objectively evaluate your planning process and identify potential issues and risks that may exist in your organization’s current planning world. How would you answer the following?

What Is Strategic Business Planning?

Strategy can be seen as an on going positioning process for an organization and strategic planning can be seen as a separate activity reviewed at periodic well defined intervals. Strategy involves achieving a competitive advantage for an organization in meeting the needs of customers and fulfilling the expectations of stakeholders. Planning helps to make sure that the efforts of an organization are deliberately co-ordinates and that managers and staff are not heading in different directions. Also provides competitive advantage and improve performance.

Complexity: The Execution Challenge You Don't See

Complexity lies in every aspect of strategic planning and it is a concept that needs to be clearly understood in order to anticipate and overcome execution challenges. We live in a highly complex world and - for the most part - we cannot comprehend the intricate concepts needed for strategic planning. With outside management consulting, companies often see that it is easier to understand the complex architecture of cause and effect.

Strategic Planning - Business Executive Essentials - Part 12 of 12
This week’s article is the final segment of this 12-part series. We will cover a few final questions to help you self-evaluate your own organization’s strategic planning effectiveness. If you are behind on reading previous segments, just skip to the bottom of this one and you can access any of the previous installments. So let us continue. How would you answer the following?

Don't Drive in the Dark

We recently utilized our airpower against Libya arguably by numerous people from both side of the aisle without an End Game. To me, that is like driving in the dark. At that point we have no idea of the outcome. Without lights, euphuism for an End Game, the odds are not in our favor. You don’t get up in the morning and get in your car without knowing exactly what your destination is. That is what an End Game is all about; what exactly is your destination. You can’t run a company effectively, maximizing all opportunity without creating a long term plan. And, there is no such thing as a long term plan that will work without a defined End Game. The Libya situation reminds me of what I often see in companies every day. It’s either a lack of serious long term planning or the lack of a defined End Game.

SWOT Analysis Is No Magic 8 Ball

Q: A key investor in my business has suggested that I hire a consultant to do a SWOT Analysis to help plan for the future. I try not to argue with my investors, but I'm not so sure I need to have this done. What do you think? -- Laurie B. A: Laurie, before you call in the SWOT team to deal with this investor (sorry, couldn't resist that one), let me tell you exactly what a SWOT Analysis is and how it can not only help you plan for

Business Planning for Small Business

Every great invention, every work of art, every new innovation all starts with a thought. Thoughts are the most powerful forces in the universe – with the right thoughts and right focus you can achieve anything that you want to in life and in small business. So how do you tap into this power? In business just like in life you need to start with the end picture in mind. What do you want your business to do, be or achieve? Without this clarity all you will get is mixed results and muddled outcomes.

Personal Strategic Planning
Improve your effectiveness and your time management too. Focus on the few things that will make a BIG difference

What Does it Really Mean "Work on Your Business?"

How often have you heard people say "Work on your business, not just in your business?" Do you know what this means, why it's important, and are you doing it? If you're like most people, there's a good chance you are working on your business. But perhaps you are like I was, having only a general, but vague, understanding about what it means. I've heard people talk about it so much lately that I decided to pull out my copy of The E Myth Revisited by Michael E. Gerber and review the chapter on this topic. I'm glad I did. Reading it 2 years later I see things a lot differently.

Shared Vision
As a small business leader, one of the most important things you can do is develop a mechanism to include all employees in the vision of your organization. Some of the benefits of a shared company vision include...

Office Politics: Survival of the Savvy
Tales of political sabotage, power plays and turf wars are part of any organization’s history. Nonetheless, political competence is the one skill everyone wishes to have more of — but no one talks about it.

What does Strategic Planning have to do with Insurance Sales Success?
If you enjoy working hard, and struggling day in and day out to hit your targets then strategic planning has nothing to do you’re your sales success. But if you'd like to make more and work less then strategic planning has everything to do with your sales success.

