How To Maintain A More Effective And Efficient Mission Strategy

How To Maintain A More Effective And Efficient Mission Strategy

Smart Business Thinking by Jim Whelan

A question posed to us at Smart Business Thinking, you urge us to keep revisiting our strategy so that it speaks to the pressures and needs of current day and near-term circumstances. What is the process we should use?

The cornerstone of analyzing your plan is to be aware of underlying trends in those areas that have an. influence on your business. What are the keys you must employ as you work toward your mission?

Let’s look and see how this would apply.

·      Do you operate in a local, national, or international arena?

·      Is the base of your key activity holding steady, shrinking, or expanding?

·      What are the underlying reasons for the current trend?

·      Is the trend likely to continue or change in the near future

As you formulate your view of what may change in the future, you should think about possible courses of action that are (or may be) available. What effect in one of the key actions have on others?

To provide you with a concrete example of a method of assessing the implication of current and possible near-term changes, the next post How To Maintain A More Effective And Efficient Mission Strategy – Part 2 will be an actual report I made to a nonprofit board. It will give you a sample of pressures to be reviewed and possible effects on the organization.

Bottom Line?

You are not in the business to foretell the future. Your responsibility is toe maintain an awareness of your environment and think about the possible moves you could make if there is a shift.

Jim Whelan, experienced executive, coaches business owners on Strategic Business Choices, Written Goals, Value and Mission Statements that actually Improve Results. With Jim’s coaching, New, Small, and Troubled Businesses develop Operational Plans, Future Contingencies Focused on Outcomes and an Exit Strategy.

Fair Warning - A Mission Statement Is Not A Strategy

Fair Warning - A Mission Statement Is Not A Strategy

Smart Business Thinking by Jim Whelan

A nonprofit CEO contacted us at Smart Business Thinking to ask if a mission statement didn’t suffice for the organization’s strategy. An interesting question and we can se why it would seem to make sense. To consider the question, let's look at the essential elements of a mission statement and a strategy.

What is a Mission Statement?

A mission statement is an affirmation of the organization’s core reason for being. Such as:

• We provide supplemental groceries to those who cannot afford all the food they need.

• We provide free, high-quality medical care to low-income, uninsured adults.

• We provide quality homes for low- and moderate-income families.

What is a strategy?

A strategy is a thought-out plan to achieve the mission. It sets the strategic and broad policy directions.

Here’s an example where this strategy works toward the mission – “We provide quality homes for low- and moderate-income families.”

Our strategy is to produce, preserve, manage, advocate for and finance affordable rental and owner-occupied housing. We provide housing services to low- and moderate-income families and individuals. As an extension of our rental housing program, we offer educational services to strengthen our residents’ economic and social stability.

That strategy clearly advances the organization’s mission.

There can be a mission and not have a strategy. There cannot be a strategy without a mission. Without a goal what can you plan for?

Bottom Line?

To answer the question – No, the Mission Statement cannot be a surrogate for a Strategy Statement. The Mission Statement is an affirmation of why the organization exists. Strategy is a high level plan of actions to effectively address the mission.

Jim Whelan, experienced executive, coaches business owners on Strategic Business Choices, Written Goals, Value and Mission Statements that actually Improve Results.

With Jim’s coaching, New, Small, and Troubled Businesses develop Operational Plans, Future Contingencies Focused on Outcomes and an Exit Strategy.

A Fatal Flaw In Strategic Planning

A Fatal Flaw In Strategic Planning

Smart Business Thinking by Jim Whelan

"In preparing for battle, I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable." 
Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969)

In the Q&A session following a presentation on Strategy, I was asked how to determine if a Strategic Plan is effective. Excellent question that we at Smart Business Thinking are not asked nearly often enough.

In the presentation I urged the audience to focus on strategy before developing a plan. Here’s not what I have in mind. You may have witnessed this scenario –

The CEO reads in a business magazine that every business should have a vision statement, a mission statement, and a strategic plan. So what happens - everyone swings into action.

There’s a Vision Committee, a Mission Committee, and a Strategic Plan Committee. After due consideration of two one-hour crisis meetings, the committees report their findings. And VOILA - the company has vision and mission statements and a strategic plan.

Those statements and plan are put in a three ring binder and placed on a shelf in an unused office. No one knows the vision except the CEO and the vision committee. The mission is a closely guarded secret. The next annual report proclaims how forward thinking the company is because it has a strategic plan.

In that process there is a total lack of strategic thinking that looks at the company’s place in the market, its financial capacity, or how it plans to expand (assuming it wants to). The strategy in this organization is to placate the CEO and the future will take care of itself.

Any guess what company will be surprised when the next change in the business environment occurs? How effective is the plan?

While this may be an exaggeration (or it may be close to the truth) the fact remains that many organizations do not properly consider the fundamentals of its strategy or relook at their strategy often enough to keep it effective.

Bottom Line? To be effective, a strategy should be the overriding impetus guiding an organization. It should be derived from a carefully thought-out analysis reflecting the company’s philosophy and personality.

Jim is an expert business coach and a respected advisor management and financial executives. He draws on his long-term business leadership background to help CEOs grow revenue, increase profits, improve 

How to Use Visualization to Achieve Your Goals

Smart Business Thinking by Jim Whelan

Recently a client asked us at Smart Business Thinking if Visualization can help her succeed? That’s a very good question and one we enjoy responding to.

Visualization is a powerful method of achieving personal success.

Let’s look at the difference between Vision and Visualization.

VISION is applicable to both organizations and individuals. It is the conceptualizing of a future event or condition which the author wishes to accomplish.

"Land a man on the moon and safely return him to earth by the end of this decade." President John F. Kennedy.

This Vision is a simple statement of what JFK wanted to reach before the decade was out.

VISUALIZATION is applicable to individual(s). You, the Visualizer, see in your mind the thing you want to create. The power of visualization is that you not just see it; you feel it, as if it were already real.

Focus your mind on having reached the goal, and thereby making decisions and employing tactics to match that outcome.

As the astronauts went through their training for the moon mission it’s probable that in their minds they saw and felt what it is like to already have it.

They picture in their minds:

Successful launch

Orbiting the moon

Identifying the landing site

Landing, walking and planting the American flag on the moon

Return to the spaceship

Returning to earth

Another example of Visualization is the Olympic athlete who visualizes during the grueling hours of training, standing on the winner’s platform receiving the gold medal. The individual incorporates into her mind the picture of having reached the goal.

Bottom Line?

Successful people from many walks of life use visualization to help them achieve beyond their comfort level.

Jim Whelan, experienced executive, coaches business owners on Strategic Business Choices, Written Goals, Value and Mission Statements that actually Improve Results.

With Jim’s coaching, New, Small, and Troubled Businesses develop Operational Plans, Future Contingencies Focused on Outcomes and an Exit Strategy,