Creating a Strategic Vision
Posted January 4th, 2011
Is your company so successful it’s at risk for failure?
It’s true: sometimes success can mask underlying weaknesses in your business. Success also can eventually cause poor decision making. After all, your firm is successful, why mess with success, right?
Wrong. Sometimes the old adage “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” is not smart policy. It may be, but just letting things continue as they are might be bad for your business.
Instead, it’s wise to revisit — or create — a strategic vision for your company at least once a year.
Here are three mistakes many firms make without even realizing it:
Mistake 1) Not even looking at your business’ strategic vision at least once a year. Is it still relevant? Has your market changed so that a vision you created five or even a year ago (markets can change that fast) no longer works?
Mistake 2) You’re not asking the right questions. Too often, business don’t take an objective look at their business. Instead, consider asking yourself the following questions:
- What’s working now and how do you know it’s working?
- What do you want your company to achieve?
- What do you wand your business to avoid?
- What should you stop doing?
- What do you need to keep safe?
- What could you be doing better to prepare for a recovery from the recession?
- What else can you do to better prepare for the next decline?
- What are your next best steps?
As you ask these questions of your team, be sure you listen — really listen — to their answers, suggestions and concerns.
Mistake 3) Not aligning your company’s executive/leadership team with your new/updated strategic vision. If just a few of your leaders understand and buy in to your vision, you’ve just created a gap, one that will lead to disorder because your leaders understandably will default to their own ideas of where their departments should be headed.
Creating or revising a strategic vision for your firm can result should be undertaken at least once a year so that you and your company’s leader will be moving in the same direction, working toward the same goals and overcoming the same challenges.
Let Bayside Solutions help your San Francisco company come up with a strategic vision for your information technology needs for 2011 and beyond. Contact us today!