Death by Assumption: Why Great Planning Strategies Fail

To often, assumptions are not clearly identified or managed so that when a plan goes south, there is no way to go back and reevaluate or manage the original assumptions. The absence of "assumption management" is a common cause of the death of many strategic plans. Assumptions must be stated, debated, and continually reevaluated as the plan goes forward. We've provided three practical steps you can take to manage your planning assumption.

Is “Groupthink” Damaging Your Organization?
Strategies that fail to deliver on their promises are often built upon flawed logic and / or incorrect underlying assumptions. It is strikingly apparent that flawed strategies can be the result of groupthink. So what is groupthink and what can be done to reverse it?

Role of Leadership in Planning

Executives love to talk about planning… most complain their processes don’t work very well. Harvard Business Review reports that only 11% of CEOs believe that strategic planning is worth the effort. Most planning processes are too complex, and only document decisions already made. CEOs have the responsibility to make their planning processes effective; I believe the key is to keep the processes simple and focused.

Call to Action, Reader Response and Conversion!

There is a fine line that separates those who continually dial in the pulse of an industry and can summarize and provide value and pique the curiosity of their readers vs. someone who for lack of better terms fails to hit their target. If you are clueless about the pages with the highest traffic and reader retention in your site, it may be time to parse your server logs or take the time to set up analytics software to glean the needs of your audience and get the gist of what they enjoy about your content.

The M&A Market Is Hot, But The Results Are Not - How Strategic Planning Can Help

2010 saw the first worldwide annual gain in merger and acquisition deal-making since the financial crisis, according to the New York Times’ DealBook, and 2011 was called the “year of M&A” by Forbes. With all the attention on mergers and acquisitions (M&A) of late, there’s a good chance your organization has been faced with the prospects of attempting or at least considering one for itself. If so, read on.

Using SEO Marketing Analysis to Assess your Competition

Before you enter a competitive online market, you need to understand who the major players are so you can (a) fly under the radar and learn from the trail they left behind and (b) look for patterns to formulate ranking strategies from their nearest competitors. Like any good SEO management campaign, it starts with strategic planning, but without knowing what to look for when assessing the competition, then how can you possibly expect to surpass them?

Why Should I Trust You As My Leader?

It happens all the time. We “require” the employees of our organization to blindly trust in the changes we implement, although we haven’t fully explained the transformation and the reasons behind it. Quite often the change and the reasons behind it might seem quite obvious to those who have the inside information and are part of the management inner circle. To employees outside of the circle, however, the change causes impact, discomfort and anxiety. As executives of our organization, should we expect compliance and blind trust, or is the responsibility on our shoulders to communicate and lead?

A Dichotomy of Perspectives: A Discussion on Forrest Breyfogle’s New Book on Integrated Enterprise Excellence

Recently, I had the opportunity to exchange ideas on the veracity of the various models that organizations rely upon as the framework for building a successful enterprise. What prompted this open and productive exchange of ideas was a question that was recently posed regarding the merits of Forrest Breyfogle’s latest book on Integrated Enterprise Excellence (or for those of you that have a penchant for acronyms, IEE). In the following paragraphs I will share a few of the more meaningful discussion streams starting with the original question.

How to crystalize business growth options through Strategic Planning

What is it? Why do strategic planning? When is the right time for strategic planning? Strategic Planning is a tool to formulate high level business strategy. It sets the table to allow preparation of detailed business plans. Strategic planning is undertaken to define the precise mission of the organization, prioritize opportunities and help manage growth. It is also a very useful tool in satisfying succession planning needs. Most strategic planning is undertaken to establish base guidelines for a business plan. It also provides the benefit of helping maximize resource utilization and prioritize growth options.

Situational Analysis for Social Media
This article proposes a model for situational analysis for social media strategic planning

Social Media Strategic Planning
This article proposes a process for strategic planning related to social media.

10 Operational Planning Steps That 85% of Corporations Wish They Knew
Data suggests that most organizations would certainly benefit from adopting a more formalized approach to strategic planning and that many companies have routinely failed to successfully and fully implement their strategic goals due to poor operational planning. What can be done to correct the problem?

