Strategic Planning and Time Management

Introduction to Strategic Planning

If you don't know where your business is going, any road will get you there. What is a Strategic Plan? Entrepreneurs and business managers are often so preoccupied with immediate issues that they lose sight of their ultimate objectives. That's why a business review or preparation of a strategic plan is a virtual necessity. This may not be a recipe for success, but without it a business is much more likely to fail. A sound plan should:

Serve as a framework for decisions or for securing support/approval. Provide a basis for more detailed planning. Explain the business to others in order to inform, motivate & involve. Assist benchmarking & performance monitoring. Stimulate change and become building block for next plan.

A strategic plan should not be confused with a business plan. The former is likely to be a (very) short document whereas a business plan is usually a much more substantial and detailed document. A strategic plan can provide the foundation and frame work for a business plan. A strategic plan is not the same thing as an operational plan. The former should be visionary, conceptual and directional in contrast to an operational plan which is likely to be shorter term, tactical, focused, implementable and measurable. As an example, compare the process of planning a vacation (where, when, duration, budget, who goes, how travel are all strategic issues) with the final preparations (tasks, deadlines, funding, weather, packing, transport and so on are all operational matters). A satisfactory strategic plan must be realistic and attainable so as to allow managers and entrepreneurs to think strategically and act operationally. Basic Approach to Strategic Planning Some essential points which should to be observed during the planning process include the following: Relate to the medium term i.e. 2/4 years Focus on matters of strategic importance Be separated from day-to-day work Be realistic, detached and critical Distinguish between cause and effect Be reviewed periodically Be written down.

As the precursor to developing a strategic plan, it is desirable to clearly identify the current status, objectives and strategies of an existing business or the latest thinking in respect of a new venture. Correctly defined, these can be used as the basis for a critical examination to probe existing or perceived Strengths, Weaknesses, Threats and Opportunities. This then leads to strategy development covering the following issues discussed in more detail below:

Values Vision Mission Goals and Objectives Strategies

Key Steps towards a Strategic Plan

The Values The next element is to address the Values governing the operation of the business and its conduct or relationships with society at large, customers, suppliers, employees, local community and other stakeholders. Even though we frequently talk about mission and vision first, the basic underlying foundation for both is our core values. Core values are the principles and standards at the very center of our character, and from which we will not budge or stray. Core values are extremely stable and change only very slowly over long periods of time. Core values form the basis for our beliefs about life, us and those around us, and the human potential of ourselves and others. Values and beliefs form our attitudes and guide our behavior. The behaviors we engage in are what people around us see, along with our skills and actions. Our outer or public shell of behaviors and skills can change rapidly and dramatically through our lives, influenced by our environment and guided by our more stable core values and beliefs.

For some people identifying and communicating personal core values can be a difficult task. Core values are so close to the center of who we are that they tend to be very protected and not shared with others until a personal relationship has been established. The fact that these values are so central to whats important to us individually, makes it all the more important to think about them first as a basis for establishing sound and meaningful mission, vision and goals in both our life and business. Once the values of an individual or organization are identified, its frequently useful to rank them from more to less important. Then when questions come up later where one value must be traded off against another the decision will be easier to make and communicate. For example, say the core values of a farm business are efficiency, family, safety and respect for others. If a question comes up about implementing a practice that will improve operational efficiency but may compromise the health and safety of employees, knowing the relative importance of efficiency versus safety will help guide the decision. If an employees child is hospitalized are they expected to be at the farm for their shift regardless, or with their child in the hospital? Knowing the relative importance of family versus operational efficiency will help answer that question. It wont necessarily make these decisions easy or totally objective but it will bring some guidance and consistency to the decision making process. The Vision The first step is to develop a realistic Vision for the business. This should be presented as a pen picture of the organization in 5 or more years time in terms of its likely physical appearance, size, activities etc. Answer the question: "if someone from Mars visited the business, what would they see (or sense)?" Consider its future products, markets, customers, processes, location, staffing etc. In order to truly guide and motivate a vision must: 1. Be aligned with the core values of both the individuals and the organization. 2. Be effectively communicated to and accepted by everyone involved in the organization. The more precise and detailed you can be in writing a description of your vision of the future, the easier it will be to communicate it to others and gain their commitment to it, and the more likely you will be to achieve it. Success comes through bringing aboard people as partners, employees or consultants with core values that fit well with the business, and who understand and accept the business mission and vision as matching closely with their own. Developing visions and missions that are truly shared takes time, effort, energy and commitment. You cant expect that just because you develop mission and vision statements, read them at a staff meeting and even hand them out in printed form that everyone will immediately accept and work toward achieving them. You need to walk the talk and be totally committed to them yourself first, and then discuss them with your employees and consultants at least eight or ten times before they will believe youre really serious and begin to internalize these statements.

