If you haven’t seen these posts, let me tell you about them.

On TweakYourBiz

This site is designed for small business owners. Since it’s based in Ireland, I often write posts that are useful to Irish small business owners. I recently had the pleasure of interviewing John McSweeney, project manager of Small Business Advice programme to learn more about this free service. If you are a small business owner in Ireland and would like to get some advice regarding a dilemma or opportunity, read Small Business Advice Programme- Interview with John McSweeney.

On Corpnet.com

With the new year upon us, many of us are looking at our strategic plans to see where we might go in 2013. It might be time to make a new friend out of a SWOT Analysis so you have the best data available for your plan. You can read why a SWOT Analysis Really Is Your Best Friend on Corpnet.com.

On KaizenBiz

Each week, I lead a conversation on Twitter in which we take a look at an business idea and delve a bit deeper. Before each conversation begins, there is a framing post to help guide the conversation. You can read the latest post, Negative Feedback and Performance: Can You Handle the Truth? (you are all welcome to join us any Friday on Twitter at 5pm GMT/12pm ET/9am PT. Just use the hashtag, #KaizenBiz)

I hope you’ll take the time to look at these posts and any past posts that catch your attention. Let me know what you think and continue the conversations!

I realized recently that I have never written a post entirely devoted to what is a SWOT Analysis. What?! The weird thing is that I have referred to SWOT analyses in various posts like this one or this one. This tool can help you design your strategic plan, objectively see how you and your small business are performing and even provide a few other advantages.

A straightforward tool

You wouldn’t mind but I encourage people to do a SWOT analysis every time I present my webinar, Living Business Plan-The Best Kept Secret For Small Business Success. (Typically, I recommend to clients to make it a part of their quarterly review.)

It sounds so business-y and arcane but it’s really a straightforward tool. The four parts of the SWOT analysis are: Click here to read more »

Have you been using your living business plan? As many of you know,  a living business plan is the internal business plan that is written for your use and that it follows this basic outline;

Basic Outline:

• Executive summary
• Services and/or products offered
• Marketing plan
• Financials
• Goals and objectives

This is all well and good but how do you know if your business plan is working? Click here to read more »

Growth = Change.

And  yet, so many forget that when you lead your business through a growth stage, you’re really leading a process of change. Most owners/leaders of small to mid-sized organizations generally know what they want to accomplish when they decide to grow. There is a tendency to trust their instincts and fly by the seat of their pants. This is misguided when you are aiming for a new class of customers, a new organizational model or expanding outside of your home region.

See, there are two things going on in your head. The growth plan is one and your emotions are the other. This is some serious multitasking. Now, add your responsibilities as leader, manager and worker. Now,  if that’s not enough..there are other things like social media, marketing advice and possible opportunities mentioned over coffee or lunch.

Is your head spinning yet? Click here to read more »

We’re into the third month of 2012 and it’s a good time to see how your strategic plan is unfolding. IBM’s Lou Gerstner once said that having a strategy was better than having none at all. See, you can tweak a plan since real life often has some challenge that makes you stop and reassess. A strategic plan is a reflection of your thinking and choices about how you (and your team) shape actions that are taken over the year.

Your plan could reflect:

1. New offerings of products and/or services

2. Back to basics

With the economy remaining turbulent, there comes a point when you have to choose what is best for your business and yourself. Waiting for things to settle is certainly an option but you might be waiting a long time. So, it’s time to back up and remind yourself, why does your business exist? What is its purpose?

How do you make sure your strategic plan is aligned with the purpose of your business? Click here to read more »

As someone who encourages business owners and decision makers to take a look at what is swirling around their businesses, it seems natural to take stock of what happened in 2011 and to take a guess at 2012.

What just happened? 5 of the many 2011 trends

1. Daily deals- This trend seemed to gain a lot of momentum in 2011. Many of the companies offering these deals got funding in 2011. Groupon, LivingSocial and Coupons.com have given both businesses and customers opportunities to meet one another. It certainly doesn’t seem to be a trend that is going away any time soon.

2. When I asked for trends from 2011,  Christina Giliberti of CG Online Marketing responded with enthusiasm on how video and podcasts grew in popularity over the year.