Bringing Passion Back to Corporate Planning

Many well-meaning managers and leaders assume that because members of the organization are “active” that they are also “effective.” In reality, activity does not equal effectiveness; and it’s not representative of indispensability. To accomplish strategic goals, energy must be focused on productive activity related to the accomplishment of sub-tasks that lead to the ultimate realization of strategic outcomes as well as those business essential tasks that are part of the employee’s job description. That takes dedication, commitment and drive.

I WANT IT NOW!

Are you still wow'ed by some of the technology that is available to us today? Things continue to change and change fast. So estimates say that this is creating the most technology "aware" consumer than at any other time in history. But if you're a business owner, you must be aware of what these changes mean to you and the future of your business. And if you don't adjust you may not be around very long!

Can We Remove Risk From Our Strategy?
If you could, wouldn’t you choose to test your organization’s strategy before gambling your business and your career on the assumption that the strategy is right? This article contains a short list of tactics to help remove some of the risk from your strategy.

Organizational Development: Examining Business Wellness Ahead of Problems Occurring

Businesses, like other living organisms, can get sick. The afflictions come in a variety of forms, affecting culture, core values, productivity, profitability and sometimes business viability. Sometimes the ailment is more or less the equivalent of having a cold, and sometimes it is much more dangerous and threatening. The symptoms that you notice may not get you too worried, but those you are not aware of should.

Corporate Culture: Pressing The Reset Button

It is well accepted among organizational theorists that companies with strong cultures outperform those without such ingredients. Organizational culture usually starts with the style of leadership adopted from founders or senior executives of the organization. Clearly, culture is a critical component to the organization that, if not properly understood, can dramatically impact the success of the business.

Strategic Planning and Effects-Based Thinking: Part 1

In strategic planning and decision making, effects-based thinking (EBT) is a vital tactic to assess the effects of specific actions, not in a narrowly defined and time-limited way, but through a perspective that is sensitive to broad-ranging and lasting impacts. In our fast-paced personal and work lives, we tend to think more about today's issues rather than tomorrow's - but effects-based thinking is the opposite of short-sightedness.

Breaking Out Of The Box

Human behavior and organizational behavior have at least two major points in common. Both gravitate towards traveling in the same well-worn paths, favoring the feeling of safety that repetition brings over the feelings of anxiety and fear that often accompany change. A second point of commonality is that both humans and organizations can be steered in the wrong direction by subscribing too heavily into “groupthink” (described by psychologist Irving Janis as, “a mode of thinking that people engage in when they are deeply involved in a cohesive in-group, when the members' strivings for unanimity override their motivation to realistically appraise alternative courses of action.”). Both behaviors can lead to flawed logic and / or incorrect underlying assumptions becoming institutionalized into our way of thinking.

Does the Small Business Need a Strategy?
Is strategic planning for large businesses only which has the resources to perform it? Not in the least. A business, regardless of size, which does not engage in strategic planning gives up a valuable tool for growing the business and answering the question, "Where do you want to grow tomorrow?"

The Power of Productive Team Meetings
Recently I facilitated a strategic planning day for a small accounting practice. During the course of the day we reviewed the progress they had made since the last major planning day we had the year before. As we were reflecting on their achievements before planning the future, one of the partners made the comment on how crucial their weekly team meetings were.

Five Ways Strategic Planning Builds Capacity And Capability

By September 2011, Borders Books will close their doors forever. The company will liquidate all of its assets and deliver pink slips to approximately 11,000 employees. Meanwhile, as a result of smarter strategies that recognized and accounted for changing dynamics in their marketplace, competitors like Barnes & Noble have fared much better. How can two such similar book store giants end up on such divergent paths? Examination of the downfall of Borders Books reveals strategic errors that arguably led to its demise. Such is often the result of ill-conceived strategies that failed to zig when the market zagged.

How to take Strategy and Turn It into Results
Nothing great has ever been achieved without strategy. Strategy is what builds skyscrapers, wins super bowls, launches space shuttles and puts companies on the Fortune 500 list. Yet if you were to ask many business owners to define strategy, they would fall short of being able to tell you what it means. The word probably exists as one of the most misunderstood words in business language.

