Thinking Strategically
10th May 2019 by Barry Harrison
In the absence of a Growth Plan companies are at best in danger of not meeting their owner’s expectations and at worst of ceasing to exist. A properly thought out Growth Plan provides the basis for all investment decisions and business improvement initiatives.
Thinking Strategically
Thinking strategically is something few of us do as it requires a different mind-set. You must step back from the day to day running of the business and consider the future direction of the business over the medium to long term. In other words, consider the future of the wood and not the management of the trees!
Let me give you a practical example. As the senior decision maker, the Managing Director is constantly under pressure to improve the performance of the business in the short term. This will involve implementing improvement initiatives and innovations across the company. It will be impossible to do everything for a variety of reasons. However, if the MD has a clear sight of the ‘big picture’ i.e. the Wood, then the decision on where and when to invest becomes much clearer.
No one can predict the future, but you can shape the future for your company by considering all the positive and negative factors and influences that will have an impact on your business. This is not a difficult task, but it can become overwhelming if you try to collect too much data right from the start. This is where the analysis to paralysis syndrome can effectively end your review before it has chance to gather momentum.
How do you develop a growth plan for your business? You need a framework that is simple to follow and communicated across the company. A haphazard approach, over a weekend off site is unlikely to produce the desired results. So, what are the ingredients for a successful strategic review?
Teamwork
This is vital on a number of levels:
- More heads produce a broader range of ideas
- Obtaining a consensus on your growth plan means it will have a better chance of success
- Obtaining feedback from all employees often provides insights that may have been overlooked
Process
Thinking strategically does not require a Ph.D. or MBA. It’s not rocket science. It is a logical process that has a beginning, middle and end. As circumstances change the process will have to be repeated so that your growth plan is always up to date.
Whatever process you adopt it must satisfy the following challenges:
- Easily understood and visible i.e. all participants in the process should have a clear picture of where they are up to in the process
- It should avoid getting bogged down in too much detail at the start of the process.
- Employees should have the chance to question the assumptions and challenge the emerging ideas and be able to put forward their own ideas.
- The growth plan should comprise of a set of strategies, no more than six, that cover organisation issues and growth opportunities.
- The strategies must not only deliver the expectations of the business owners, they must guard against business failure.
- People need to be made accountable for implementing the strategies i.e. to time and on budget
Monitoring Plan
The growth plan should cover a period of at least three years and so it should not be necessary to make major changes on annual basis. However, to ensure the company is on the right track it vitally important that regular reviews are undertaken, probably every three months.
In Summary
In the absence of a Growth Plan companies are at best in danger of not meeting their owner’s expectations and at worst of ceasing to exist. A properly thought out Growth Plan provides the basis for all investment decisions and business improvement initiatives.
More from our Business Insights Blog
Discover more about strategic planning and our NOVO Strategy framework
Essentials of Effective Strategy
On a fast track to nowhere? Thinking strategically can be a big help
Start your 14-day FREE trial today
Sign-up today and start evaluating NOVO Strategy with no commitment or upfront payment required.
Simply register your details and start using the system today.