Business Leads UK

How are you getting on with your Business Plan?  Have you tried?  .... but maybe not got far? 

It's so important to get clear on the goals you're aiming for, otherwise you'll be like Alice, when she asked the Cheshire Cat which path to follow.  As he said, "If you don't know where you're going any path will take you there."

Have you ever set off on a journey and just thought you'd see where the road leads and hope it'll be somewhere nice and the travelling will be pleasant?  Only to find that the road is not an easy drive and the place you arrive at doesn't even have a good pub! 

You can't afford to take that risk with your business, you need to know where you're headed and how to get there, an idea of the resources you'll need and how long it will take.  If you don't know how to develop Business Plans for your business, contact amanda@amandabouchconsulting.co.uk for help. 

How are you getting on with your Business Plan?  Have you tried?  .... but maybe not got far? 

It's so important to get clear on the goals you're aiming for, otherwise you'll be like Alice, when she asked the Cheshire Cat which path to follow.  As he said, "If you don't know where you're going any path will take you there."

Have you ever set off on a journey and just thought you'd see where the road leads and hope it'll be somewhere nice and the travelling will be pleasant?  Only to find that the road is not an easy drive and the place you arrive at doesn't even have a good pub! 

You can't afford to take that risk with your business, you need to know where you're headed and how to get there, an idea of the resources you'll need and how long it will take.  If you don't know how to develop Business Plans for your business, contact amanda@amandabouchconsulting.co.uk for help. 

How are you getting on with your Business Plan?  Have you tried?  .... but maybe not got far? 

It's so important to get clear on the goals you're aiming for, otherwise you'll be like Alice, when she asked the Cheshire Cat which path to follow.  As he said, "If you don't know where you're going any path will take you there."

Have you ever set off on a journey and just thought you'd see where the road leads and hope it'll be somewhere nice and the travelling will be pleasant?  Only to find that the road is not an easy drive and the place you arrive at doesn't even have a good pub! 

You can't afford to take that risk with your business, you need to know where you're headed and how to get there, an idea of the resources you'll need and how long it will take.  If you don't know how to develop Business Plans for your business, contact amanda@amandabouchconsulting.co.uk for help. 

Have you got an up-to-date business plan?  If not it’s high time you started working on one – this may be causing a lack of focus in your business and the knock-on effects of that are huge. 

 

The management team don’t know what the priorities are and may be working hard, but are they working in a way that will deliver business growth?  Your employees don’t know what the purpose or mission of the company is and are making their day-to-day decisions about what to do and where to put their effort in a vacuum … this leads to dissatisfaction, de-motivation and low productivity.  Do you even know what productivity you should be achieving?  Without a clear plan, the business will be reacting to market demands and with the current economic challenges, this leaves it very vulnerable. These are just the tip of the iceberg …

 

Business planning doesn’t have to be onerous, in fact once you get into it, it can be great fun and generate new enthusiasm for the business and the opportunities that are out there, just waiting for you to grab them. 

 

It can speed the whole process up and ensure the right questions are asked, if you work with a facilitator to develop strategy and business plans.  The facilitator will bring the processes of strategic thinking as well as creative thinking and effective ways of working together to gain insights, understanding and commitment to the goals and strategies that will deliver business success.

 

Here is an outline of the key components of the business plan to get you started.

 

Purpose or Mission

Why does the company exist?  What are you in business to achieve?  You need to be able to articulate clearly in one or two sentences what the purpose of the business is.  This needs to be specific as it forms the framework for all the company does and helps people in the organisation make decisions.  It needs to answer at least the questions Who (is the target market), What (are you offering), Why (should they buy) and may answer How?

Longer-term Goals

Where do you want to be in (say) 3 years? 

Move forward in time to that point and paint a picture of what is happening.  Put in as much detail as possible to create a ‘solid’ sense of the position of the company.  How big is it – organisation structure? What does it feel like to work there – culture?  How does it fit into the market place?  What kind of relationships does it have with customers / suppliers? What makes it successful?

 

This is not a fantasy exercise, but one where you imagine a real desired future.  If you put elements in that don’t feel possible, modify them to feel do-able, then crystallise this sense of the future to make the image clear for all.  The clearer this is, the more you inspire everyone to make it happen.

 

Strategy

Now you have to step back and think through what has to happen to make this future position come true.  What strategies take you on course to this future?  What does the company have to stop doing? Start doing? Do better / more of?  What are the critical points along the timeline from now to that 3-year position?  What are the critical success factors – things that must happen for this future to be real?  Those critical success factors will often determine your core strategies. 

 

Objectives for the year

You now have a clear goal for year 3 and the main strategies to get you there and key milestones on the way.  Where do you have to be in 12 month’s time to be on target to achieve that goal?  Define the goals /objectives for the year and identify the Key Performance Indicators that you need to measure to monitor progress.

 

Functional strategies

Now break down those objectives into annual strategies / plans by function and make sure you notice inter-dependencies between functions and that all strategies / plans are aligned and you are planning resources appropriately to deliver the desired results.