The Mission The nature of a business is often expressed in terms of its Mission which indicates the purposes of the business, for example, "to design, develop, manufacture and market specific product lines for sale on the basis of certain features to meet the identified needs of specified customer groups via certain distribution channels in particular geographic areas". A statement along these lines indicates why this organization exists and is infinitely clearer than saying, for instance, "we're in electronics" or worse still, "we are in business to make money" (assuming that the business is not a mint !). Goals & Objectives Mission and vision, although frequently short statements, are broad, encompassing and far-reaching. They can often seem overwhelming and perhaps even impossible to achieve. The metaphors, How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time and A journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step, fit well in regard to achieving a mission and vision. Goals and objectives create the bite size pieces, the road map and manageable stepping stones to achieve the mission, make the vision a reality, and navigate the course we have set for our business, or for ourselves. Reading the business literature is confusing as to what a goal is and what an objective is, theyre used interchangeably from one business author to another. The education literature however is consistent and specific. The objective is merely a long term goal, however, both goals and objectives should be: - S pecific - M easurable - A chievable - R ealistic - T imed While its possible to get bogged down in minutiae, the reality is, few people error on the side of too much detail when it comes to writing goals and objectives. More often than not employees are confused and frustrated by a lack of detail. To be effective goals and objectives must be written. If they arent in writing theyre merely ideas with no real power or conviction behind them. Written goals and objectives provide motivation to achieve them and can then be used as a reminder to you and others. Clearly and specifically written, they also eliminate confusion and misunderstanding. Among all the attributes of a well-written objective, the most important are measurable results and a timeframe for completion. Being able to quantify results and evaluate the timeliness of accomplishing goals allows owners or managers to assess the performance and progress of the overall business as well as individuals and teams within the business. Having well developed goals and objectives also helps: - Maintain focus and perspective - Establish priorities - Lead to greater job satisfaction - Improve employee performance.

Researchers studying the effects of goals as part of an organizations overall performance management process found that the level of performance is highest when: - Goals are clearly stated and contain specific objectives - Goals are challenging but not unreasonable - Employees accept their goals with a true sense of ownership - Employees participate in setting and reviewing their goals.

As time goes on and goals are achieved, or conditions and situations change, its important to reevaluate and establish new goals and objectives. Failure to periodically set new or more challenging goals can lead to stagnation in the business and boredom among employees. Finally, as goals are achieved or milestones along the way are reached, providing positive feedback and rewards for yourself and employees is critical to maintaining enthusiasm and continued progress.
The Strategies Next are the Strategies the How by which the mission, objectives etc. may be achieved. They can cover the business as a whole including such matters as diversification, organic growth, or acquisition plans, or they can relate to primary matters in key functional areas, for example: SWOT - Keys to Business Strategies Having built up a picture of the company's past aims and achievements, the allimportant SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis can commence. Strengths & Weaknesses Strengths and weaknesses are essentially internal to the organization and relate to matters concerning resources, programs and organization in key areas. These include:

Sales - marketing - distribution - promotion - support; Management - systems - expertise - resources; Operations - efficiency - capacity - processes; Products - services - quality - pricing - features - range - competitiveness; Finances - resources - performance; R&D - effort - direction - resources; Costs - productivity - purchasing; Systems - organization - structures.

If a startup is being planned, the strengths and weaknesses are related mainly to the promoter(s) - their experience, expertise and management abilities - rather than to the project. The objective is to build up a picture of the outstanding good and bad points, achievements and failures and other critical features within the company.

