Mission, Strategy & People: A 3-Part Plan for Business Success

Will your business exist 10 years from now? Statistics suggest that no, it probably won’t. In Louisiana and in the U.S., only about a third of small businesses make it past 10 years. The reason? These companies don’t plan for the future.This was the key point of a presentation I delivered recently with Eddie Gibbons, Ph.D. as part of the Louisiana Technology Park’s Tech Park Academy series. If you want to succeed in business, you have to make a plan and work “on” your business, not simply work “in” the business. It can be tough to carve out time to do this extra work that won’t directly impact clients or customers today, but it’s absolutely essential that you do it.Here’s a three-part plan to get you started.

Clarify Your Mission and Vision

What is the mission or purpose of your organization? It’s important to know this because if you focus too narrowly on “what we do” instead of “why we’re here,” you limit yourself and your business.Take Blockbuster, an example that Eddie and I referenced throughout the presentation. Its mission was to rent VHS tapes, DVDs and video games in stores. That’s what the business did, but not why it existed. If its mission had been broader, like delivering entertainment, it may have been more adaptable and developed a Netflix-type strategy earlier rather than eventually folding.A mission is a short statement, often a few words or a single sentence, that gives a broad view of the value your organization delivers. Disney’s mission is “to make people happy.” It’s short, to the point and broad enough that it won’t limit the endeavors of the organization.A vision statement, on the other hand, conveys the ultimate goal of your mission. It’s an aspirational statement of where you are right now and where you want to be in the future. It shares what the organization believes is important. A great example: “I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth.” —John F. Kennedy

Develop Your Strategic Plan

Many people think a strategic plan has to be a 150-page document created by the top executives and the legal and finance department. That’s not true; it can and should be much simpler. All it needs to do is lay out a few reasonable goals and focus on how to achieve them. Here’s a good, simple model.

• Begin with a SWOT analysis to define your company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.
• Determine three to five SMART goals that align with your mission and vision. SMART goals are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound.
• Define what success will look like for each goal. What will your key performance indicators be?
• Create ownership. Whose project is this? Who’s in charge?
• Set dates to achieve milestones and the end target.
• Follow up at set intervals and get updates on each goal. When goals are achieved, set new ones.

Consider Your People

The third component in this plan for business success is workforce planning. In many ways, this is the hardest and most important part. How will you achieve your mission if you don’t have the right people in place? How will you find the right people and convince them to work for and with you? This type of people strategy is key to your success.To begin your workforce-planning phase, consider your strategic plan. What are the human resource implications? Did you identify a weakness that could be fixed with new or better hires? What is the labor pool you have to draw from? Do you anticipate expansion or downsizing soon? Look at your plan and identify where you are now in terms of human capital and where you want to be in the future.Then, determine where your gaps are and make a plan to address them. Do you have plans in place to recruit new hires with the skills and abilities you’ll need in the future? Can you retain the great people you have now and develop high-potential employees into leaders and executives? You may need to develop a knowledge-transfer and succession plan for when key employees inevitably leave in the future.Each of these elements (recruiting, retention, development and succession) can be analyzed further and in service of your mission and strategic plan. Once you complete this plan, your business is well on its way to succeeding now and in the future.Success Labs is a leadership-development and management consulting firm in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. For more than 25 years, our expert team of consultants has worked with hundreds of companies to explore their business potential and improve their company and cultural performance. Contact us to get proactive about your people strategy.