Greetings,
Fall has begun - the fiscal year's fourth quarter is in
full swing for many companies and many businesses
are returning to their routines after enjoying a more
relaxed summer pace. It's the perfect time to focus
on strategic planning.
Our February
issue focused on creating a vision for your company. In this
issue, we'll address how to turn your vision into reality with
strategic planning.
We welcome your comments, ideas and suggestions!
Please email them to rrooney@rcr-
associates.com
Make Your Company Vision a Reality -The Critical Role of Strategic Planning |
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Creating a vision for your company is an important
first step for every organization. But it
can't be the only step if you want to achieve
success.
Your next job is to create an overall business
strategy that supports your vision. Strategy is what
a company does to strengthen and grow it's business
value into the future.
Once developed, your strategy must be executed at
every level of the organization and become an
integral part of day-to-day business. To accomplish
this, everyone in the organization must be aligned
with the strategy. This is not easy, and it happens
rarely - Fortune estimates that less
than
10% of all business strategies are effectively
executed.
But the organizations that invest in successful
implementation of their strategy are more likely to
see their visions become reality. So how does it
happen? What are the critical success factors? Three
characteristics of strategic-focused organizations
are:
- They are customer-driven.
All strategies are inspired by customer behavior,
trends, and feedback.
- Are you clear on who your customers are and
why they use your products and services?
- Do your current processes make it easy for
customers to do business with you?
- Do you have mechanisms in place to gather data
and customer feedback on an ongoing basis?
- Leadership is committed to the strategy and
focuses on it consistently.
Experts say that 85% of management teams spend less than
one hour per month on strategic issues. You need a much
bigger commitment to succeed.
- Does your leadership team take ownership and create a culture that promotes
the execution of corporate strategies?
- Does senior management spend a consistent,
dedicated amount of time on strategic thinking and
long-term planning, or are they trapped in the
day-to-day business?
- Have you established priorities and staying
focused on them?
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Do you have processes in place to adapt to change
as required?
- Middle management enables the strategy to
be
executed on a day-to-day basis.
- Does middle management contribute to the
purpose and future direction of the company on a
day-to-day basis?
- Do they communicate the company's strategy
consistently to all employees?
- Are employees recognized and rewarded for
showing a commitment to the company's strategy
within the framework of their individual jobs?
When companies create a strategy that aligns with
its vision and is executed at every level of the
organization, the stage is set for success. The next
critical step is to align the strategy with the
company's individual jobs, business processes and
technology.
Did you know that 60% of organizations never link
their strategies to their budgets? From budgeting to
training to customer relations to the creation of
metrics for measuring progress, your strategy must
serve as the cornerstone. This makes it easier for
management teams to drive the organization in the
desired direction. Without good organizational
alignment with the strategy, every bit of forward
motion will be a struggle.
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Implementing Core Strategies |
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Here are seven steps to get your organization on its
way to successful strategic execution.
1. Communicate your overall strategy to
all
employees at every opportunity - in meetings,
in print, and other forums. Studies show
that up
to 90% of employees don't understand their
company's business strategy and how it relates to
their daily activities. So take the time to get
everyone on board with the company's purpose and
direction.
2. Using the overall strategy as a base,
create
core strategies - key business initiatives that
support the overall strategy. Make sure these
core
strategies are specific, dated and measurable.
3. Create a culture that supports the core
strategies. Reward those who align their work
with
the strategies and make sure all leaders in the
organization are united and focused on the same
business strategies and objectives.
4. Structure all business processes and
policies around the strategies. If a proposed
process
fails the litmus test of being aligned with your
strategies, forget it.
5. Structure all individual jobs around the
strategies. Each person should clearly
understand
their unique role in executing your business
strategies.
6. Make sure everyone has the tools,
technology and support they need to execute the
strategy.
7. Create ways to track, measure and
report
on results so you can make necessary changes and
build flexibility and responsiveness into your
efforts.
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A Word from the Wise |
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"People with clear, written goals, accomplish far
more
in a shorter period of time than people without them
could ever imagine." ~ Brian Tracy
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Next Month |
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A Critical Question for Your Business Planning Cycle:
Are You Aligning Company Projects with Your
Strategy?
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Strategy Development Framework |
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1. Define & Review Current
Position. Define and review your vision, mission,
values and
objectives to establish your starting point.
2. Conduct an Environmental Scan.
Gather factual and qualitative data to understand
the internal environment of the organization, the
external market and competitive situation, the
strategic positioning of the company and the
potential changes for each.
3. Do a Gap Analysis.
Evaluate the difference between your current
position and your desired future.
4. Formulate a Strategy.
Once you obtain a clear picture of the organization
and its environment, develop strategic options and
specific strategic initiatives that include a definition
of products, services, customers, markets,
distribution, competition, strategic position and
business model.
5. Implement the Strategy.
Translate your strategy into operational terms
through specific action plans, programs, budgets and
procedures. Implementation involves successfully
identifying and allocating the required capital and
human resources and putting into place the
necessary organizational changes.
6. Measure, Control & Update.
Create metrics for monitoring your progress and
consistently review how you're doing and make
changes as necessary.
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