This week: Just dive in…

In last week’s Strategy for SMEs article, we covered why it’s critical for small business owners to embrace strategy and planning. In this, the second part of our series, we are turning the theory into reality: as a small business owner, what practical steps can you take, how do you start… and what then?

Make it happen

This may sound simplistic… but the single most important thing is to make the decision to start. Commit to yourself that strategy and planning is now a priority, and that you’re going dive in and go for it.

So, how do you deliver on that commitment to yourself? There are three key steps (1) Carve out time and headspace in your schedule, (2) Arm yourself with a guide to get you started and (3) Just go for it. Let’s take those one step at a time…

Step 1: Time and space

You need to block out time to think and plan. In our previous article we suggested 5-10% of a working week should be spent ON the business (not IN the business).

OK, very few small business owners work a 40 hour week (we wish!) but still, we’ll use that as a rule of thumb for scheduling strategy time… so, allow the equivalent of 2-4 hours per week.

Either set aside a couple of hours each week, or a half-day each fortnight. Put strategy and planning time in your calendar. Book yourself out; you are not available for other meetings, calls, quotes, admin, fire-fighting, cat-herding…

Also, remove distractions: your normal office may not be the right place for these sessions. Turn off your phone… and your watch (unless it’s old-school and just tells you the time!).

When you’re planning these session times, it’s worth thinking about the fact that the first few are likely to be just the owner/s – while you get your head around the process.

After that, don’t shy away from involving members of your wider team. Not only can staff input be incredibly valuable (you may even be surprised how much your team have to offer in terms of strategic input) but if changes to the business come out of these sessions, getting early buy-in by engaging your people in the process can make a big difference to ongoing success.

Either way, get these sessions in your diary and don’t let them get sidelined.

Step 2: Get some guidelines

Your starting point needs to be something that simply provides an easy framework to guide your thinking.

Get yourself a template. Not a long-form business plan, but a short, approachable format that guides you in the questions to ask yourself about the business and helps you think.

Ideally, it should provide headings (and explanations) as prompts to formulate your thoughts. More than anything, these first sessions should raise questions, and give you the space to consider your vision for your business.

Your guideline should then also help you translate that vision into reality; get ideas on paper so you build action plans and track them as you move forward. Pragmatic things like objectives for financials, customers, operational factors and resources.

These are the stepping stones against which you set KPIs to measure your success as you move towards your vision and goals. Note that these are the areas when it can be great to engage your wider team to help define and set objectives and actions.

Of course as small business owners, we are pretty much always considering personal-professional AND business goals, as these thing are inexorably linked for our size of company. Make sure the template that you’re using as a guide takes account of this.

Feel free to download the Business Positive SME Strategy Framework as your starting point.

Step 3: Go for it

Start. Think big and broad. Get words on paper. They might not be right, you may come back and re-work many times, but get started. Use the guidelines you’ve sourced to steer you.

The first couple of sessions you will be looking at creating your own framework, considering various questions and ideas – and probably digging quite deep as you think about your goals, and where you want to take your business.

You’ll learn in these first few sessions what your ongoing strategic structure might look like… and you’ll fairly naturally start lining up tasks for the following sessions.

Planning and strategising isn’t really about ticking boxes; give over this time to consider, think and research. To ask yourself questions that you then come back to in the next sessions, perhaps with a fresh set of answers or a new approach.

A note to bear in mind as you start to formulate your more detailed thoughts and plans: remember you are internal to your own process. Be aware of not “speaking” on behalf of your customers. Use data (if you have it) and insights to inform your ideas. Consider that part of the strategy process could be reaching out to customers, to bring a Voice of the Customer (VOC) experience to your thinking.

Following these steps, before you know it… you’re doing it. You’re a small business owner actively strategic planning! Ask for help if you need it. We’re always here! And do let us know how you get on.

NEXT WEEK… Accountability and momentum: how to ensure you keep moving forward with your strategy

(And don’t forget to grab your copy of our SME Strategy Framework to get you started! 👇  )

SME Strategy Framework

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