Ask the Expert

ask the expert When planning your company’s future growth,

why start with strategy?

By Delia Porter, MD and Founder of Business Clan

Businesses that have a clear strategy are more likely to be successful. A great strategy takes the guesswork out of planning and helps teams to align on how business goals will be achieved.

strategies are developed to achieve goals over a 3-to-5-year period. Sounds simple, right? So why do so many people find it difficult to do? It takes time to develop a strategy and define what success looks like. You need to stop and reflect, which is hard when you are running a business. You may face uncomfortable truths. For example, you may find that success is further away than you thought. Sometimes you need to make assumptions, which you cannot test or validate before executing your strategy. This often makes people reticent, but when faced with uncertainty, a solid strategy will help you make decisions and move forwards.

When starting with strategy, think about how you will create value for a customer or end user. Then consider how you will deliver value. Finally, establish how you will capture value for your stakeholders.

Once you have your strategy in place it’s important to execute it and review progress regularly. This includes evaluating assumptions and making decisions based on insights. The review process will help you stay on track to achieve your goals and be ready to evolve, and even change, your strategy as time goes on.

Strategy is about the bigger picture. It’s about the how. How will you get from where you are now to where you want to be? Typically, Evaluating strategic success is about measuring progress towards your goals (outcomes) rather than business as usual (outputs). Use key performance indicators (KPIs) to do this and focus on measuring what matters most for success.

About 80% of businesses fail within their first three years, so why wouldn’t you start with strategy? Business size does not matter. Imagine how much more successful you could be by taking a strategic approach to planning.

At Business Clan we help our clients to take a step back, think about the bigger picture and what success means – from financial and non-financial perspectives. Then we work together to develop strategies and KPIs for their business. We work in continuous partnership with our clients to help them track progress and be ready to change course if required.

Delia has 25 years’ experience of running and managing businesses. She founded Business Clan in 2014 after spotting a gap in the market for a one-stop-shop for business consultancy and professional services supported by a team of specialists with key expertise in a range of areas: business strategy, brand and digital

marketing, web design and CRM, accountancy and bookkeeping, HR management and

support, contracts and compliance. Her aim is to use her proven expertise in business integration, financial management and best practice for sustainable growth to accelerate the development of SMEs.