How to Build a Strategic Plan Your Team Can Actually Execute | Peter Boolkah Artwork

Business Owners & Entrepreneurs Podcast with Peter Boolkah | Business Coach | The Transition Guy®

You didn’t start a business to become its hardest-working employee.

But that’s exactly where a lot of successful business owners end up.

The business grows. The team grows. Revenue grows. The problems grow.

And somehow, instead of creating more freedom, you find yourself working harder, carrying more responsibility and becoming increasingly essential to the very business that was supposed to give you choices.

That is The Hamster Wheel Trap®.

I’m Peter Boolkah, business coach, author of Your Business Sucks: Build a Business That Works Without Destroying Your Life, and for more than 20 years I’ve worked with business owners and leadership teams around the world.

This podcast is about one thing:

Building a business that works without needing you at the centre of everything.

We talk honestly about the issues most business owners eventually run into, founder dependency, leadership, people, culture, sales, profit, cash, scaling, management, exit readiness and what it really takes to build a business that someone else would actually want to own.

Sometimes that means challenging the way you think.

Sometimes it means admitting that the thing holding the business back is you.

And sometimes it means recognising that a bigger business is not necessarily a better business.

Along the way, I sit down with entrepreneurs, authors, thinkers and leaders from around the world, including people such as Chris Voss, Mark Divine, Verne Harnish, Brad Sugars to name a few, to unpack the lessons, decisions, mistakes and experiences that shaped the way they think about business, leadership and life.

This is not a podcast about hustle.

It is not about vanity revenue.

And it is definitely not about pretending entrepreneurship is easy.

It is about building a stronger business, becoming a better owner and creating something that gives you more options not fewer.

Because eventually every business owner has to answer the same question:

Do you own the business, or does the business own you?

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Business Owners & Entrepreneurs Podcast with Peter Boolkah | Business Coach | The Transition Guy®

How to Build a Strategic Plan Your Team Can Actually Execute | Peter Boolkah

August 20, 2024 • Peter Boolkah

0:00 | 6:01

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A strategy that exists only inside the founder’s head is not an organisational strategy.

Without a shared plan, teams waste resources, pursue competing priorities and repeatedly return to the founder for direction.

In this solo episode, Peter Boolkah explains how to create an organisational strategic plan that connects the company’s purpose and long-term ambitions with clear goals, actions, accountability and performance measures.

You’ll discover:

Why good businesses still waste money and miss opportunities
What an organisational strategic plan should accomplish
Why daily pressures cause founders to neglect long-term direction
The difference between mission and vision
How core values should influence decisions and behaviour
How to convert broad intentions into SMART goals
Why every goal needs resources, milestones and a responsible owner
How KPIs help leadership teams monitor execution
Why strategic planning must be an ongoing process
How feedback and performance data should shape future decisions

A useful strategic plan does more than describe an inspiring future. It tells people what matters now, who owns each action, how progress will be measured and when the strategy should be reviewed.

That clarity is particularly important in founder-led businesses. When the team understands the direction and has authority over defined outcomes, the founder no longer needs to interpret the strategy or make every operational decision personally.

CONNECT WITH PETER BOOLKAH

Website: https://www.boolkah.com
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ABOUT PETER BOOLKAH

Peter Boolkah is a business coach, author and speaker who has spent more than 20 years helping business owners build stronger, more valuable businesses that do not depend on them for everything.

He is the creator of The Hamster Wheel Trap® and author of Your Business Sucks: Build a Business That Works Without Destroying Your Life.

Peter works with founders and leadership teams on the issues that ultimately determine whether a business creates freedom or becomes another job: leadership, founder dependency, people, profit, execution, scaling, exit readiness and enterprise value.

His approach is direct, practical and built around one simple question:

Do you own the business, or does the business own you?

Learn more at https://www.boolkah.com

This is a problem that appears over and over again when I work with businesses.

Throughout my 20-year career, I have seen many great businesses with amazing products and ambitious teams waste their budgets, miss opportunities and become frustrated by a lack of growth.

Why?

Because they fail to develop an organisational strategic plan, or OSP.

