Introduction
Business planning is necessary but not sufficient for building a successful business. A clear and actionable strategy that guides sustainable growth is the backbone of business success. Every business owner needs to develop a coherent strategy that provides a framework to align resources, priorities, and activities with business objectives. It's an essential tool for making informed decisions and navigating the complexities of building a business.
Implications for my business
You can run a successful business with planning only. However, not having a strategy can lead to the unsustainable growth of your business and negatively impact your peace of mind. Other symptoms can also include:
- Over-dependence on one group of customers or channel
- Products or services that haven’t changed or evolved
- Marketing content that sells and tells versus listen and learn
- Doing more of the same instead of doing things better
- Poor coordination due to data and functional silos
Developing your strategy
To develop a strategy, you need to follow a strategic process that answers key questions regarding defining objectives, determining how to achieve them, and allocating resources effectively. Some key questions addressed in a strategic process include:
- What do we know
- Where are we now
- Where do we want to go
- What do we need to do to get there
- What skills and resources do we need to get there
- What are our measures for success
- What are the risks and how will we manage them
- What is our mechanism for monitoring, tweaking, and adjusting
Our advice
Owning and managing a business has become increasingly complex over the last 3 - 4 years. Fluctuating costs, staffing challenges, and “consumer tribalism” have rendered doing more of the same and working harder unsustainable and obsolete. Having a strategy is a must-have in building a successful business.
Having a strategy developed or written is not a solution. You must equip yourself or engage with someone who can guide you in adopting the "process of strategy" that aims to first empower and elevate your in-house and available resources. The time to act is now!