3. Another trend Giliberti pointed out was how local business groups formed groups to encourage support and business growth. One example of this is Small Business Can.

4. QR codes – Are you seeing these everywhere? I sure am. Some small businesses have them as part of their contact information and they are ubiquitous in print ads for all products. They may be abused as Jim Nichols posited in his post or maybe a transient trend.

5. Apps – Sticking with the theme of mobile devices, there are apps for everything and multiplying by the second! Amanda Webb of Spiderworking.com described them as the “new niche social networks.” Mobile applications like Instagram, Goodreads and iMapMyRun combine both an interest or activity with networking with others.

 What’s coming in 2012?

1.  Social media- This is a large topic but there are a couple of trends worth noting. Influence sites, such as Klout seem to be gaining currency as a measure of one’s expertise and ability to engage with others. Some people are even including their Klout score on their resumes.

2. Gamification is another social media trend of people adding games as a marketing tool. One example of this can be seen at Sage Ireland.

3. Another emerging trend is the shift from ownership to access to goods or services.  ZipCar, Airbnb and cloud services allow you to have something you want without the details of ownership.

4. But it’s not just marketing, goods or services or even social media that has emerging trends. The workplace has some changes that could very well become sticky in 2012. One trend that seems to be gaining ground is working remotely. As mobile devices and networking sites (including Skype) make it easier to stay connected to the office, collaborate with colleagues and get work done, more people will opt to work from home or other off-site locations. Deborah Busser has some other interesting predictions for 2012 in this post.

So what do you think?

In this week’s Twitter chat, #kaizenblog, we’re going to take a look back at 2011 and try to peer into the future of 2012. Please join us on Friday at 5pm GMT/12pm ET/9am PT and share your observations.

Happy New Year!

What trends did you notice in 2011?

What trend surprised you the most?

What didn’t happen in 2011?

What do you see emerging in 2012?

Do you focus on the long horizon or the short horizon? There are limits to doing either strategy exclusively. However, the short term business vision of 1 year is a building block to making your overall vision an everyday experience. How do you make sure that your current actions will lead to the big prize?

Using a PESTEL analysis or a SWOT analysis is a great way to highlight what is going on in and around your business. You need the data. It is easy to assume that the data will point out just the weaknesses or challenges. It also illuminates the strengths and opportunities.

This is the stuff that affirms your organizational vision

When you see what is working, it reminds you that you are on the right path. It’s that simple. Staying aware of the overall vision of your business is part of your foundation.

Take a moment and make the lens a little smaller. What about 2012?

See, when you engage in strategic planning for the coming year, you’re really articulating your vision for that year. Done right, it provides a stepping stone to making your overall organizational vision an everyday experience.

To make your lens a little smaller, start by answering the following questions:

1. What will be accomplished as of December 31, 2012?

2. Why is this so important?

3. Why now?

“Because the business is supposed to make money” is not an answer.

That’s a given. Any business can say that. Well, any business should say that. You have a a variety of choices of what you can offer, which service or product gets a certain focus and how you will market and sell your services and products. Why are you and your team making the specific choices you’re including in your strategic plan?

What do you see for coming year?

How is this part of your overall vision for your whole business?

About the author:  I’m Elli St.George Godfrey, a small business coach and trainer who guides established small business owners to be comfortable in their own skins, unlock the CEO within while leading and managing change in their organizations.  Whether you are expanding locally or internationally, my 3 keys coaching process helps clients move from being excited about a new business opportunity to having the tools to make it actually happen. Curious? Schedule your complimentary coaching session here.

Skip the whole half-empty or half-full glass.  Economic news is so mixed that it is easy to paint everything with the same paintbrush. Depending on where you are, you could be optimistic that things are looking up or be convinced that the economy will never improve.

However, that’s unlikely to make your strategic plan useful. You can’t write, “It just all stinks” in big letters (even if it does). As you do a SWOT analysis, how can you get a grip on all of the factors that have an impact on your business?

