I like sports. I’m not that person that knows the name of every player, can rattle off every statistic or has the ability to predict every play, but I do like to watch sports. I’m also a New York Mets fan (no comments, please!). The Mets made it to the World Series in 2015 and had a decent season in 2016 (but who really could compete with the Cubs’ destiny!). 2017 was suppose to be our year. We had the highest rated pitching staff in the league, good power at the plate and made some good trades to position us well on both the offensive and defensives sides of the ball. We had developed our strategy and were ready to execute!
Well, one month into the 2017 season and it was over…our season that is. With injuries to our superstars and player slumps, it went south really quickly. Before we knew it, we were over 10 games behind first place and going into the trade deadline. Mets’ management knew we couldn’t save the season, so we adjusted the strategy for both the current and future years and moved forward.
We let our injured payers truly heal and rest, we traded away our great players (those that were healthy) to make room under the salary cap for next year and we called up some minor league players to see what potential they may have in the big leagues. The future was no longer tomorrow, it was next year, and we decided to prepare for it today!
I believe this is a perfect example of how things can change unexpectedly and where adjusting the strategy helped to ensure a successful future. Learning from this example for our own businesses, if we don’t take the time to review, assess and adjust our strategy, we will be left behind. Let’s not let that happen!
Here are 5 things you can do to review, assess and, as needed, adjust your strategy:
1. Hold a Strategy Session – Get your team together “offsite” for a strategy session. I know…you don’t have the time, but you have to find the time! It is critical to review your success and failures, market conditions, competition, etc. From this you can set/reset the direction for you, your team and your company, including current product growth, new products, marketing, infrastructure enhancements, human capital development, etc. If your team knows where you want to take the organization, they can help you get there.
2. Develop Business Models – Develop Business Models, as necessary, for any new business and/or product that you contemplated during your strategy session to ensure it is viable and profitable. Make sure that this is something that is worth spending the time and money on before you start to spend the time and money on it.
3. Budget Your Strategy – Link the strategy to your budget and then prioritize your strategy based on what you have the time, and can afford, to work on.
4. Create Concrete Action Plans – Assign each strategy to an owner responsible for developing a specific action plan to accomplish the strategic goal. This takes the conceptual strategy to a tangible level that you can action and accomplish. This is a critical component of strategy development that is often overlooked by most companies.
5. Communicate – Communicate this strategy to your organization and have each of your team members link the strategy and action plans to their team and individual goals. Now everyone understands why they are doing their job and how it fits into the direction and goals of the organization; as a result, everyone is engaged and accountable to help drive the success of the strategy.
Prism Partners International can assist you and your leaders through our comprehensive consulting services. We will help you develop your strategy for the current and future year, and deliver resulting action plans to embed your strategy into your organization. We drive results by holding individuals and teams accountable for accomplishing their goals, continually focusing on process improvement. This creates an organizational environment positioned to effectively and efficiently manage growth and improve profitability.
Also, as you continue to look for ways to develop your team, consider our online training courses. Our courses cover the following topics: strategy, culture, leadership and performance management. These courses can be an invaluable and affordable tool to help you drive your organization forward and develop your people in practical terms.
Please contact us to learn how we can help you.
We would enjoy staying in contact with you. If you would as well, check out our periodic blogs. We also ask that you join our LinkedIn Group (Strategic Human Capital Alignment Forum), Like Us on Facebook (Prism Partners International) and Follow Us on Twitter (@PrismPartners).