All hands on the pumpProbably derives from the old fire-fighting days when it took the use of several firemen's muscles on the handles of one huge pump to put out a fire. Sometimes the task at hand just requires lots of people working on the solution or execution for a turnaround.
All hands on the pump
an illustration by Gahan Wilson from Ron's Book "Green Weenies and Due Diligence"
Powerful Strategic Business Planning
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See if this describes you and your small business. You devote most of your energies to solving the day-to-day issues that arise, to taking care of customers, to getting your daily work done.
You've been meaning to set aside a day to do your strategic business planning for 2009, but you haven't found the time.
As someone who has spent thirty years building businesses, I can sympathize. The amount of work that it takes to run a business is something only those doing it really understand.
Make a Strategic Plan for Your Small Business
However, investing the time to create a strategic plan for your business is the single most important thing you can do to ensure that your business thrives in tougher times.
I use a simple strategic planning tool to prioritize initiatives and make sound strategic plans. Although there are many fine business strategy tools, this one is not taught in business schools, but it is the most effective way to make a strategic plan for your small business that I've ever found.
Strategic Planning Tool Made for Business Building
If you are a serious business builder, you'll want to know about a strategic planning tool called "Big and Easy" Analysis. Gather together the initiatives that you are considering making part of your strategic plan. Draw a vertical line down the center of a whiteboard and label the top of the line Big and the bottom of the line Small. Draw a second horizontal line so that you make a cross and label the left end of the line Easy and the right end Hard.
Now you are ready to bring each initiative up for discussion and put it one of the four quarters of your cross. Strategic initiatives with a big payoff that are easy go in the big and easy section. Initiatives with a small payoff that are hard to accomplish go in the section of the cross that corresponds to that category.
At the end of the discussion, you should have all of your action items in one of the four sections. It should be easy to see where to put your efforts in building your small business. Using this strategic planning tool is something I recommend and have written about in several strategic planning articles
Strategic Planning Groups Create Better Strategic Business Plans
However, you can get even more out of the exercise if you evaluate your strategic business plans in a group with other small business owners. The discussion of your plan items is enriched by the contributions of others entrepreneurs who have experience with doing something similar in their businesses. Magic can happen in strategic planning groups. Better plans emerge, vetted by experienced business people. Collaborative strategic business planning groups among non-competitive small businesses is a win-win for those involved.
It works and it will help you grow in 2009.
In 2008, Paula Merrell, the owner of Chef Point Cafe in Fort Worth, decided to join a small strategic planning workshop that we held here in Fort Worth.
Year-over-year sales at her business grew 200% in 2008 because she was implementing an extremely sound and well-vetted peer reviewed strategic plan.
Make a promise to yourself to set aside the time and use the tool to create a strategic plan for your business. Not doing it is a business mistake you can't afford in 2009.
If you're ready for breakthrough business growth, take the invitation I'm about to offer you.
Over the coming months, I will be putting together peer reviewed strategy planning groups for small business owners. The members of the group will be from different industries, so you won't see your competitors there.
If you are interested in investing a day in going the kind of strategic business planning that leads to explosive growth in 2009, contact me by e-mail at rons@rdsinvestments.com. The cost of the full day strategic planning group will be only $650 per participant, much less than hiring a business consultant for a day.