Threats & Opportunities The external threats and opportunities confronting a company, can exist or develop in the following areas:

The company's own industry where structural changes may be occurring (Size and segmentation; growth patterns and maturity; established patterns and relationships, emergence/contraction of niches; international dimensions; relative attractiveness of segments) The marketplace which may be altering due to economic or social factors (Customers; distribution channels; economic factors, social/demographic issues; political & environmental factors) Competition which may be creating new threats or opportunities (Identities, performances, market shares, likely plans, aggressiveness, strengths & weaknesses) New technologies which may be causing fundamental changes in products, processes, etc. (Substitute products, alternative solutions, shifting channels, cost savings etc.)

Use SWOT to help identify possible strategies by building on strengths, resolving weaknesses, exploiting opportunities and avoiding threats. Steps to formulate a Strategic Plan

1. Assess the business's EXISTING strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities:

(Strengths & Weaknesses are internal to the business and Opportunities & Threats are external. All SWOTs should be 'one-handed' - something is either a Strength or a Weakness but cannot be both. Enter up to six items under each heading and then rank them in order of importance. If you are planning a new business, consider the project's and its promoters' existing SWOTs) 2. Vision of business in 3/4 years time: (What will the business look like? If a visitor from Mars dropped in what would be seen and evident. Write in future tense. Maximum of 150 words) 3. Mission/purpose statement for business to cover next 3/4 years: (Covers why the business exists. Maximum 150 words)

4. Statement of corporate values and beliefs: (Covers employees, customers, environment etc. etc. Maximum of 150 words)

5. Set out key long-term objectives: (These are the primary underlying reasons for being involved in the business, and are not specific targets - these come later) 6. Identify key strategies for business and major functional areas: (Build on strengths, resolve threats, exploit opportunities and avoid threats. Add any new dimensions revealed by Vision and Mission. List and prioritize up to ten or so major strategies. 7. Assess possible FUTURE strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities: (Do the foregoing strategies improve the initial SWOTs? If they don't, then they should have done so) 8. Review your vision, mission, values and objectives: (Refine and revise/restate key strategies to deal with the perceived FUTURE SWOTs) 9. Specify major goals achievable over the next 3/4 years: (Quantify in terms of sales, market shares, finances, operations etc.) 10. Define strategic action programs: (Indicate who, what, where, when, how etc. Set targets and prioritize) Final Tip: In an organization its difficult or impossible to agree on strategic or even tactical decisions if everyone in the business owners, managers, family members, employees are not all headed in the same direction, toward the same mission and vision. If a family, a business, or a team doesnt have a common direction mission, vision and core values arguments will occur surrounding nearly every decision and agreements may be impossible.

Developing shared mission, vision and values is the first step in laying a foundation for making strategic and tactical decisions that will move the business forward. Having them in place wont eliminate arguments and disagreements, but at least the disagreement will be about how to best get to the same endpoint as opposed to heading in opposite directions. However, no plan can ever be achieved without taking into consideration the most important resource of allTIME

Time Management
Imagine there is a bank that credits your account each morning with R86,400. It carries over no balance from day to day. Every evening deletes whatever part of the balance you failed to use during the day. What would you do? Draw out every cent, of course!!!! Each of us has such a bank. Its name is TIME. Every morning, it credits you with 86,400 seconds, every night it writes off, as lost, whatever of this you have failed to invest to good purpose. It carries over no balance, it allows no overdraft. Each day it opens a new account for you and each night it burns the remains of the day. If you fail to use the days deposits, the loss is yours. Time is Life. It is irreversible and irreplaceable; to waste your time is to waste your life Paretos principle: A small number of causes (20%) is responsible for a large part of the effect (80%) 20% of a person's effort generates 80% of the person's results; 80% of your success comes from 20% of your efforts

It is vital to focus 80% of your time on the 20% of your work that REALLY counts Time Wasters: External: o o o o o o o

Telephone interruptions Meetings: claimed to be the NO. 1 TIME WASTER Excessive Socializing Excessive paperwork Communication breakdown Lack of policies and procedures Lack of competent personnel

