Validating or ‘testing’ your strategy to ensure that your business idea is commercially viable and that there’s proven market demand is therefore an essential part of the process.
Once you’re satisfied with your strategy, it should be translated into tactics. Here are five practical steps to achieving your strategic goals.
- Set clear targets – Adopt a planning horizon, perhaps three years, and describe in one or two sentences what you would like the business to look like at the end of this period. Base your vision on a realistic analysis of your market, your competition and the opportunities and threats facing the business.
- Identify critical success factors – Identify four or five factors that are crucial to you achieving your three-year aim. Specify what targets and measures you will use for each factor to demonstrate that you are on-course during the period.
- Prioritise – Against each success factor, identify your tactics for year one and clarify responsibility for each tactic. Consider what could go wrong and include measures to reduce or manage these risks.
- Develop your strategy as a team – The active involvement of your senior team will yield additional ideas and insights, whilst increasing buy-in and commitment.
- Implementation is everything – A well-developed strategy achieves nothing without effective implementation. Use the strategy to set personal objectives and to ensure that critical success factors are properly managed. But don’t be afraid to change plans and priorities if circumstances dictate.
