Business Planning Secrets - How to Achieve Your Goals Faster
Michael E. Gerber, author and small business guru, says that a business is nothing more than a reflection of the business owner.
If the owner’s thinking is sloppy and disorganized, her business will likely be sloppy and disorganized.
If owners are greedy, their employees will be greedy, giving the business less and less, while always asking for more.
If information about what needs to be done in the business is limited, the business will reflect that limitation.
So if your business is to change and thrive, you must change first. If you are unwilling to change, your business will never be capable of giving you what you want.
And one of the key changes that need to take place has to do with the idea of what it takes to make a business work. Effective business development is 10% planning and 90% implementation.
Moving your business from vision to achievement can only happen with a change in behavior. You need to either do things differently or do different things.
PLANS DON’T PRODUCE RESULTS
Even the most eloquent mission and vision statements, carefully crafted plans and detailed business processes will not convert a business. Plans don’t produce results. People do.
Engage employees in the planning process. When people have influence over the decisions being made, they are naturally more committed to a successful outcome.
A simple milestones table or scorecard can be the most critical component of your business plan, because it’s so important for tracking progress. A comprehensive list containing what will happen, when it will start, when it will finish, what is the budget, and who is in charge, along with a regular review schedule and feedback can make the difference between stagnation and growth.
According to Tim Berry (2008) many small-business owners endure the problem of management and accountability. “It’s much easier to be friends with the people you work with than to manage them well.”
You can do both and get more accomplished along the way.
MEASURE PROGRESS AND PROVIDE FEEDBACK
People need feedback–people want feedback. Good management requires setting clear expectations and then following up to compare results with expectations. People are held accountable only if management actually takes the time to track results and then communicate the results, to the people responsible.
When milestones are missed, and that is inevitable, it’s not necessary to reprimand because the feedback is in the results. The team participated in generating the plan and the team reviews the progress. On-target performance makes people proud and happy; and missed targets make people embarrassed and unhappy. Feedback happens automatically. Make progress checks a part of your planning process.
It’s up to you to make your planning work. It’s not really about the plan or the business processes; it’s about having the fortitude to use the plan or the processes to run the business. It boils down to building milestones into your plan, setting expectations with people, and then following up to review performance against expectations.