It’s all too easy to get lost working in your business and lose sight of the big picture. Businesses that thrive know where they’re going and how they’re going to get there.
Assuming your strategic plan is sorted (if not, give us a shout – we can help with that), it’s time to focus on your annual plan. If you’d like a process to follow, here are the steps we take at Greenhawk.
We lock in a one to two day planning session at the start of every calendar year – straight after the summer break and before we even think about client work – to get ourselves focused, aligned and charged for the year ahead.
We start the session by reviewing our strategic plan, fine-tuning as needed.
Next, we work through the areas of focus required to achieve these targets. We ask questions like:
1. Do we have the structure we need to deliver our goals?
2. Do we have the funding we need to deliver our goals?
3. How can we make the most of trends and mitigate risks identified in our SWOT & PESTLE analysis?
Taking all of this fodder, we develop a set of key projects for the year. We rank them in order of importance, create a set of actions for each, and – importantly – assign deadlines and resources committed to complete them.
Tip: Break it down. We like to break our plan into quarters. 90-day blocks keep focus and motivation levels high. Quarterly blocks also work well for reviewing progress.
Tip: Keep it sweet. No one wants to read pages of detail, and neither will you three months from now. Keep your action plans short and sweet.
It’s easy to get lost in the day-to-day running of your business. If this continues on, your goals may slip away. Scheduling monthly or quarterly progress reviews with an accountability partner is a powerful way of staying energised, motivated and on track. We can help with this – check out our Quarterly Review service below.
And that’s it. Annual business planning can seem like a mammoth task, but it doesn’t have to be. It can also seem tedious – it’s not! We find it exciting and invigorating ☺
ACTION: Schedule one or two days of Annual Planning into your calendar right now.
(1) Let your clients know that you’re reopening a couple of days later than you actually are;
(2) Dedicate these days to planning and set your business up for success.
We love partnering with business owners – seeing our clients succeed is one of the most rewarding parts of this job!
If you’d like personalised support with any of the above, check out these Greenhawk services:
Designed for business owners who are passionate about performance. We’ll educate and support you to make better business decisions. Each quarter we’ll analyse your financial results, identify areas for growth, set 90-day goals and identify strategies to achieve them, holding you accountable along the way.
Designed for business owners who want strategic commercial guidance to set their direction. Leaning on extensive cross-industry experience, one of our senior partners will walk you through the development of your strategic or annual business plan. Start the new year energised & confident with a robust plan for success.
