Business leaders too often find themselves "working in" the business and not "working on" the business. What is the difference; and why does it matter?
The success and failure of organizations can be attributed to a variety of issues. Sweat equity, perseverance, passion, disruptive innovation, marketing and sales, and available capital all can play a part. In guiding the business to succeed, leadership often succumbs to the "all-hands-on-deck" approach. The immediacy of getting things done in order to meet customer/client demands becomes an all-consuming effort. This sense of urgency means that planning and decision-making focus on the near-term to keep day-to-day operations running smoothly. There appears to be no time to step back and look at the bigger picture.
This is the scenario of "working in" the business. Sound familiar?
Imperative to the long-term sustainable success for any organization is the need to plan: to create a roadmap that sets the direction and defines the destination/objective of where the organization is headed. Despite the feeling that there is never enough time to
"work in" the business, leaders must learn to dedicate the time necessary to
"work on" the business.
"Working on" the business requires planning, developing strategy and evaluating and re-evaluating the changing circumstances that have an impact on the organization. It means being proactive about planning; dedicating the necessary time to make it happen. Plans make the future happen as we would like to see it happen. Without it, as the following graphic shows, failing to plan is only planning to fail.
The framework for a Strategic Planning effort comes back to an articulation of a Vision. I encourage my clients to pick a point in the future and describe the organization so that it is clear and vivid. When the Vision is sufficiently described and communicated to everyone in the organization, it engages sensory receptors so that each person can see, feel, touch, taste, hear, and smell what it is like. It becomes a reality for everyone to become a part of.
Having a clear vision in place that defines the organization in the future establishes the goal line. Now it's time to assess where the organization is. Doing so helps clarify the steps necessary to move from the existing state to the goal line. These steps become the Mission of the organization. These Mission Critical steps help prioritize and orchestrate broad initiatives that move the organization toward that goal line so that the Vision can become reality.
Underlying both the Vision and Mission is the need to articulate the Values of the organization. These Values are the moral compass for the organization defining the principles and beliefs that guide decisions and operational protocols.
Having established the fundamentals of the strategy, a business plan can be developed to be the operational plan that moves the organization forward. All the requisite functional areas of the organization should be addressed that may include: marketing, sales, HR, financial, production, quality, sustainability. Each element should include distinct action items tied to stakeholder ownership and completion dates. These become the specific goals and objectives that can be tied to group and individual performance metrics and reinforce the broader Mission Critical steps.
Vision, Mission and Values are fundamental to the strategy plan. Each element together lays the foundation for a well thought-out business plan. As business conditions change, the Vision and Mission of the organization need to be reviewed and adjusted where necessary. The worst scenario is to continue to "work in" the business and not be cognizant of major market shifts that could make the current business strategy irrelevant.
The beginning of the 2nd Quarter of the year is an opportune time to reassess where you are with your strategy. Is the Vision still intact? Have you communicated it effectively to everyone who has a stake in the organization? Are your broad Mission Critical initiatives still the correct ones? Should you re-prioritize initiatives based on a shift in Vision or a change in market conditions?
And finally, are you prioritizing your time to be proactive about "working on" the business? The long-term sustainable success of your organization depends on it.