10 Steps to Getting Your Business in Shape for the New Year
Did you make a new years resolution that involves getting into shape? This is probably one of the most common areas in which people set their goals. Plans are often put together that will help them lose weight or stop smoking. As a business owner, you may also be thinking about getting your business in shape for the New Year?

Strategic Planning: Key Reasons Why Strategic Planning Is A Must
You're a busy entrepreneur and small business owner. You have heard a lot about strategic planning, but figure it's for big business. Besides you just don't have the time and/or resources to spend on planning. You have a business to run and right now things are going okay. So why must you have a strategic plan?

Checklist for Setting up a Strategic Plan -- To Win
What factors make for a strategic plan that you and your company actually will do? Here are key questions to ask yourself to avoid the most common planning mistakes:

Consulting Code Blue

Management consulting skills (or the lack of them) make the difference between the success and failure of a consultant. Poor skills usually result in the consultant not being asked back, or worse, being dismissed. Such dismissal is the consulting equivalent of heart failure. In many hospitals, they would call such a failure a "code blue". I use the term "code blue" to describe the situation of consultants who are quite talented but find themselves out the door and on the outs.

A Strategy That Dominates the Competition (And Actually Gets Put Into Action!)

The problem with most strategic planning exercises is that they result in a beautiful written document, but nothing ever gets done. In my experience, executives fail to implement strategy because they fail to complete a comprehensive strategic plan. There are three parts to strategy in any organization, and each is crucial. Most organizations skip one or more of these components, and that is why strategy rarely gets implemented properly.

Do You Know the Top 7 Reasons Why Business Coaches Real Estate Agents Share Similar Failure Rates
Are you a business coach or real estate agent? Then read on to learn what you have in common with each other?

How to Become the #1 Author in an Internet Article Marketing Category in 7 Steps
Internet article marketing demands a combination of strategies beyond just submitting articles. Learn how you can become number one in a given article writing category.

Business Coaching As A Valuable Asset For You and Your Business

The challenges facing business owners and senior mangers seem to get more complex each year. And these challenges call for additional resources and tools to deal with the challenges and to take advantage of the opportunities that lie within each challenge. One of the most valuable assets for business owners and their management team members is the strategic thinking, strategic planning and independent, unemotional and unbiased outside advice from a strategic thinking business coach. A business coach in today's business world can be a very valuable asset for business owners.

Making A Strategic Plan Work For You
Most successful companies have a strategic business plan. This plan provides a frame work that the senior executives use to move their company forward. Wikipedia defines strategic planning as " an organization's process of defining its strategy and making decisions on allocating its resources to pursue this strategy, including capital and people. "

Lining Up The Pillars Of Your Strategy: Syncing Strategy With Operations

Is your organization’s strategy embodied in your business operations? How confident are you, as the champion of your strategy, that it is on track within the layers of your business operations? Strategy alignment is the synchronization of strategic goals with operations and execution tactics. Strategy “misalignment” occurs when operational initiatives are not in sync with the defined strategic goals of the organization. Most organizations inherently suffer from some amount of immaturity and unsophistication in their planning process, and this directly leads the the misalignment issue you want to avoid.

How Well Do You Understand Your Organization’s Core Competencies?

What if you were to ask your key management team a simple question: “What do we do?” You might be surprised at the answers you would get: answers that lack consistency, focus, and clarity, with your key leaders offering slightly different responses to this seemingly simple and straight forward question. While it may sound somewhat juvenile to suggest that organizations expend effort to solicit feedback on what they do, there are some very compelling reasons to do so. And, in the end, you may find that this simplistic exercise is the root of many organizational troubles.

The two hour challenge!
Here's a question to all business owners, could you run your business on just two hours of your time a day? In fact, could you make it even more successful?

