Having a strategic plan is crucial for business success. Strategic plans allow businesses to anticipate changes, adjust tactics, and ensure they are reaching goals. The best performing companies actively use and update strategic plans as part of regular business operations. Outsiders now view strategic plans as one of the most important factors in evaluating a business's risk level and management capabilities. Developing a strategic plan helps businesses strengthen operations and allows employees to better understand and contribute to the company's objectives.
Yaroslav Rozhankivskyy: Три складові і три передумови максимальної продуктивн...
To Win Strategy Is Fundamental
1. To Win, Strategy is Fundamental
by Tom Stocker
Your financial statements plans to build annual tactical plans and use
are the most important their financial results to measure their
measure of the success of effectiveness. This proactive approach
your business. allows them to anticipate when conditions
Unfortunately you can’t change and make necessary adjustments to
run your business on just their tactics in order to reach their strategic
financial statements goals. Those that are good at the process
because they are a don’t wait for their financial results. They
lagging indicator. Getting timely financial keep moving forward and use the results as
statements is very important, but your an affirmation of their progress.
financial statements are still only the score.
You can’t change them; only react to what Unfortunately, a very disturbing fact is not
already happened. all companies have them. The less
sophisticated or informal your company is,
Your financial statements should be the the less likely you use strategic planning.
indicator that confirms what you already And even if you do have a plan, is it written
know. Having and using a strategic plan is down, how often is it used, updated, shared
more important to driving your business, or followed? I see many business and
especially in the current economic strategic plans in my work. Unfortunately,
environment. What makes your strategic many are done poorly. Many are more
plan so important is that it is the roadmap tactical than strategy, unclear and the
vital for you to reach your goals and it financial projections, (if there are any);
reduces business risk; very important to you don’t reflect the same results as the words.
and outsiders alike.
Not having a strategic plan is analogous to
Consider this; you see strategies unfold in jumping in your car to go somewhere far
every sporting event you watch. The teams away you’ve never heard of before without
that win the most are the best prepared. You consulting a map, planning a route or even
will not find a team in a championship game taking a map or GPS with you. (And if you
that hasn’t spent countless hours building are a guy, you WON’T ask for directions
their game plan beforehand. They didn’t get along the way). It would be a whole lot
there by chance. They are able to anticipate easier, faster and cheaper if you planned first
and adjust to conditions that affect their and took a map or GPS with you.
planned tactics as the game progresses.
Obviously the team with the best execution You probably built a business plan when
of their planned tactics wins. you first started your business to get funding
or because an advisor suggested you needed
Like the best professional sports teams, “A” to. You may not have thought about the
companies of all sizes use strategic planning internal benefits it provided, but it helped
as part of their normal business process. focus your thinking about what you wanted
They actively use and update their strategic to do and what the results would look like
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