Since 2006 I’ve been living in my current home which has a small pond in the backyard. When I first moved in during the month of March, we also had an abundance of rain. At that time I was traveling 100% for work and every Friday night when I arrived home from a week away, I was greeted by tiny new weeds. No matter how diligently I pulled the weeds out each Saturday, they continued to return by each week’s end.
As I fought the good fight against the weeds for the rainy month of March (until my new neighbor introduced me to weed killer), never once did my little pond overflow. It rained almost every day in March, but never enough that my pond was overwhelmed. A few weeks into April the unthinkable occurred; yup, the pond overflowed. Despite my spending time the previous day bailing water out, the overnight’s rainfall was more than the pond could hold.
As I looked outside my window watching additional rain fall into an already overflowing pond I reflected on a story about a woman who was down to her last bit of supplies when she is asked to have faith that her meager remaining supplies will last as long as she needs them to. As she moves in faith to believe her needs will be met, her pots become full; but only as much as she had faith for. What she learned from the experience was that her belief in what she was going to receive, and her ensuing preparation, dictated the level of supplies she was ultimately given.
So let me ask you this question, “How often do you allow your expectations to dictate how big your next outcome is going to be?” As I watched the water in the pond continue to make its way towards my home, I contemplated my desire to be filled to overflow in many areas of life so I have abundance to give others. Specifically, I’m contemplating how to help clients take their business strategy from analysis to action.
Here are five macro level points anyone looking to take their business to the next level may wish to consider…
ASSESS CURRENT PERFORMANCE
- Analyze organization’s current strategic direction by:
- Ensuring an understanding of the Mission, Vision, Values
- Maintaining internal diagnostics; actual performance data
- Reviewing external assessments of industry, markets, competition, plus geo-political conditions
CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS
- Determining which activities within a given area, function, or department must be monitored to ensure successful execution of the organization’s strategic direction.
IDENTIFYING CORE COMPETENCIES
- Identifying core competencies that enable the organization to distinguish itself from competitors in order to create competitive advantage.
BREAKING DOWN BARRIERS TO SUCCESS
- Identifying any process, structure, equipment, or behaviors that do not support the organization’s strategic direction.
ACTION PLANNING
- Identifying and prioritizing strategic initiatives
- Creating an action plan with appropriate milestones
- Developing an ongoing review process
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