#1 of 3: How to Create Success: Strategic Planning

As promised in my blog post of 8/3/10, this month I want to give you simple tips to get started on some of the things that I feel are important to continuing your success or improving the success of your business. The first and most important is strategic planning.

In the book What They Don’t Teach You in the Harvard Business School, Mark McCormack tells of a study conducted on students in the 1979 Harvard MBA program. In that year, the students were asked, “Have you set clear, written goals for your future and made plans to accomplish them?” Only three percent of the graduates had written goals and plans; 13 percent had goals, but they were not in writing; and a whopping 84 percent had no specific goals at all.

Ten years later, the members of the class were interviewed again, and the findings were astonishing. The 13 percent of the class who had goals were earning, on average, twice as much as the 84 percent who had no goals at all. And what about the three percent who had clear, written goals? They were earning, on average, ten times as much as the other 97 percent put together.

This story shows us that setting goals alone can have powerful effects. We need to set the intention so that we can create activities that get us there. Strategic planning in your business does just that. Here are some tips to get started and get the most out of it:

1. Start by simply setting a date and time. If we don’t have it on our calendar, we don’t do it. Even if you are the only employee in your business, put a date and time on your calendar, go somewhere offsite and stick to it.
2. Define or redefine your mission. If you get nothing else out of your session, be sure to define what your business’ key mission is. What is the most important thing that your business is doing for your community or for the world? Prepare for your strategic planning session by researching key information ahead of time. Whether it is a SWOT analysis or other market data, have it available so that you can understand the business environment and set a direction that is achievable.
3. Gain consensus. It is crucial to get your team on board with your mission. So often meetings are held by senior management in what seems to be secret, closed-door sessions. It’s hard for employees to work their hardest when they are told what to do rather than involved in the process. Whether it is bringing a survey from other team members ahead of time, or having other members that best represent the staff involved, be sure that your staff has a say. They may know things management doesn’t know and offer out-of-the-box thinking. Plus, if they are involved, they are more likely to feel empowered to initiate new ideas and work harder towards the success of the goal/s.
4. Make an action plan that is tied to specific dates. Don’t just go in the meeting with awesome ideas that you don’t have the manpower to carry-out. Make sure that you can take some action and have a plan as to who will do it and when it will be completed. Not to say that you can’t have awesome ideas that can’t be carried out now, just differentiate between what can happen this year and what can happen in three or more years when you will have the manpower to complete it.
5. Monitor and plan for contingencies. It’s great to have goals and an action plan, but who will be responsible to see whether it’s successful or not? Be sure to select key personnel who will monitor new programs and report on their success. If you have time, ideally there will be several contingency plans discussed in case things don’t go like you think they will. Use the brainpower you have in your planning session to go over Plan B and C scenarios.

Hopefully these ideas will give you a starting point for your strategic planning session. Even if it’s a few hours once a year, it sets the intention and direction for success. And per the Harvard Study, that may be more than half the battle!

P.S. If you need more, get this book for some great ideas. Good luck!