Planning

Few businesses plan well because they fail to engage all the people involved in the business (particularly the frontline staff) or don’t bother to talk to suppliers and contractors. Business planning requires everyone to be involved and know what is expected of them and when they have successfully achieved this.

Gathering Evidence… Improve anyone’s effectiveness immediately

While some people may treat many of the skills listed here as optional, this one is another critical first principle of business success. No business or personal decision is made well unless it is subject to research and analysis or, put more simply, thoroughly investigated before a decision is made.

Strategy… The Art of the General

Understanding business strategy and how to apply it cuts operating costs and reduces wasted efforts in every facet of the business. An example of this would be knowing who the right customer is, how they want to be served and how they want to communicate. Aligning staff with the customer’s needs, wants and their perception of the company is step one in ensuring that all staff and contractors are commercially aware, which is fundamental to higher profits and productivity.

Job, Task and Role descriptions

70% of employees complain that they do not understand their job and/or role in the business. Resolving this problem by writing thorough and detailed task lists that lead to well-thought-out job descriptions that engage people in a positive discussion about how they can offer value to the business will always result in a higher level of performance and conformance.

Frontline involvement

A simple one-page document and 15 to 20 minutes of discussion can double the productivity of field staff, particularly apprentices and trainees. In all cases, the people involved in a business do a lot better when managed this way.

Operational Plans

Planning the way any plant and equipment will justify its expense (even the office printer) is a valuable discipline to install in any business. This heightens commercial awareness and cuts waste substantially in any business.

Business Plans

It is a universally agreed first principle of business success that a business and its owner must have a written business plan to succeed. In fact, it is the critical ingredient in business success. Planning is the key to success and there is no substitute. Great businesses are run by people who spend at least as much time planning as they do working.

It can be successfully argued that not planning is like swallowing a slow working business poison that will always kill off even the best business concepts, because without a plan, that is all that will happen. Click here to download a copy of a sample business plan.