Use a straightforward tool to take a snapshot of your world

That’s all a PESTEL analysis really is. You may already be familiar with this analysis as PEST, STEEP or STEP. Or maybe you do this informally within your SWOT analysis. Given all of the turbulence small to mid-sized businesses have encountered over the last 3 years, staying aware of your business environment can help you prepare for changes in regulations, respond to your customers more readily or identify emerging trends that your business is well suited to capitalize on. And like a lot of my recommendations, keeping it simple and straightforward is best.

What factors are identified in a PESTEL analysis?

Political- This is how the local and national government might intervene with tax policy, laws, trade policies, subsidies for certain industries, industry-specific regulations, infrastructure and political stability.

Economic- It’s a given that whatever economy (or economies) that you do business in is a factor. Other things to identify within the economic factor are interest rates, changes in taxation rates or policies, inflation and currency exchange rates.

Social- Spells out demographics (age, gender, race/ethnicity, location), employee/career expectations and tolerances, population growth and national cultural trends. Keeping track of these may point to customer wants/needs or finding potential markets.

Technological- This factor includes how quickly technology changes and how your customers use technology to buy from you, technological options (mobile device applications, cloud computing, collaborative tools) that make it easier for you to get the work done internally, social media, e-commerce, research and development and manufacturing practices.

Environmental- There is an increasing emphasis on using more environmentally friendly practices and products. It may be important to your business and your industry to keep track of weather or climate changes.

Legal- Awareness of consumer laws, health and safety regulations, employment law, competition laws, international law, electronic data laws and privacy laws among others may be necessary for your business.

Not all of the factors will apply to you

As you go through each area, you and your team will notice that not everything included in each factor is applicable to your business. This is to be expected but still well worth having a complete picture of the business environment in which you are involved.

Highlights questions you need to answer

 Reviewing each factor supports finding what you and your team don’t know. It’s not unusual for a new regulation to be put in place and questions about compliance and potential penalties to come up in discussions with your team. When it comes time to do your SWOT analysis, you will be able to just plug the information into the Opportunities and Threats categories. This snapshot of your world will remove the emotional overtones and make it easier to design your strategic plan and determine which goals to act on.

About the author:  I’m Elli St.George Godfrey, a small business coach and trainer who guides established small business owners to be comfortable in their own skin. I have a deep appreciation for learning and understanding my client’s business style and culture. Whether you are expanding in your own backyard or into another country, my 3 keys coaching process helps clients move from being excited about a new business opportunity to having the tools to make it actually happen. Curious? Schedule your complimentary coaching session here.

It is my pleasure to introduce you to guest blogger, Joe Sanchez. A great member of the Twitter chat community, #kaizenblog. Joe Sanchez has served as an Army officer and business and information technology consultant in the private, public, and non-profit sectors.  His interests are making a difference in organizations, communities, business, and government via leadership, strategy, communications, marketing, performance management and the effective application of technology to solve problems.

 Risk management is discipline that should be viewed as an enterprise core competency. This means that organizations should review how they manage risk at the project level.

Gartner Group stated @ http://ht.ly/5Ek30 that “a ‘new normal’ business environment is emerging, and most organizations are misaligned in some way.”  The key to succeeding in this new environment is to “balance IT cost, risk and innovation to drive business growth.”

Project risk management plans are developed to mitigate risks to projects.

Usually the risks are identified, assessed on their probability and impact, and mitigation actions identified.  At this level, it’s important to recognize that risk management is not a one-time identification of project risk.  Just as a project’s business case should be a life-cycle document that is regularly updated, the risk management plan should be updated on the same schedule.

Risk management plans should receive inputs from other sources as well like the project’s change management plan.

A change management plan addresses organizational structure, communication, training, and incentive actions, to name a few – all focused on addressing an organizational culture that will enable the achievement of the project’s goals.  Numerous studies have shown that projects often fail, not because of technology issues, but because of cultural ones.  Hence, what are the risks inherent in the change management plan that should be factored into the risk management plan?

Another source of risk management input should be an organization’s lessons learned. 

Ideally, these are in an information repository.  If not there, there may be people in the organization who have had experience with similar projects.  One of the first actions for any project should be to review these lessons learned – ideally for projects that have had a similar scope and scale.  That review may identify potential risks that that project should consider.   Two excellent articles that discuss this approach are “Strategies for Learning from Failure at http://ht.ly/4o6rt and “The Danger of Missed Warnings” at http://ht.ly/4o6ru.  A key point here is that if an organization has a knowledge management / sharing program in place, that project should support how the organization manages and mitigate project risks.

