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November 19, 2010

Are you looking to the future?

Whether you are looking to take your business to the next stage of growth, or if you just want to maintain your existing size, then read our 5 Top Tips for Business Success.

1. Identify your goals – this is easy to say but not always quite as straightforward as it seems.  What do you want to achieve?  For you and for your business?  For most of our clients, these goals are closely intertwined.  So, spend some time clarifying your objectives.  Once you know where you’re going, you can work out what you need to do to get there.

2. Get an outside perspective – make sure you are getting a wider view than just your own.  If you don’t then you are in danger of not evaluating all the possible options and going down a blind alley.  That’s dangerous for your business as well as expensive and time-consuming and it can often be avoided.  Find yourself an advisor you can trust and who has appropriate experience that fills the gaps in your expertise.  For example, get some support on financial planning to make sure you are putting together a realistic budget, or book a couple of coaching sessions to help you to hone your skills so you are more effective at what you do.

3.  Investment not cost – when you have a limited amount of resource it’s easy to see any expenditure as a cost to your business and shy away from spending money.  An investment is one that gives you a quantifiable return…..that’s how you make money in business.  Ask yourself, can you achieve your objectives without this expense?  Could you do better or achieve your goal more quickly with some investment?  Consider the monetary value of everything you do and want to do and be very clear of the benefit of a cost up front to test whether it really is an investment.  A good advisor – and we consider ourselves as one of those – will always work with you to make sure there is a return on your investment before we make any recommendations.

4. Document your plans – once you’ve decided what you are going to do – please write it down.  Once you have committed your thoughts to paper your plan somehow becomes real.  Many people are reluctant to do this for a number of reasons.  However, without that commitment then you can’t be clear on how to implement your plan.  Once you’ve got a clear plan then you can work with your team to make it a reality.  We recommend you make a 3 to 5 year plan and review it at least yearly so you make sure it stays realistic.

5. Get your team onside –  once you’re clear what your plan is you need to engage your team to get them to help you implement it.  Depending on where you are in your business and with your team, this is where things can go really wrong.  Consider how your team will feel about your ideas – get them involved so they feel some responsibility for delivering it and ensure you have thought through the implications for them.  For example, what does success look like for them?  This is the main stumbling block for organisations, whether it’s about letting go and delegating effectively or facilitating a team session to present your plan, so consider getting some help if it’s new ground for you.