Internal: o Procrastination o Lack of planning and prioritizing o Indecisiveness o Not being able to say no o Failure to delegate o Unclear objectives o Living always in Crisis management mode o Poor scheduling o Lack of self-discipline o Attempting to do too much at once o Lack of relevant skills

Though all of these factors contribute in wasting time, one of them is extremely dangerous and also very common:

Procrastination:
Procrastination is the thief of time. We procrastinate because we fear two things: o FAILURE: It is easier to accept that we failed because we didnt project than to fail at doing the project SUCCESS: For example: If I get all As this semester, everyone will expect me to do the same next semester. If I do an outstanding job on this project, my boss will just pile on more work. Procrastination is The Art of Delaying the inevitable, but where can you lose time? Worrying about finishing on time. Worrying about the final outcome. Distractions. Doing unimportant, easy or trivial stuff things first. Ok, so now we understand the problem, but is there a solution??? The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one Mark Twain In other words, the key is PLANNING

even attempt a

The Time management Process: 1. Set your own priorities a. Personal b. Professional 2. Determine your goals for each priority 3. Plan the steps for goal attainment 4. Allocate time appropriately for each step We covered steps 2, 3 and 4 in the previous section discussing planning, however most people find the greatest problem is mastering the skill of setting priorities:

Set your own priorities: One of the key tools in setting priorities is to always remember that: Just because you can do something, doesnt mean you should. Figure out what you want to achieve and spend the majority of your time (80%) in it These things that contribute to you achieving your vision are called BIG ROCKS and the skill of prioritizing is all about:

Putting the Big Rocks in First

To understand this concept more lets view this Time Matrix:

Basically, we spend time in one of four ways. As you see, the two factors that define an activity are urgent and important. Urgent means it requires immediate attention. It's "Now!" Urgent things act on us. A ringing phone is urgent. Most people can't stand the thought of just allowing the phone to ring. You could spend hours preparing materials, you could get all dressed up and travel to a person's office to discuss a particular issue, but if the phone were to ring while you were there, it would generally take precedence over your personal visit. If you were to phone someone, there aren't many people who would say, "I'll get to you in 15 minutes; just hold." But those same people would probably let you wait in an office for at least that long while they completed a telephone conversation with someone else. Urgent matters are usually visible. They press on us; they insist on action. They're often popular with others. They're usually right in front of us. And often they are pleasant, easy, and fun to do. But so often they are unimportant! Importance, on the other hand, has to do with results. If something is important, it contributes to your mission, your values, and your high priority goals.

We react to urgent matters. Important matters that are not urgent require more initiative, more proactivity. We must act to seize opportunity, to make things happen. If we don't practice, if we don't have a clear idea of what is important, of the results we desire in our lives, we are easily diverted into responding to the urgent. Look for a moment at the four quadrants in the Time Management Matrix. Quadrant I is both urgent and important. It deals with significant results that require immediate attention. We usually call the activities in Quadrant I "crises" or "problems." We all have some Quadrant I activities in our lives. But Quadrant I consumes many people. They are crisis managers, problem-minded people, and the deadline-driven producers. As long as you focus on Quadrant I, it keeps getting bigger and bigger until it dominates you. It's like the pounding surf. A huge problem comes and knocks you down and you're wiped out. You struggle back up only to face another one that knocks you down and slams you to the ground. Some people are literally beaten up by the problems all day every day. The only relief they have is in escaping to the not important, not urgent activities of Quadrant IV. So when you look at their total matrix, 90 percent of their time is in Quadrant I and most of the remaining 10 percent is in Quadrant IV with only negligible attention paid to Quadrants II and III. That's how people who manage their lives by crisis live. There are other people who spend a great deal of time in "urgent, but not important" Quadrant III, thinking they're in Quadrant I. They spend most of their time reacting to things that are urgent, assuming they are also important. But the reality is that the urgency of these matters is often based on the priorities and expectations of others. People who spend time almost exclusively in Quadrants III and IV basically lead irresponsible lives. Effective people stay out of Quadrants III and IV because, urgent or not, they aren't important. They also shrink Quadrant I down to size by spending more time in Quadrant II. Quadrant II is the heart of effective personal management. It deals with things that are not urgent, but are important. It deals with things like building relationships, writing a personal mission statement, long-range planning, exercising, preventive maintenance, and preparation -- all those things we know we need to do, but somehow seldom get around to doing, because they aren't urgent. Whoever you are, if you were to ask what lies in Quadrant II and cultivate the proactivity to go after it, you would find amazing results. Your effectiveness would increase dramatically. Your crises and problems would shrink to manageable proportions because you would be thinking ahead, working on the roots, doing the preventive things that keep situations from developing into crises in the first place.

