It should go without saying but many business owners fail to see that great management is derived from great business planning.
Planning entails juggling resources and priorities in an orderly fashion, whereas management is a leadership role tied in with the overall productivity of the business. The two are intrinsically linked and cannot be easily separated. You can have some great people in a leadership role to manage your operation, but if you don?t have a road map, what exactly are they going to manage?
So, how does one go about ensuring that there is great management with an even better business plan?
First and foremost you need to have a vision and no, we’re not talking about vision boards and down the next ten years I want sort of thing. This strategy needs to be one where you think about what the objectives of your business are and who are the best people to help you reach these objectives. They are little nuances in the daily operation of your business, not vague futuristic ideas. Furthermore this vision needs to be communicated with your employees and other actors in your business (financial, administrative, contractors). Do not keep everything in your head, write it out, sort it out and plan in out: maps work best when you make the picture not envision them.
While you’re creating your map, start to define your long term goals. Remember, be specific, not vague. Set out milestones that you are determined to achieve, keep them realistic but also challenging. Do not just look at being in the black and out of the red, look at presence, memorability and engaging in your business. If you only look at the bottom line you might just lose the bigger picture and miss out on areas of improvement or even surprise areas of success.
Do you see character on your team? People who are shaping up to be real assets and have the potential to enhance your business with their ideas and innovations? If you do then you need to understand how to best utilize them. Let them lead, make sure your team is committed and willing to put in the effort, and if they are passionate about your vision and long term goals they will most definitely be the best option in your businesses long term success. Great management feeds off of a great business plan and in that sense a great business plan looks to have a great team of leaders making the plan into a reality.
