Effectively implementing and executing business strategy can be the difference between success and failure. By strategizing like enterprises, smaller businesses can meet their objectives and level the playing field.
Strategizing like an enterprise can make the difference between success and failure for a smaller business. How the actions of the teams in your organization support (or don't support) your strategy makes all the difference and in whether or not your business moves toward achieving your goals.
Here are six ways that leaders in smaller businesses can use strategy as well as, or even better than, enterprises:
- What Gets Measured, Gets Done
Measure everything in your business according to your strategy and goals. There's a tremendous opportunity for you, as the CEO or general manager, to make strategy-related metrics part of everything that happens in the company. Whether it's a particular scripted style of answering the phone reminding customers of your latest product launch or an enclosure in every product shipment reminding users of your commitment to quality, there's always a way to build in a reference to your sales support or quality communication strategies. Measure the behavior you want people to do that supports the strategy that leads to goal achievement.
Complement abstract strategies with concrete actions your employees can take to reach the desired goal. Encourage them to add their own. This is a great time to review how effectively you're employing your strategies to increase sales. When you find a gap, develop action-oriented steps to get back on track. Change up the game and get the people in sales talking with people in finance and operations. New ideas formulated by the other team may spur each group to renew their support for the strategy. Even ideas that aren't practical may prove to be a springboard to those that you can implement and use.
- Make It Recurring
We all know what summer is like where we live. In Silicon Valley, it's hot. Sometimes it's smoggy. When it gets too hot, we go over the hill to the beach in Santa Cruz, where we can always count on it being 10 degrees cooler. My point is, we're all seasonal creatures and more likely to remember things that are anchored in certain seasons or months. Make your strategy review recurring. Put it on the calendar so that your team comes to view October not as "Halloween month" but as your planning month. When you review, formulate, and implement strategy on a fixed schedule, your employees come to expect it -- you can give your team a 60-day reminder and the topic will begin simmering in the background.
If you've been married for a year, you're probably not as good at it as someone who's been married for 20 years. Help people on your team by scheduling predictably so that they get into a rhythm of expectation. Do another reminder at 30 days at a team meeting. Remind them verbally to get their ideas prepared. Provide them with what last year's goals were and details about how they got there. Athletes possess something called "muscle memory." If you played tennis in college, it's likely that 10 years later you'll have an easier time picking it up than someone who has never played -- that's muscle memory. Regular repetition at predictable intervals will give your organization strategy memory and set your teams up for great performance.
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- Plan, Plan, Plan, and Plan
This can be particularly difficult in a smaller organization where the CEO wears a wardrobe of hats and changes them from minute to minute. This makes planning even more important.
Why? Without a plan, it's tough to navigate in a "hurry up" environment. This is why football teams practice what's called a two-minute drill. In a football game, the clock stops with two minutes left. There's a time-out, play resumes, and both teams know it's now or never. It's considered so critical that teams drill over and over on plays specific to this time-constrained part of the game.
What we plan and practice we usually do easily. Set up ways your team can get involved in planning. Team meetings can be a good place to test mental puzzles. If the warehouse is squeezed with big orders, do people in other areas know how to help so that your sales strategy can be executed? Does everyone know how to pitch in during inventory? Can people from other units help the accounting people when tax time comes? Plan and cross-train so that no matter what happens, your strategy can be carried out.
Next Page: Making Strategy Part Of Your Business DNA