What it takes to Say "No" The only place to get time for Quadrant II in the beginning is from Quadrants III and IV. You can't ignore the urgent and important activities of Quadrant I, although it will shrink in size as you spend more time with prevention and preparation in Quadrant II. But the initial time for Quadrant II has come out of III and IV. You have to be proactive to work on Quadrant II because Quadrant I and III work on you. To say "yes" to important Quadrant II priorities, you have to learn to say "no" to other activities, sometimes apparently urgent things. You have to decide what your highest priorities are and have the courage --pleasantly, smiling, nonapologetically -- to say "no" to other things. And the way you do that is by having a bigger "yes" burning inside. The enemy of the "best" is often the "good." Keep in mind that you are always saying "no" to something. If it isn't to the apparent, urgent things in your life, it is probably to the more fundamental, highly important things. Even when the urgent is good, the good can keep you from your best; keep you from your unique contributions, if you let it. The way you spend your time is a result of the way you see your time and the way you really see your priorities. If your priorities grow out of a principle center and a personal mission, if they are deeply planted in your heart and in your mind, you will see Quadrant II as a natural, exciting place to invest your time. Becoming a Quadrant II Self-Manager Quadrant II organizing involves four key activities. Identifying Roles: The first task is to write down your key roles. If you haven't really given serious thought to the roles in your life, you can write down what immediately comes to mind. You have a role as an individual. You may want to list one or more roles as a family member -- a husband or wife, mother or father, son or daughter, a member of the extended family of grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. You may want to list a few roles in your work, indicating different areas in which you wish to invest time and energy on a regular basis. Selecting Goals: The next step is to think of two or three important results you feel you should accomplish in each role during the next seven days. These would be recorded as goals. At least some of these goals should reflect Quadrant II activities. Ideally, these shortterm goals would be tied to the longer-term goals you have identified in conjunction with your personal mission statement. But even if you haven't written your mission statement, you can get a feeling, a sense, of what is important as you consider each of your roles and two or three goals for each role.

Scheduling: Now you look at the week ahead with your goals in mind and schedule time to achieve them. For example, if your goal is to produce the first draft of your personal mission statement, you may want to set aside a two-hour block of time on Sunday to work on it. Sunday (or some other day of the week that is special to you, your faith, or your circumstances) is often the ideal time to plan your more personally uplifting activities, including weekly organizing. It's a good time to draw back, to see inspiration, to look at your life in the context of principles and values. Daily Adapting: With Quadrant II weekly organizing, daily planning becomes more a function of daily adapting, or prioritizing activities and responding to unanticipated events, relationships, and experiences in a meaningful way. Taking a few minutes each morning to review your schedule can put you in touch with the value-based decisions you made as you organized the week as well as unanticipated factors that may have come up. As you overview the day, you can see that your roles and goals provide a natural prioritization that grows out of your innate sense of balance. It is a softer, more right-brain prioritization that ultimately comes out of your sense of personal mission. To summarize, we chose to end this with a word of wisdom to help us remember the VALUE of time: To realize the value of ONE YEAR. Ask a student who failed a grade To realize the value of ONE MONTHAsk a mother who gave birth to a premature baby To realize the value of ONE WEEKAsk the editor of a weekly newspaper To realize the value of ONE HOURAsk the lovers who are waiting to meet. To realize the value of ONE MINUTEAsk a person who missed the train. To realize the value of ONE SECOND.Ask a person who just avoided an accident. To realize the value of ONE MILLISECOND..Ask the person who won a silver medal in the Olympics.

Best of Luck Aya Younis Loai Muhammad