Tag Archive for: #businesplanning

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Lessons from the Sky: What Geese Flying in Formation Teach Us About Business Planning and Alignment

Discover the Secrets to Maximizing Efficiency and Success for Small to Medium-Sized Businesses

Introduction:

In the intricate tapestry of nature, the flight of geese offers a remarkable lesson in teamwork, strategy, and efficiency. For small to medium-sized business leaders, this avian marvel provides valuable insights into effective business planning and alignment. In this blog post, we’ll delve into the world of geese in flight and unveil the strategies that can elevate your business to new heights.

Why Geese are Great Business Planners:

Much like successful businesses, geese are exceptional planners. Their migratory journey, spanning thousands of miles, is a testament to their strategic prowess. Every aspect of their flight is meticulously calculated – from route selection to timing. Small to medium-sized business leaders can learn from this precision, understanding the importance of detailed business planning for sustained growth and success.

Maximizing Efficiency through Formation:

Research has shown that geese flying in formation are an astounding 72% more efficient than when flying solo. This principle can be directly applied to business operations. When teams are aligned and working in harmony, the collective effort results in significantly higher efficiency and productivity. This serves as a powerful reminder for SMB leaders to foster a culture of collaboration and teamwork.

The Power of Alignment:

Geese showcase exceptional alignment in flight. Each bird maintains a specific position relative to the others, reducing air resistance and conserving energy. In the business world, alignment translates to a shared vision, clear communication, and a unified approach to goals. When every member of the team understands their role and works towards a common objective, the business can achieve remarkable efficiency and success.

Is your flock flying in formation?

Conclusion:

As small to medium-sized business leaders, the flight of geese offers an invaluable lesson in effective business planning and alignment. By taking inspiration from these avian marvels, businesses can soar to new heights of efficiency and success. So, ask yourself: Is your flock flying in formation? Embrace the lessons from the sky, and watch your business reach new horizons.

 

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What is your Unique Business Proposition?

What makes your company remarkable? What makes your business unique? How do you differentiate your company from others in your market? What is your secret sauce? These are simple questions. Can you offer a simple answer that resonates with your audience?

Every business is unique, even those operating in highly competitive environments, selling “commodity” products and services. Getting clear about your uniqueness is important as it sets the foundation for your marketing material, web page, and sales tools. If you ask these questions to different members of your team, how consistent are the answers?

Companies evolve over time. What made your business remarkable last year might be
different today and will be different again in the future. Here is an easy exercise that will help you and your team draft a current version of your Unique Business Proposition. Try answering these four questions:

1. What do you do? (use short, bullet-point answers)

2. How do you do it?

3. Where do you operate?

4. Who are you? (What special expertise or talent do you offer? Is there something
special about your company culture and values?)

Somewhere in this mix, you should start to see elements that are unique or different about
your company. Try drafting two or three versions of your Unique Business Proposition,
what makes you remarkable. Next, talk with your customers about this topic (without leading them). Listen very carefully to what they say. If you repeat this exercise each time you refresh your business plan, 3-4 times a year, your entire team will have a current version, your website will gain traction, and you will boost confidence in your marketing and sales team. For more information on planning structure and content please visit PlanGenie.com

 

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Is there an Elephant in the Room? Facing Critical Impediments can turn your focus to finding solutions, rather than fixating on the problems

Critical Impediments

It can be challenging to commit quality time to draft a new plan for your business or refresh your existing plan. The world is constantly throwing objects in our path and we tend to give these impediments a lot of our attention. For many, the ongoing barrage of new challenges to our business (and our lives) can cause us to abandon the idea of writing a plan or revisiting and updating our current plan than has gone stale.

Here’s a quick fix to help get you and your team over this hurdle. At the beginning of your planning meeting, whether you are working alone or with your leadership team, take a few minutes to make a list of the “Critical Impediments” that are currently getting in your way or holding you back from achieving your goals.

You can run through this exercise fairly quickly. We suggest you do this before getting into the specific goal setting and action plans. Try brainstorming without limiting ideas. Use 3-4 word bullet points.

List every current critical issue, problem and challenge that you feel may impede the accomplishment of your overall goals and objectives.

This can be done at the corporate level when you sit down to draft your Business Plan Summary (Step I in the Plan Genie workbook) and also when you start work on the departmental Action Plans (Part IV in the workbook)

Critical Impediments

Issue, Problem, Challenge

 

 Priority

 

This exercise has a couple of useful purposes. Firstly, it provides context for your plans. As you publicly acknowledge and document the challenges you are facing, you, your team, and your entire organization can turn your focus on finding solutions, rather than fixating on the problems.

Secondly, as you and your team transfer these worrisome thoughts from your brains onto a document, the emotional attachments seem to dissipate. This is a very freeing exercise. We quickly start to realize there are ways to work around, through, or over these impediments.

Space station commander, Chris Hadfield, explained that his team spent 4 years planning their six month mission. They were constantly looking at “what can kill us” and planned accordingly.

Photo Credit: Thank you @ellasegal via Twenty20 for your playful Elephant photo. Your work helps us express our message effectively.

 

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