Have you ever planned a wonderful family vacation trip? Perhaps to a Disney location or a warm sunny spot in the middle of winter? Before you go, the motivation that often drives you forward in your planning, is your picture of what it will look like with those crystal clear blue waters and white sandy beaches. You imagine just how relaxed and wonderful you and your family members will feel while you are there enjoying the sun and fun.
Many of the same principles apply to your day to day business and annual planning. You will have a picture in mind of how 2013 should turn out, the top line will be growing and the bottom line will be solid. While there is little relaxing on the beach in business, you can build tremendous confidence knowing that plans can be put in place to ensure a successful year. Top business owners ensure that all the steps, checkpoints, and signs to look out for are available to themselves and their team.
We can draw many parallels between planning this sunny vacation trip and putting the necessary pieces in place in business. It all begins with a four part outline of key questions to ask yourself and your team: How? Where? What? and of course the follow-up action questions of who is doing what and when?
Firstly, How are we going to deliver 2013 results needed? What attitude are leaders in our company bringing? How do we generate the necessary enthusiasm to win? Secondly, Where are we going and will we know when we've arrived? What will a successful year look like? How blue are those waters? Thirdly, What will our results look? What customers will we be working with? What revenue sources will we have? How are we managing costs? What changes do we need to make? Fourth and finally, What are the action steps? What are the key actions that need to be done and who will take them on for the good of the whole team?
With this type of "trip planning" for next year, business owners start to generate the excitement in their team about what can really be accomplished, where they can really go, and how sunny the skies and blue the waters will be, as they enjoy their journey in 2013! Until next year, stay in the black and keep coming back.
Jennifer is CEO of the Prince George Chamber of Commerce. Thought leadership credit for this column is given with appreciation to Chamber member Bryan Lockhart of FocalPoint Business Coaching.
