Be Different or be dead

April 21, 2011

Why a business plan for 24-months makes the best sense

Source: Unsplash

Why a business plan for 24-months makes the best sense.

The 5-year business plan has serious flaws.

The outlying years 3, 4 and 5 can’t be predicted with any degree of accuracy and they never show up (anyone ever see year 5 materialize?)

More importantly, fussing about these later years keeps you from executing today.

So what’s the appropriate planning period?

In principle it should represent a slice of time that you believe will have a high degree of continuity. A period of time where the degree of uncertainty Is relatively low.

It’s a crap shoot no matter how you look at it.

I always had success using a 24-month plan and differentiating it from a 2-year plan. Thinking of the business plan in months keeps execution in your sights.

It also keeps you from being too locked in to a specific course of action regardless of the results you achieve and how much you learn through implementing your strategy.

My formula: create a 24-month business plan.

Focus on execution. Learn from how well you execute

Be alert to the unforeseen. Adjust on the run.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 4.21.11 at 10:00 am by Roy Osing
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April 18, 2011

Why direct line of sight to your strategy means better execution

Source: Pexels

Why direct line of sight to your strategy means better execution.

A successful career requires identifying directly with the strategy of the organization. Here’s how to do it…

Establish a direct line between what your organization’s strategy says and what specific objectives and action plans you take on in your current position. This is a challenge in most organizations.

The strategic game plan contains lofty goals set at a high level and need to be drilled down to the individual employee in order to execute the plan effectively. Clear and direct line of sight defines brilliant execution.

Direct line of sight means that you have defined the relevant critical few things that you must do in order to maximize your impact on the new strategy.

It means that you have accurately translated the higher level ten thousand foot goals down to ground zero where you operate.

Here’s an example. Let’s say that one of your marketing strategies is to target the retail customer segment in the greater Toronto area and grow your share of this group’s business by 10% over the next twelve months. You are the leader of the Call Center operations and want to translate this into what it specifically means to your goals and objectives.

Direct line of sight for your role means:

— Revised operating procedures that provide a focus on the retail customer group in all contacts. Other customers segments will get a lower priority.
— New training and development programs for the retail sector take priority over other training initiatives.
— More call center representative time is dedicated to retail customers than other customers.
—More attention given to the retail account in terms of learning their secrets.
— Building enhanced relationships between marketing and the call center teams. Joint activity planning sessions are held; shared revenue targets are set.
— Monthly joint meetings are held with marketing to review performance results for the retail customer segment. Action plans to address any shortfall between plan and actual results take number one priority.

The opposite of direct line of sight is described by words like indirect, circumlocutory, oblique, diffused, confused, meandering, feeble, and foggy. It suggests that you haven’t determined the specific actions you must take to successfully impact plan execution.

As a result, your energy is dissipated among many things - often associated with the old strategy - and you lack the precision and focus to make a measurable difference in terms of implementing the new strategy.

If you can’t define a direct line between what your role in the organization is and the overall business strategy your role will be vaguely defined and your contribution to the changes required will be watered down; it will get lost in the clutter and its energy will dissipate and get consumed by the momentum of other activities.

On the other hand if you can define and action those specific projects that have a direct impact on the corporate result your productivity shoots up and your actions truly make a difference. 

And you will attract the attention of the foxes as your clarity of thought and task focus will demonstrate that you are committed to living the new strategy through your daily actions.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 4.18.11 at 10:59 am by Roy Osing
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April 14, 2011

Why 5-year business plans should make you sick and tired

Source: Unsplash

Why 5-year business plans should make you sick and tired.

Why do organizations still produce a 5 year business plan?

Have you ever seen the 5th year of a 5-year business plan year show up? I haven’t. Next year it becomes the 4th year; following that the 3rd year. And so it goes.

Yet it amazes me how much time and energy people put into trying to make the 5th year (and the 3rd and 4th for that matter) as “accurate”  as they can.

People seem to want to wring out the last 10% of perfection in the latter plan years; it seems to be the guiding principle.

Doesn’t this strike you as a bit dysfunctional? A waste of the most precious commodity we have - time? Who the hell knows what year 5 will look like?

All we really know is that it will be different from what we think it will be from today’s vantage point. So why try to plan with precision in year 5?

Spending a whole lot of time trying to determine with any degree of accuracy what years 4 and 5 look like in any business plan is a waste of time and it keeps you from getting stuff done; from executing NOW!

If you must feed the animals who lust after a five year wild ass guess (because that’s what it is), at least minimize how much time you spend on the outlying years.

Five minutes ought to do it.

Want to invest your time wisely? Reduce your business plan to 24 months and get on with executing.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 4.14.11 at 10:00 am by Roy Osing
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April 11, 2011

Why storytelling is really needed to make an awesome career

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Why storytelling is really needed to make an awesome career.

Successful people in an organization are usually identified as the ones who push for change. They not only recognize the need for it, they take on the role of communicating passionately for it to anyone who will listen — they adopt the messenger of change role.

Storytelling is a key ingredient to communicate the need for change in an organization and, if done well, helps build your brand as the messenger of change and your career benefits accordingly

To be recognized as a passionate messenger of change, these three actions will serve you well.

Events

Make it an important personal priority to organize events to discuss the direction of the organization and why change is necessary. Make it matter. Start with your own work team and expand to include other audiences.

Organize Bear Pit Sessions with frontline and staff people to get a cross section of commentary going on the direction the organization is taking, and provide feedback to leadership accordingly.

My approach was to have at least one employee event on my calendar monthly. The agenda was simple: remind people of the market forces that require the company to change, describe the company’s business plan and strategy to respond to changes being felt, and ask for feedback and support. My bosses quickly became aware of my actions and were very obliging when I would ask for their participation in the events.

Energy

The great messengers of change understand that’s it’s not all about the content of the message, rather it’s about the energy exhibited when expressing it. Strong emotion behind the business plan tells a story in and of itself: that the messenger unconditionally believes in what they are saying.

Their passion becomes infectious and others quickly buy-in.

I tried to downplay the theoretical aspects of the business plan we were trying to execute; the text book science of the strategy we were on. The audience doesn’t give a rats ass about how the change strategy adheres to microeconomic theory, all they want to know is that the way forward will make the organization successful and that they will be safe.

The messenger’s personal belief — expressed passionately — in the plan will do more to assuage the listeners than their promulgation of the theoretical justification for doing it.

Remember, people will tune you out unless they feel you believe what you are saying.

Use rich language in your presentations. Be visual and use pictures to describe where your company is going. My experience is that most people have to work very hard to interpret words and numbers, but they get it right away when they see pictures and graphs — the analogue world — with rich color and interpretation.

Stories

Pick stories that bring the crucial elements of your strategy to life. If, for example, creating memories for people in terms of their experiences with you is a main part of your strategic platform, sprinkle stories of employees (using their names) dazzling customers throughout the discussion.

If sales plays a major role, add stories of salespeople going the extra mile to build strong intimate relationships with customers.

An effective story communicates your strategy more than any other communications tool; the more stories you tell, the more likely it is that your audience will understand what the organization is trying to achieve.

What if the messenger can’t find a memorable story to tell? Well, that’s a pretty good indicator that the strategy isn’t being executed all that visibly so you have to dig deeper to find one.

Ans as a reminder, be as specific as you can in your story; use real people to express the event. Everyone relates more to stories that involve their particular function or department in the organization and about their colleagues.

Storytelling is a must for the messenger of change.

Include it as an essential element of your day-to-day work plan. Gather stories and find people who are living your strategy.

Develop your story telling repertoire.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 4.11.11 at 11:00 am by Roy Osing
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