E-Myth recently posted some excellent tips for making the most of your strategic plan.

“For a small business, a strategic plan is essentially a step by step guide to map out how it will reach goals and objectives. It starts with a vision of what the business will be and how it will function in the near future, typically 3 to 5 years out. The plan also serves as a systematic management tool for implementing the strategies. The goal is to integrate every aspect of the business into a systemic approach for achieving the vision of the business.

Although individual strategic plans may differ in some of the details, here are 10 basic elements that should be part of every plan:

• Define your mission, your vision and your values
• Conduct an analysis and resource assessment
• Establish your goals and objectives
• Determine your strategies for accomplishing your objectives
• Conduct your action planning
• Create your organization and staffing plan
• Develop an operating budget
• Create strategic tools to measure and quantify progress
• Identify the support needed to accomplish your mission
• Communicate your strategic plan to the entire organization

One of the keys to successful strategic planning is to involve everyone in the business, to some degree, in the planning process. Employees are vital to the strength and success of any business enterprise, and the business owner alone cannot effectively run the business – nor carry out the strategic plan.”

Click here to read the entire article.

Bob Johansen, past president of the Institute for the Future and author of Leaders Make the Future recently gave some criteria for a forecasted future (i.e. vision, strategy, forecast, etc.) during a American Management Association presentation. “It is not whether or not a forecasted future occurs, it’s whether or not that forecast provokes insight that leads to a wise future decision. Forecasts, at times, are to be avoided.”

Peter Drucker said that, “Planning is not masterminding the future. Any attempt to do so is foolish; the future is unpredictable.  In the face of uncertainties, planning defines the particular place you want to be and how you intend to get there. But it will not substitute for judgment or leadership.”

In one of the book posts, I recommended you read Drucker’s “Five Questions.” Here is an overview of the five questions – a great tool to use for your next management team meeting (even if it’s a team of one!).

Looking for a quick-to-read and incredibly practical tool for strategy and organizational assessment? Then pick up “The Five Most Important Questions You Will Ever Ask About Your Organization” by Peter F. Drucker and the Leader to Leader Institute (formerly The Drucker Foundation). This book combines classic Drucker material with applications and thoughts by some of today’s leading organizational and leadership thinkers. A quick and impacting read that you will reference again and again.

“The big shots are only the little shots who keep shooting.” -Christopher Morley

Unsure about the value of mission, vision, and principles for your business? Need help developing yours? Then pick up, “The Mission-Driven Organization: From Mission Statement to a Thriving Enterprise, Here’s Your Blueprint for Building an Inspired, Cohesive, Customer-Oriented Team” (Link). This is a great source for developing an organization’s shared vision, mission, and guiding principles, and then applying those statements and principles to drive team work, growth, and day-to-day operations. Should be on every business owner, executive, and pastor’s bookshelf.

Developing Shared Vision to Ignite Better Collaboration  

Are your programs, services, and staff aligned around a shared vision of the future? Are you leading with a clear strategy for delivering cost-effective services for citizens and other stakeholders, and is that strategy communicated with clarity, both internally and externally? Do you have a disciplined way of choosing priorities among competing programs and services under tighter and more stringent budgets? Are you effectively keeping score and communicating progress toward your vision?

Organization’s that fail to determine their purpose and priorities flounder, especially in challenging environments. This was a core principle of Collins’s book “Good to Great,” and the focus of numerous business studies over the past two decades.

If you haven’t reviewed your company’s “core” recently – now is the time.

I was on vacation last week. I enjoyed the time with my family, the great meals, and the extra time it allowed to read and reflect. But in the midst of it (following a couple phone conversations with clients), I was struck by how August is often viewed as such a down month with no productivity, nobody around, and nothing happening – the dog days of summer.

The fact is, it's a terrific time to think, reflect, and plan. But that time is short. In just a few weeks, the kids are back in school, all our activities kick back into high gear, and there's more focus on business, work, etc.

What if you used these next few weeks to make some big stuff happen in September, October and November? What is you used the next few weeks to think big (Big Hairy Audacious Goals), plan big (make a concrete 90-day plan for those months), and get energized for the important season ahead? Down times are a gift, not an obstacle; use this one for all it is worth!