The business of business is, among other things, to make money and making the best decisions of how, where, and when, to use precious resources to accomplish your objectives is ultimately imperative. Although there is some commonality among businesses, your unique business requires a well-prepared plan to determine and deploy growth solutions. You and your company need a Strategic Roadmap. I say “you and your company” because our personal and business goals eventually intertwine.
Why You Need a Strategy Roadmap
The advantage of creating and executing a strategic roadmap is to know where you are, where you want to go, and the optimal way from here to there. The Strategic Roadmap is different from the annual budgeting you and your company do today. It is a comprehensive top-down and bottom-up, inside-out and outside-in process of thinking and rethinking of everything you and the company are and hope to be.
Your Strategic Roadmap should be dynamic with “GPS-like” guidance and “trip-wires” for planning and re-planning based on risks and results. This is important to your organization because how will you know where you are going without a set of directions and a clear objective. In this way, employing a Strategic Roadmap can create massive results in areas such as profit, revenue, margins, market share, and even personal success.
Get Help Where You Need It
The Strategic Roadmap approach is a three-phase, ten-step process to determine what a business should do and how and when to do it.
The Strategic Roadmap helps companies assure that they are working on the right projects; spending their hard-earned improvement dollars on the right improvement projects for the right reasons and with the right resources. It answers all of the What, How, When, and Why questions. Once the initial Roadmap is complete, we work with you to implement changes and assist in the ongoing (re)planning process.
Critical Success Factors
There are critical success factors, as with every endeavor or journey; here are the vital few:
- Commit to personal and corporate honesty
- Employ a strategic advisor
- Use a structured Strategic Roadmap approach
- Continually analyze and (re)design
- Employ an external implementation firm who will work with your team to deliver results
Start Now
- Know Where You Are
First, take an honest look at where you and your company are today to truly “know thyself.” It is not easy. Like most, you are probably not where you think you are and the path you travel may not be the road you think you are on. That is OK. Enlist a strategic advisor able to make an honest assessment of both external factors and internal capabilities. These external and internal considerations are unique to your business and markets, and considering that the evaluation is a foundation for all that follows, the assessment must be accurate and complete.
- Define the Destination
The second step is to determine your potential destination(s), and the waypoints on the journey; yes, it is a journey. You must explore multiple destinations and waypoint options, and create a sound business case, leading to a down-select of the best few. Market and internal changes along the way may indicate a need to make adjustments.
- Create a Plan of Action
Third, what do you have and what do you need to move from here to there. As Goldsmith’s book is titled; “What got you here, won’t get you there.” The strategic roadmap must include all of the gaps and how to fill them; perhaps an alliance partnership, an investment, or an organizational change.
The right strategic plan makes all the difference. It is a continual analysis and (re)design as the business changes and grows. Once set, consult the roadmap for turn-by-turn directions based on traffic and road conditions, rerouting as necessary to reach your objective.
For more information on how to get started with your Strategic Roadmap process or for support during your strategic planning, contact us here for a complimentary consultation.