I often see that during the latter part of the year, my clients are actively involved in strategic planning sessions. What better time to think about how we want to position ourselves, the goals we want to achieve, and how much profit we want to make than in preparation for the new year?
People with strengths in strategic thinking relish this sort of task. They love to analyze data and come up with different ways to have a more competitive edge. There’s nothing more fun than coming up with a forecast and then comparing your accuracy as the numbers come in. It’s like gambling: You analyze the cards, strategize your moves and then see how the game plays out.
But in the midst of this activity, it’s equally important to pay attention to what’s in front of us right now. There’s a tendency when involved in strategic planning to ignore what’s actually happening and possibly miss a great opportunity.
Last year, one group of clients got so involved in their strategic planning process that they missed the chance to do business with a client who would have opened up a new segment of their market. The strategic planning committee couldn’t see how the customer fit their plan for the new year, so they ignored the customer’s request. That customer went to a competitor instead and gave that company half a million dollars’ worth of business that my client could easily have garnered.
None of us know what’s going to happen in the future, but the importance of projecting out what’s possible and taking advantage of opportunities is key to any organization’s success. Planning around these possibilities is critical to making them happen and we all know that executing on plans is how we turn our opportunities into reality. However, none of this should supersede what’s directly in front of us. While we’re thinking strategically, are we also keeping an eye on the opportunities that are here right now? Are we ignoring some of your customers’ current needs while you’re busy thinking about what we’ll give them in the future? Are we so committed to executing on the plan that we can’t see what’s happening when it’s not working?
Planning is important, but being flexible enough to alter the plan when opportunity knocks in the here and now can be even more crucial.
Kathleen