Ten Powerful Benefits From Using A Professional Outside Facilitator According To Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach

When you plan an offsite meeting for strategic planning or other focused purposes, do you as the business owner or CEO/President run the meeting? Or do you have one of the management team members, like a vice president, run the meeting? Or do you use an “outsider” in the form of a professional certified facilitator? If you have not used an outside facilitator, you are probably missing some strategic benefits of doing that. Okay, so what are the powerful benefits of using an outside facilitator? Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach offers a list of ten (10) of the most powerful benefits from using a professional outside facilitator for your strategic planning and other focused purpose meetings.

A Strategic Look At Why You Should Develop A Business Exit Strategy Now!

Do you have an exit strategy for your business? I ask many prospective clients that question and find that too many do not have an exit strategy or plan; others have one that is not adequately funded or has no risk management built into the plan; or they have thought about it but never did anything about it. Michael Gerber, in his E-Myth books tells us that we create a business to sell it> Otherwise, we own a job not a business. So, I would say that whenever you create a business or something else that's interesting and useful, you create something that's worth selling. And subsequently, when you're thinking of selling a business, which is very important to you and your future well being, then it's critical to have a well-developed plan firmly in place. I have found that all strategic exit plans should identify the following:

Think Small! How To Focus Your Business Strategy
Used to be strategic planning sessions took 3 days & strategic plans lasted 5 years. Gone are the days of a predictable economy & the long-term strategic plan.

Are You Really “In Control”?
Prevailing wisdom says that leaders and successful people says they are proactive and in control, but no one really has control over circumstances. Instead, people can choose to interact wisely with circumstances to reach desired outcomes.

X-Gap: Using Strategic Planning to Close the Project Execution
Teams and organizations are constantly plagued by project execution errors and failures. These failures create an execution gap - a gap between what an individual and/or team plans to do and what they actually do instead; however, there are strategic planning techniques that a team can utilize to improve project execution. One of these techniques is the Execution Gap Meeting, or X-Gap.

Ten Major Fears That Scare Small Businesses Away From Strategic Planning

An often offered comment to me when I speak about strategic planning to small business owners and managers is that their company or organization is too small for strategic planning. Or they will offer any number of other excuses why they do not use strategic planning for their business. In my opinion, this is a sad commentary on the thinking of these small business people. They do not realize or comprehend that their business or organization is on a pathway to the business graveyard without a strategic plan. Well, I really believe if the truth were told, the real reason they do not do strategic planning is related more to fear than anything else. Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach offers the following ten major fears that drive small businesses away from strategic planning.

Do You Have a Strategic Lifestyle Plan?
Every business has, or should have, a strategic plan. It endows the business with the fundamentals from which to exist and grow. In its simplest form, a strategic plan means realizing an organization's ultimate goals. Does this plan apply only to business? Absolutely not! Let's look at individuals.

How To Strategically Use The News To Identify Create New Business Opportunities

Fortunately I am a very avid reader and follower of “the news.” I pay special attention to the business sections of various media and look for trends, and opportunities within the articles that are printed there. I have made a commitment to stay abreast of business news and can tell you that this has been a key strategy for my marketing efforts over the years. You may say to me, “So What?” Well I can tell you that business opportunities for consultants and others are out there if you know how to identify them. I also know that most consultants do not use the news because they never used some strategic thinking to connect the events in the news to potential business. I am saying to you that once you know what to look for in the news, the opportunities will become apparent. And then those opportunities must be acted upon.

Getting Maximum Results from Small Business Employees

A small business owner from the UK recently e-mailed me with this question: " I currently have a small business staff of 8 and expected that when I arrived at this point I would have more time for strategic planning and my personal life. Instead, I constantly have to oversee everything. Do you have any suggestions as to how can I get better results from my employees so I can trust that things will run smoothly when I’m not there?"

Strategic Planning Must Include a Strategic Action Plan Filled with WAY SMART Goals
Strategic planning is a given for many organizations. Yet, executing or implementing a strategic business plan continues to be a challenge for many small business owners to corporate 1000 CEO’s. Possibly the answer is about creating a strategic action plan.

