3 minute read
Planning to Succeed in 2022 and Beyond
Kenneth O’Callaghan Marketing Manager
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If you look outwardly across the business landscape, the superior performers within the financial advice industry all have one thing in common. They have a strategy. Michael Porter, a strategy expert and professor at Harvard Business School, emphasises the need for strategy to define and communicate an organisation’s unique position, and says that it should determine how organisational resources, skills, and competencies should be combined to create competitive advantage.
Strategy is about choice – what to do and what not to do in order to grow. It’s absolutely vital to hitting your full potential, yet strikingly over 40% of businesses stated that they do not have a formal strategy planning process. Most leaders of advice firms start with the tactic with no real considerations as to the reasoning. The below structure can help you to formulate your strategic plan.
Look at your company’s current position and assess it’s internal strengths and weaknesses. What is the company capable of and what are the skills, knowledge and resources that it currently possesses? Identify the gaps and barriers to the company’s progression and highlight what has previously been successful. 2. Conduct an analysis of the external environment
Simply put, you cannot be successful and achieve your business goals and vision if you’re operating in a bubble, only looking inward at your own organisation and not considering the impacts on your business from the wider world. It is essential to have a good understanding of what is happening outside of your business, so your strategic planning takes this into account, and you don’t end up being blind-sided by something that derails your plan and therefore your success. Many of the external factors that impact your business will ultimately determine what will work and not work for your business, so you need to know them to build the right strategy. This section should look at the political, economic, social, technological, legal/ regulatory and environmental factors that affect your business. It is also worth considering who your customers are, what they want, their behaviours and what your competitors are doing to ensure success.
3. Summarise with a SWOT analysis
A SWOT Analysis is a framework for identifying Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. It is often presented in a 2x2 matrix and can be used to summarise your internal strengths and weaknesses and the opportunities and threats that the external environment presents.
4. Set objectives
Strategic Objectives are the major things you wish to achieve within your plan. Objectives should be specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time bound. A strong set of objectives usually considers financial, marketing, operational and human resource goals. 5. Develop your strategy
A strategy within a strategy? Seems a little confusing. The strategy section of your plan looks at what initiatives you will use to achieve your objectives. For example, if you have set yourself the objective of growing revenue by 25% within 3 years, how will you do this?
6. Develop your tactics
Begin by listing out your strategies and going through each one. Identify what needs to happen to make the strategy a reality, including the details that may have been missed at the higher level. Tactics can be smaller, or they could be individual tasks. It’s important each tactic has an owner, someone responsible and accountable for this element of the overall strategy. As an example, here you could list the channels that you will use to advertise your business and who will be responsible for managing them.
7. Finance/Budgeting
This is where you will define how you will finance the strategy and set clear and realistic budgets for its implementation. Budgeting, forecasting, and strategic cost reduction can be useful tools.
Once you have formulated your strategic plan, you have taken the first step to success. When executed correctly, a realistic plan could allow you to build your capabilities as a business, navigate changing environments and improve your chances of greater success. After all, a goal without a plan is just a wish.
