Exponential times have raised the bar for us to sustain business growth today. We are experiencing fast-moving change in so many facets of our businesses. Incremental thinking will only put us further behind so an effective strategic plan must be a priority.
HORNE Managing Partner of strategic growth Joey Havens said companies must consistently review their strategic plans for growth because trends affecting businesses change rapidly, and we must anticipate or respond quickly rather than wait until next year to see how we did.
“I think today, with the overall speed of change and the workforce re-evaluating what they want out of work, you have to be more anticipatory,” he said. “You can’t wait to react. You also need to be flexible.”
What are your goals?
Havens said that business owners and leaders have traditionally mapped out goals and the best way to achieve them, but the strategic plan can’t stop there.
“A normal SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis is not going to get us where we need to be, when we put it on a shelf and don’t pull it down until the next year to see what we didn’t get done,” Havens said. “This year and going forward, we need to have an anticipatory mindset.
“Once we understand what our aspirations are, what our goals are, we have to start defining the challenges that will keep us from getting there.” What trends are changing that bring new challenges and, best yet new opportunities? Being anticipatory in our planning will bring more opportunities and help us prepare for the new challenges coming our way.
Know your challenges
Havens advises companies to decide which challenges we can control or influence and then prioritize them.
“If everything is important, nothing is,” he said. “So, prioritizing those challenges and then putting together an action plan to manage those challenges is the key to moving forward with your strategic plan.”
A strategic plan will be more effective if we have been anticipatory and planned it specifically for our goals and challenges. Intentionally reviewing our plans often because we know, the change coming at us is not slowing down. We want our planning to be anticipatory and flexible in an exponential world.
If you would like to learn more about being anticipatory in your strategic planning or you are looking for someone to help facilitate your next strategic plan, please call or message us. Our passion is around helping companies plan a future view that provides them opportunity, relevance and growth.