Spray and Pray The Substitute for Strategic Planning
Strategic planning is a proven and solid business strategy. However, many business owners substitute the actions of spray and pray to catapult their businesses to the next level. Are you one of them?

What Should Your Executable Strategic Plan Cost in Terms of Money, Time and Results?
Creating an executable strategic plan does not come without a price tag. Learn some of the key issues of this necessary tool from an investment perspective.

How to Avoid Business Failure
Business failure is still very high. Why do you think businesses fail? Read to see if you have the answer.

A Strategic Plan Works With You to Allay Your Fear of Success
A strategic plan serves many purposes. By planning your work and working your plan, you can allay or reduce the fear of success that prevents others from walking the road to success.

One Key to Strategic Planning is to Confront Your Assumptions
Strategic planning is designed to help companies go beyond surviving to thriving. However, there are certain dangerous assumptions that can take any company down the wrong path. Read a story that may help you explain how those assumptions actually work.

Strategic Planning What is your Businesses Reason for Existence

As business owners and managers we are quite often caught up in the day to day work of running our businesses, dealing with clients, managing staff, developing new products and more often than not fixing problems. After all of this “work” is done there is no time left (or more importantly no energy left) to spend on what I consider to be the most important work that we face as business owners and managers, Business Development. It is no wonder that the average business struggles to reach the size, profitability and success that urged the founder to start it in the first place. What can you do to ensure that your business remains focused?

Strategic Thinking – A Wise Business Investment, According To Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach

Strategic thinking is critical to the long-term success of businesses today. Yet, there are too many businesses that fail to invest time, money and human capital into planning for the future. So many businesses are concentrating only on the day-to-day activities in their business and are failing to create or remember a vision for the future. Some businesses work diligently to create strategic plans, business plans, integrated marketing communications plans, etc. only to leave these plans dormant on some shelf. They fail to remember that these plans are living documents, which warrant follow-through, review and updates. Businesses need to commit to spend more time spent on strategy on a regular basis. Here are ten (10) tips from your strategic thinking business coach to help make the best use of time for strategic thinking.

“Ten More Benefits From Strategic Planning, According To Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach Ten More Benefits From Strategic Planning, According To Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach”

Strategy is about making choices and your strategic thinking business coach always wants to guide you in the making of the most educated, informed and strategic choices in your business. Today’s businesses need a process to guide them in successfully developing and implementing strategies for growth and solutions to business issues, needs and problems. Strategic planning is the process that all businesses need. Strategic planning will save you time, get you and your management team focused, and provide a road map to reach your business and personal visions. In any business activity, one looks for benefits. This is especially true in the case of strategic planning. Here are ten (10) more benefits from strategic planning, according to your strategic thinking business coach.

“Seven Reasons Why You Need A Strategic Planning Facilitator, According To Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach”

A professional facilitator brings an independent and open-minded perspective to your strategic planning process. He or she will keep the discussion focused, keep the process on track, and will encourage team members to act as equals in the process. Some organizations choose to “go it alone” and attempt to conduct the strategic planning process entirely “in house.” In my own personal and professional experiences over more than 35 years, I have always witnessed better outcomes of the strategic planning process when an outside professional facilitator is brought in. In fact, many of my clients come to me AFTER they have tried and failed at doing the process themselves. Here are seven reasons why it is recommended that you hire an outside facilitator.

“Seven Reasons Why You Need A Strategic Planning Facilitator, According To Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach”

“Eight Key Characteristics For A Strategic Planning Facilitator, According To Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach”

Selecting a professional strategic planning facilitator is very important. Facilitation of your strategic planning process involves working with groups of people and requires that the facilitator be tuned in at all times to what is happening. The facilitator also must be able to suspend or change the direction of the process when necessary. An experienced professional facilitator used in your strategic planning process will greatly increase the probability of a successful process and strategic plan and will also enable the participants to leave with positive feelings, a stronger cohesiveness, a sense of accomplishment and a stronger team. In selecting a professional facilitator, your strategic thinking business coach suggests that you look for the following key characteristics.

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