Anyone who knows me or who talks with me for very long knows that I strongly advocate that all businesses and organizations need a strategic plan for their endeavors and that that plan needs to be continually updated and reviewed.
In the November 9th Star Tribune, two articles reinforce the essence of my passion. In one, the owner of Safe Reflections explains how he started with an idea, wrote a business plan, quit his job, and turned his idea into a very successful and profitable business. In Harvey Mackay’s article, “Be accountable if you want to count,” he stresses the essential role of accountability in shaping and achieving goals. Both articles illustrate the need for a plan and how the plan, if executed properly, can help move a company to great and profitable results. MacKay states that leaders must develop a lower threshold for alibis and become better communicators and enforcers of what they want done. To say this in another way, they must enforce the delivery of their plan.
Clear deadlines must be laid out within the plan and owners and leaders must expect accountability for those deadlines. As you hold their “feet to the fire” with intentional accountability, your team will achieve a sense of ownership as everyone does their part to deliver your company’s organization goals. You need to start with a strong plan and, with the proper execution, you can hold all to be accountable to its delivery.
Call us at Elanstrategic to help with your strategic plan for next year and get off to strong start in 2015.