Successful entrepreneurs know the difference between efficiency and effectiveness.
Efficiency is doing things right.
Effectiveness is doing the right things.
There are thousands of entrepreneurs out there who will easily spending 60 or 70 hours a week on their business, and yet they can't ever seem to get ahead. They sweat every payroll, dread getting the mail and dig in even harder on completing their to-do lists, because it gives them a sense of control.
What if the items on their to-do lists are the wrong things to get done?
Strategic planning is a must for every business to succeed, whether it's a company of 1 or 1,000.
See measurable and profitable changes:
- Strategic Analysis includes:
Identifying or updating the mission statement, vision statement, values statement, etc. Conducting a review, of the organization's environment. Considering various driving forces in that environment Looking at the various strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats regarding the organization. - Setting Strategic Direction:
Drawing conclusions about what the organization must do as a result of the major issues and opportunities facing the organization. Determining the overall accomplishments (or strategic goals) the organization should achieve Identifying the overall methods (or strategies) to achieve the accomplishments. - Action Planning:
Laying out how the strategic goals will be accomplished. Specifying specific results and milestones within each strategic goal. Specifying responsibilities and timelines with each result or milestone, Establishing methods to monitor and evaluate the plan, which includes knowing how the organization will know who has done what and by when. Developing an annual plan (sometimes called the operational plan or management plan), which includes the strategic goals, strategies, objectives, responsibilities and timelines that should be done in the coming year Including budgets which specify the money needed for the resources that are necessary to implement the annual plan. Budgets also depict how the money will be spent, for example, for human resources, equipment, materials, etc.