So 2016 has begun and no doubt many of you have created a plan of some sort. Perhaps it’s a new business plan, marketing plan or just a simple two page document that outlines what you want to achieve this year.
I hear much of this regularly as we start the business year. What I don’t hear a lot of is how people are hoping to achieve all that they set out.
Which brings me to the question, what constitutes a great plan? I believe most have started in the right place. Writing up a plan, what I’m not so sure of is how many have developed the strategies to get them to the end goal.
If you’re a business with more than a few employees, you may want to share your direction with all your staff. If you a solo entrepreneur, then I suggest you tell someone about it and make him or her your accountability partner. This will mean you stay on track throughout the 12 months.
I wanted to share with you some ideas I know will help you turn that plan into a reality and when the year is out, you won’t look back and make excuses on why you didn’t achieve that goal.
Break it down – Your plan is big and should be broken down into segments. Allocate various staff to be accountable for various segments. If you are a solo business then think about outsourcing some aspects where possible.
Create a timeline – A timeline will allow you to see your goals spread out over the months. Keeping track of where each project/goal is at will allow you to see if you are going to need more help in attaining your goals. Setting a goal without a due date will also mean you will always think you can do that task tomorrow.
Small steps – With all goals, by breaking them down and setting a timeframe will make it easier to achieve. It’s also a great idea to break that down further and create a small list of things to do on a daily basis. Yes, daily! If you do a small piece of your goal each day, you will get there. It is less overwhelming this way and you do obtain a level of achievement. Day by day, month by month.
Check in – Twelve months is a long time and as a business it’s always good to reassess where you are. Sometimes a goal that we set early on may no longer fit in with what is occurring, economically, demographically or in your industry. Reassessing every 3 months is a great idea.
Also, check in with staff or your accountability partner. This should happen once a month at the very least.
I hope you found my tips useful and I’m happy to be your accountability partner if you need it 🙂
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