Business Management

Guest blog

This week’s article is from Lora Crestan, Business Strategist + Coach for her own company – Lora Crestan who has kindly offered to provide some timely thoughts on refreshing your business.

Lora may be reached at: www.loracreston.com or 519.735.6820

 

 

 

Endings Need to Happen

I remember when I wrote my first business plan.  I had dreams of where I would be in 5 years, 10 years and even beyond.  I knew exactly what I was going to do, how I was going to do it, and who my client base would be.  Guess what?  Business plans are for flushing out ideas and rebuilding as your business develops.  BIG LESSON.

EVEN BIGGER LESSON, letting go of the ideas, projects and processes that really were going nowhere except to drain energy, resources and sometimes finances.  How do you, as a business leader, get to make these decisions?  These are the really tough ones.  In many organizations, this can apply to people as well as projects and processes.  Everything gets tougher when people are involved, either as the owners of the project or the ones that need to change.

What to do?

Here are a few things to start to build into your business:

1. Review your business plan quarterly and actively change what needs to be changed.  For example, if you are planning to launch a new product and the proto-types have not exceeded quality expectations, that date will have to change.
2. Plan and have open discussions about what or who needs to end.  In determining this, you will need to have frank and open conversations that look at the benefits to the company and people involved.  Be realistic about how many resources you are prepared to invest before you pull the plug – that includes time, people and money.
3. Learn to understand the life cycle of your business, it’s products and it’s people.  When you are developing plans to grow, what is the exit strategy or succession/evolution plan for each stream.

These may start you on your way to developing a more open understanding of endings that need to happen so that your business can continue to flourish.  Take your time and try them out.  Give us your feedback and thoughts....or if you stuck along the way, we are here to help!