Strategy is big and complicated, right? Not so, says a business guru. Really small businesses have strategies, even if they don’t know it.
In a previous article, I wrote about the first phase of my newly minted spring planning process.
You can read that post here but I know you don’t want to click… so here’s the TL;DR:
- I used to do my annual business review and planning at the end of the year, in December.
- This year, not so much. The timing of the new year is based on the northern hemisphere’s winter solstice and just doesn’t align with the southern hemisphere (or my state of mind in the horror show that is December and January in the heat)..
- I’m trying to use the spring equinox in September (a natural time for reflection and renewal) as my new year.
- I did a bunch of journaling, researching online resources and created a workbook.
That process was very touchy-feely, working with emotions and mindset changes.
Phase two got down to the nitty gritty
You’d assume there were big strategic thoughts and grand plans?
Again, not so much.
I’ve made a lot of those kinds of plans in the past, and inevitably find that I meet almost none of the targets I set myself.
That’s probably because I don’t have much (or any) formal training in the ways of commerce and business, but also because I’m inherently a details-focussed person and not naturally given to grand plans. (Just tell me what you want done and I’ll get done .)
But I have a secret weapon: the writings of a man called Roger Martin.
His bio says: “In 2017, Roger was named the world’s #1 management thinker by Thinkers50, a biannual ranking of the most influential global business thinkers. Roger is a trusted strategy advisor to the CEOs of companies worldwide including Procter & Gamble, Lego, Ford, BHP & Verizon.”
Clearly, he knows a thing or two about business and commerce. He is also a good writer and a generous sharer of his thoughts on Medium, where his writings are free to read.
I don’t always read every post to the end – they sometimes assume that the audience is people who work in leadership in large companies, whereas I work in leadership with a staff of one: me.
But there’s one post I have read several times:
It has this simple title: Where to Start with Strategy?
And delivers on that promise: it gives you a place to start.
Getting better with betterment
I urge you to read the post – but here are the essential points (summarised by me, with some help from Google’s Notebook LM):
Martin says businesses should focus on “betterment” when developing strategies, rather than aiming for a “perfect strategy”:
· A company’s strategy is what it does. What they choose to spend money on, which customers they serve, and where they operate are the strategy. This is true even if the company hasn’t written down a formal strategy document, or doesn’t have a mission statement.
· This existing strategy is very powerful. It has the power of the status quo on its side. People naturally want to continue with what is familiar and comfortable. It’s best to work with this reality than to assume you are starting from scratch. The way you have always done things is sitting there, waiting for you to do what you have always done.
· Yes, you want a powerful strategy which Martin describes as an integrated set of choices that compels desired customer action.
· But start in one place: betterment (starting with the current situation and making it better). He says you should identify the biggest gaps between what’s actually happening and what you want to happen, and then figure out what different choices you can make to close those gaps.
This way of doing things is iterative, Martin says. “Before you put those choices into action, go to the second biggest gap and ask what different choices you could make to cause that gap to go away. Then consider those choices in the context of the choices you are contemplating to work on the first gap. If the two sets of choices are consistent, terrific! Then move on to the third choice.” And so on.
I’ve been holding the idea of betterment in my mind for some time – and the more I think about it, the more I think it is incredibly powerful. And applicable to many more situations than a strategy for small business.
Essentially, the plan of action is to start small, based on a realistic view of the reality in front of you. And then to start taking steps to make things better. If you want to walk the Camino, start with walking round your neighbourhood once or twice a week. That would be a betterment of the situation in which you sit on the couch and dream about the Camino.
What that means for my business
I took the article and turned it into yet another workbook, using Martin’s idea, and some business planning steps that had been suggested in the making of my previous workbook.
My biggest gap between reality and how I want things to be turned out to be the need to stabilise my finances. And that means getting serious about marketing, as I already knew (see two blog posts already written here and here).
But knowing that marketing was important and understanding that it is the single big thing I need to tackle are two different things. And that is a very good place to be this particular spring!
Get the Spring Planning Phase One Workbook here.
Want the second one? Download it here
READ MORE
How to do small business planning… in spring! | Safe Hands
How not to hate marketing (part one) | Safe Hands
How not to hate marketing (part two) | Safe Hands
Main picture: Phil Desforges, Unsplash
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