An OSP is essentially a roadmap that outlines your business goals, how you will achieve them and the bigger picture explaining why it all matters.

It’s vital for every business, regardless of its size, yet many businesses don’t have one.

They fall short for different reasons.

Some are so focused on the daily grind that they forget their long-term goals. Others may be hesitant to invest the necessary time and resources in creating an OSP.

There might also be a lack of awareness about what an OSP can do.

Let’s be honest: some business owners simply believe they don’t need a plan. They trust their instincts.

But what if your gut feeling isn’t enough?

An organisational strategic plan is your organisation’s roadmap to success.

First, you need to define your mission and vision.

Your mission is your why.

Why does your business exist? Who are you helping?

Think of it as your company’s superpower.

A sustainable clothing company’s mission could be:

“To empower individuals to express themselves through ethically sourced and environmentally friendly clothing while minimising our environmental impact.”

Now, let’s look at the vision statement.

This statement reflects your desired future position. It should be aspirational, forward-thinking and inspirational.

The vision is your “what if?” It is your big dream for the future.

Where do you see your company in five or ten years?

It isn’t about where you are now. It’s about where you want to be.

It should inspire and motivate your team while guiding your strategic decisions.

For the same sustainable clothing company, the vision statement could be:

“To become a leading force in the sustainable-fashion movement, recognised for our innovative designs, commitment to ethical production and positive environmental impact.”

Next are your core values.

These are the unshakable principles that guide everything you do. They are the heart and soul of your company culture.

They should be reflected throughout your organisation, from its leadership to its daily operation.

Your core values should be distinctive to your organisation and reflect its culture and priorities.

For a technology company, the core values might include innovation, collaboration, continuous learning and user-centricity.

For an educational institution, they might include intellectual curiosity, diversity, fostering a love of learning and preparing students for the future.

Ask yourself and your team:

What are the most important things we believe in as a company?

What principles guide how we treat our customers and employees?

What kind of working environment do we want to foster?

We’ve talked about building a strong foundation, but that foundation also needs clear goals to guide your actions.

Think of those goals as the directions on your roadmap. They tell you where you’re going and how you will get there.

Set SMART goals: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound.

When it comes to being specific, don’t simply say, “Improve customer satisfaction.”

Be precise. Aim for a 10% increase in customer-satisfaction scores within one year.

Measurable: how will you know whether you are reaching your goal?

Use clear measures, such as guest surveys in the case of a restaurant.

Achievable: be ambitious, but remain realistic. Don’t set yourself up for failure with an impossible goal.

Relevant: make sure your goals align with your overall mission and vision.

Time-bound: establish a deadline to keep yourself accountable.

A year for the customer-satisfaction increase makes the goal clear and actionable.

For example, a restaurant chain might establish the following goals:

Increase customer-satisfaction scores by 10% within one year, measured through guest surveys.

Expand online ordering and delivery services to reach 20% more customers by the end of the financial year.

Reduce food waste by 15% within six months through improved inventory management and menu optimisation.

Now that you have your SMART goals, it’s time to translate them into action.

Break down each goal into a step-by-step plan with clear objectives.

This plan should include resources. What tools and support do you need? Consider finance, people and technology.

It should include a timeline. Establish milestones and deadlines to keep things moving.

It should include accountability. Assign specific individuals or teams to each task.

Finally, it should include measures. Don’t forget how you will measure success.

Track your progress and make adjustments when necessary.

This ensures everyone is on the same page and working towards the same objectives.

For example, suppose your strategic goal is to increase patient-satisfaction scores. Your action plan might include improving staff training, implementing a feedback system and regularly reviewing patient feedback.

Strategic planning is an ongoing process. That is why you need to establish key performance indicators KPIs to measure progress towards your goals.

Review them regularly to track performance and identify opportunities for improvement.

This involves collecting and analysing data, comparing it with your KPIs and identifying gaps or areas in which you are exceeding expectations.

This information will guide your decision-making and help you adjust your strategies when necessary.

Strategic planning is an ongoing process.

Continuously evaluate the effectiveness of your strategies and make improvements based on feedback and performance data.

This helps reassure you that you’re moving in the right direction.