The increasing use of data and analytics is also resulting in management focusing on three categories of data projects:  Generate additional revenue, reduce costs, and mitigate risk.  As organizations develop their analytics capabilities, they should also focus on how to use data to mitigate risks at the project level.

Risk management also drives innovation. 

As Mark Johnson states in “Risk Management and Innovation” at http://ht.ly/36Xeg, “How an organization conceives of risk management will in large part determine how effectively innovation is pursued. … the core competency of the most effective and successful innovators is risk management. … They approach risk management not as a safety procedure but as a learning process.”

Adaptation and learning are the new business imperatives per  http://ht.ly/7MqWi  – more important today that ever before.  This applies to how organizations adapt to managing risk and learning from that adaption.

What are the most frequent risks to projects in the current biz environment?

How would you describe the connection between risk management and change management?

How do you use risk management as an opportunity to learn?How does your organization manage project risk that may be different than what is in today’s post?

What is the relationship between risk management and innovation?

Ready to close 2011 and prepare for 2012?

It’s likely that you’ve already started thinking about how your small to mid-sized business will perform in 2012. Planning is an act of imagining what could be and letting go of what is. Are you coming to the planning meetings full of confidence or dread? Or maybe somewhere in the middle?

Weirdly, any of these attitudes could create a rose-colored strategic plan.

You know this already but how you see the world influences how you act. That’s why a paradigm shift feels so powerful. The very essence is that you have to change how you act.  Our mindsets create expectations, blindspots and beliefs that color what information we absorb and which we ignore or downplay.

• Overconfidence leads to oversights or simply blindness to threats or opportunities. “We don’t have to worry about that”
• Dread leads to analysis paralysis, self-doubt and focus on possible threats. “This has got to work”
• The balancing act gets skewed by the day-to-day duties and not making time to maintain a global perspective. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”

See through a clear lens with these 5 tips

1. Business analysis. Schedule quarterly reviews including a SWOT analysis so you can take a step back and be more objective about how your business is performing.  With the new year almost upon us, you may have to comply with changes in regulations or other variables that require adaptations. To make this easier, use a PESTEL analysis to more clearly identify potential threats and opportunities. Another possible analysis that will illuminate how your business is functioning within economic turbulence is Ansoff’s Strategic Success Model (check out page 3 for chart).

2. Communicate clearly and often. Make time to speak with your team and/or business partner as a group. This avoids wasting time running from one person to another to give the same message. It means you stop and listen to what they are actually saying. This is  your opportunity to gauge the morale of your organization as well as getting information for the business analyses. Even a 5-15 minute group meeting can be very productive when you keep it focused on 1-2 topics and schedule follow ups when issues need more attention.

3. Mentors, coaches, mastermind groups and/or trusted confidant. No matter the size of your organization, it helps to keep your head clear. As a leader, it is important to have a safe place to sort out your thoughts and feelings. Mentors, coaches, mastermind groups and/or a trusted confidant gives you that space so you can interact with your employees, vendors and customers effectively.

4. Know the difference between “nice-to-have” and “must-haves”. Sometimes strategic plans become wish lists. While taking audacious ideas and setting them as targets is desirable, it is also crucial to keep your “bread-and-butter” targets active. You can use the things that produce a steady revenue stream as a means to invest in your next “nice-to-have”. The tried and true parts of your business are the foundation. Be aware of how much energy and resources are needed for your newest offering so you can plan for them appropriately.

5. Take care of yourself. Thinking and the ability to keep emotions in check deteriorate when we don’t eat healthy foods or get enough sleep. Lack of sleep alone can lower your cognitive abilities. When we feel run down, it’s tempting to go with what makes us feel good. Exercise or just simply moving more is a great way to clear your mind so you can cope better.

Avoid the rose-tinted strategic plan.

The willingness to seek accurate information and use it to create your strategic plan will pay off. It all starts with your desire and commitment to see your business as it truly is.

 What tips would you add?