Four key things to consider before planning your next move.
For many business owners, moving on to the next level can be so exciting that it’s quite easy to dive into the planning and implementing stages unprepared. Below are a few key aspects of the business that need to be considered before planning your next move.
1. The current beliefs, attitudes, and values of the business
These are the core ethics or principles which the business will abide by, no matter what. They sum up what your business stands for, your philosophy and what you are known for. These values are what will support your vision. They guide how the business should run and the behaviour which employees should operate with.
2. Your business environment
It is important to analyse your external environment in order to identify what opportunities or threats they may create for your business, as well as how these can influence the direction of your business in the next five to ten years. The external environment includes political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental factors.
3. Your strategic goals
A strategic plan focuses on four perspectives which are based on the Balanced Scorecard process. Therefore, the strategic goals would fall within the categories of financial, customers, internal processes and employee learning and growth. Having a clear understanding of what your current strategic goals are will bring awareness of what works and what needs changing, hence helping you better define your new goals.
4. The current state of your business
When moving to the next level, the current state of your business is your new starting point. To ensure that you are seeing the whole picture, it is important to reach out to others within the business and gather as much information that will give you a clear stance of where your business is. This enables you to better tailor your goals as well as to determine the level of change required to make that vision a reality.
With the present in mind, you can begin to focus on the future by asking some key vision questions. What is the ideal future of the business? Where are we going? Where do we see ourselves in one year? Five years? Ten years?
About Janice George-Pinard
Janice is a Certified Business Coach whose extensive professional experience in various aspects of business has set her on a mission to help business leaders turn their Vision into Reality. She works with them to develop and implement strategies, best-practice systems and take action steps that will help move their business forward. In addition to Business Coaching, she is an Entrepreneur, Certified Life Coach, Trainer, Wife and Mum. She also works with Christian business owners who desire to run their business based on Biblical Principles.