Building the Plan / Strategy
In Start-up phase, the founder holds the vision in his head and implements his vision by doing the necessary tasks himself along with a few close employees or partners who he/she usually knows very well. As a business grows and more people join a few things can happen:
Each new joiner, interprets the often verbal Vision his own way, generally adding his experience to it. The result is a diluted vision being executed which can in more extreme circumstances lead to business failure and/or the founder leaving as his/her vision is not being realised. In a recent Newstalk interview with Joe Lynam (Apr 22, 2024), Trinny Woodall, who was in Ireland to launch her skincare range, advises against making too much money too early, and believes an idea and product should be rock solid before bringing on too many people who could influence her vision.
She said, "You need enough time by yourself and a few people to cement the idea, to make it so strong and possible, then at the right stage you bring in people with more experience for details of e-commerce and CMOs, all the bits they will know more about than you.
The Vision is not clearly articulated. The new joiners are not clear what is expected of them. Business growth stalls as it’s only being driven by the same small founding team. Without growth new team members can lose motivation and leave.
To avoid this scenario, successful scaling businesses need to dedicate time to articulate their vision with their core team. There are many tools you can use to support this exercise. I find the following 10 questions really helpful to simplify the strategic planning process of getting the vision out of your head and on paper, in order to crystallise where the business is going and how you will get there.
The 10 Questions
1. What are our Core Values? 3-5 values only – these set the culture of the business – it’s how we do things ‘round here’
2. What is our Purpose or Passion for what we do? This is your reason for being – it’s why you are as a business exist
3. What is the Niche you occupy for your customers in terms of either a product or service offering?
4. What is your 10 Year Target? This is your Vision, the destination you are aiming for
5. Who is your Target Market? Profile of who you want to attract – age, location, interests etc.
6. What makes you different from your competitors? What are your top 3 Uniques?
7. How will you do business with your customer – what’s your process?
8. What is your guarantee on that process?
9. What does the 3 year picture look like:
Revenue
Profit
Key Metrics i.e. Customer Satisfaction
What does it look like? - Key attributes of the business products, customers, locations
10. What are the goals for Year 1? – Financials, Customer, People, Partners, Products.
From my experience of building a plan as CEO and now working with clients, I recommend:
Selecting your strategy team, likely your senior leadership team
Meet with your team to outline your desired outcome and the process you plan to follow. It may be helpful to engage an independent facilitator to keep the group working the process rather than getting side tracked on existing business issues. Once everyone is clear on why they are here and what the ultimate outcome is, I recommend sharing the list of questions and asking each team member to draft their answers to each question.
Next, schedule 3 workshops, at least one week apart to allow thinking time but also to maintain momentum.
Session 1: Focus on questions 1 to 4. This is big picture why are we here, how do we serve and where do we want to get to? - theis will take most of a day
Session 2: Questions 4 – 8. This is more granular in terms of who your customers are, how do we differentiate, competitors, process and guarantee. - this part is quicker but needs good pre work - half day
Session 3: Questions 9 & 10. Setting more tangible goals for 3 years and then one year. - half day should be long enough
The sessions should follow the following format:
Recap on why we are here
Reflect on what was discussed in last session, any insights, updates, challenges
Share, discuss, debate the questions for this workshop and develop one answer from all the inputs
Time dependent, open the end result to challenge or comment to build agreement.
At the end of the 3 sessions you will have:
Documented your strategy and built a plan for how you will get there
In addition, you will have brought your team on that journey
Now they will have deeper insight on where you want the business to go which will help with day to day decision making
A plan ready to communicate with the wider team.
I have used many strategy processes and templates with clients and have found most success with teams who have followed the steps above. Building a plan is dynamic, in a way it’s an ongoing process, so whether you are at the beginning or elsewhere in your growth journey and would like support to articulate your strategy, bring your team on the journey or communicate it to a wider group, then get in touch and we can develop a process that best suits your needs.