Having made sure that your goals and energy are congruent and that you can recognize when they aren’t, we then create a strategic plan.
My approach to strategic business planning differs from the traditional in that it is always holistic and in within the context of climate change.
In a small business, strategic planning is an organization’s process of defining its goals and strategy and then making decisions on allocating its resources into a plan to implement this strategy. In creating your definition of your business, you have acknowledged your mission, core values, vision, and long term goals. These all can also be broken out of the definition and noted down. Some view the mission statement as the road to your vision. I see them both as being one and with the incorporation of your values.
Your action plan grows out of your strategy by creating three-five long term goals and yearly objectives as your road markers.
As part of creating the action plan, doing a SWOT analysis of your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats gives you a better understanding of your priorities. I also like the idea that the three to five yearly objectives each be specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-based. Your action plan needs to include yearly financial objectives, a way to measure the non-physical objectives, and a regular review process.
In the process of building a holistically strategic plan, I return to the idea of congruent energy.
I think again in concentric circles. You at the center. The key people and beings in your life in the next circle with your business in the next. What you are creating as a business is within the context of the other aspects. I develop my plans and implementation while checking back to the bigger picture as to the impact on the rest of my whole. With my definition of what business I am in radiating through, it is not difficult.
The key to strategic planning which includes the effects of climate change is building in flexibility and resilience.
We start with where you think the climate in your region is going and what impact that will have on your business. Sometimes there is reliable information available and sometimes we are guessing. No matter which, we can make some broad guesses as to where the climate is heading where you live and work. We can also propose some of the impacts that will happen to your business sector. I suggest generally looking at the projected climate for both five and ten years out. Beyond that is still too unknown.
Timing is going to be key in the next ten years as many aspects of our previous daily lives may be changing.
Staying grounded in who you are and your plan is a buffer so as not to not be swayed by the media and the latest crisis. Finding thoughtful friends and knowledgeable climate experts to talk to on a regular basis builds your resilience. This is going to be a time of great flux and therefore many opportunities to create your own stability and to help the world move through to where it is we are going. Creating a resilient and flexible strategic plan for you and your business is a key to your success!