 

Tactics

What precisely are the functions doing? Break down those functional strategies in detail to identify what each department will be doing over the year.

 

Budgets

Make sure you tie these plans together with budgets, so you know you have the resources in place to take the actions you plan and what these actions will deliver in revenue. 

 

Monitor and review

Your business plan should be a live document that helps guide the business activity and monitor achievement of goals.  When circumstances change it is relevant to amend the plan, however, just because you haven’t achieved the planned 25% of revenue by the end of the first quarter, this is not a reason to change the year-end goals.  Rather you need to monitor the pattern of sales and rethink your efforts to achieve sales – maybe your marketing plan is not working as desired.

 

Keep on top of your business by actively using your business plan.

 

Amanda will be running a seminar on business planning on 26 January, please register your interest by email.  If you want to discuss this article or find out more, please contact amanda@amandabouchconsulting.co.uk

End of one year and the beginning of the next and traditionally a time for reflection and planning.
So what have you achieved in 2009?  What went well for you? What are you grateful for?

Spend some time reviewing the year, think back 12 months and come through the year again, noticing new things you've done, new/ enhanced skills, new relationships, .... whatever is significant for you.   Reflect on these things and allow yourself to feel good about it.

Now look forward 12 months, it's 31 Dec 2010, 'where' are you now? What has happened in 2010 to get you here?  What are 3 key actions you took to achieve what you have done in 2010?  What was the biggest challenge you faced and how did you overcome it?  Allow yourself to really get into where you are now 31 Dec 2010 and enjoy it.

So what were the first 3 actions you took to move towards this outcome?
OK now come Jan 4 2010, what's stopping you doing them?  Get on and take action now! 

Be successful and have a lot of fun in what you're doing.

I've just been running a leadership development programme and one model we used that resonated with everyone is the 5 Practices of Exemplary Leadership.  Those of you seeking to lead others might find this useful.

1. Be the role model - in order to be credible as a leader you need to be seen to be doing.  Make it clear what you stand for and don't just talk about it - do it.
2. Share your vision -  get clear on what you are aiming to achieve, build a really solid picture of that future, make sure it is compelling to others and talk about it a lot to get everyone in the team to buy into it and want to make it happen.
   
3. Challenge the process - leading is all about moving forward, not just managing the status quo, so you need to be seeking ways to do things better, differently, to grow the business. You can only do this by challenging the current process and ways of doing things, if you don't you'll soon be overtaken by competitors.
   
4. Enable others to act - Get people working together, build relationships and trust, share power, build capabiltiy in yourself and others.  If you've got 1 & 2 right, your people will pull together to deliver far more than you expect.
   
5. Encourage and reward - Show appreciation for people's contributions, effort and excellence. Celebrate the values in action and wins in work.
   

5 straightforward things to be doing, identified by research into effective vs average leaders (reference Kouzes & Posner: The Leadership Challenge).  Focus your attention on these actions in leading your business and notice the difference. Even if you're a business of 1 person at the moment doing these things will make a difference to your performance.  

Rich Levine, the joint architect of GoalTrak, which is the best enabler that I have seen for making changes, says "that without a system of goals, our only motivation is survival ."

Do you remember the old boiling frog story?

When a frog is settled in water where the temperature is being increased, it stays there until it is eventually overcome. Last week I met two business owners who, like the frog did not have the motivational energy to change their current circumstances: they have not solved all there problems but they are now getting on with doing just that.

Sometimes an outsider can be the catalyst that promotes change: outsiders can be like battery chargers for flat batteries.

If you need direction and momentum, talk to someone who can help: talk to me.  

Many business owners and leaders are struggling in the current climate and I'm finding that clients are stuck in a whirlpool of activity but are getting nowhere. 
One of the issues that face us today is information overload - do you receive dozens of email updates and information from companies and groups that you're linked with?  What to do with it all - it could be useful, but ... is it worth the effort to keep up? 
A colleague of mine coined the term 'personal sustainability' and I'm using this to help manage activity.  Ask yourself the question - "Will this add value to me and move me towards my goals?" Yes - do it now, No - delete now. 
There are 2 other options with managing activity: Delegate it - maybe someone else is best placed to do this and it will add value for them to do it; and Defer it - this is something you want to do, but right now it doesn't progress you towards your goal, so flag it or schedule it in your diary and come back to it then. 
Allow yourself to be the most productive and sustainable you can be, by being ruthless with the information that comes at you every day.

Morning ladies and gents... just spent the first 30 mins writing a story for Mary all about me... she asked me to, it's not my ego talking!! She is launching a SHEplc online magazine with one of her able ladies and by way of a thank you asked me to scribble something ...

It's funny how when you turn the mirror on yourself and reflect on who you are and how you got there you start to see your own character ... I'm very proud of what I have done in the last 10 years and I should pat myself on the back a bit more instead of beating myself up when things are going quite right ... I'm learning to forgive myself and allow myself those inperfections that make me me!

Do you reflect on things or do you just plough on leaving the past in the past?