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IS IT TIME TO DO SOME BUSINESS SOUL SEARCHING?

Soul Searching SPOC Analysis for Strategic Planning: Strengths, Possible Improvements, Opportunities, ChallengesIt’s time for spring cleaning and business soul searching.

Business soul searching using the SPOC Analysis is a quick and easy way to assess where you’ve been, where you are, and anticipate the future.

 

What is Business Soul Searching?

“In the business world, the rearview mirror is always clearer than the windshield.”

~Warren Buffett

  • To better understand where you are in business it’s helpful to know what got you here.
  • When you are clear about your current position you can more effectively chart the best course to achieve your company’s values, mission, and vision.
  • During the past 35 years I have guided companies through a quick and simple discovery process I call the SPOC Analysis (a derivation of the SWOT Analysis).
  • The SPOC analysis offers a great, revealing way to assess where you are right now and then to scan the business environment in order to anticipate the possibilities that might present themselves on your journey toward achieving your values, mission and vision.
  • It also identifies key areas that you may want to focus attention upon in the form of goals, objectives, or strategies.

Here’s how the SPOC Analysis process works:

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CREATING STRATEGIC ALIGNMENT TOP TO BOTTOM

Strategic Alignment Model for Employee Engagement in the Strategic Planning ProcessDo you have strategic alignment such that your employees are on the same page,

moving in the same direction,

toward the same common goals?

 

 

Engage Employees in the Strategic Planning Process

What I love about a well-done strategic planning process is that it accomplishes collaboration and cooperation throughout your organization.

Having everyone participate in the process naturally creates enthusiastic buy-in and support all the way from the top tier of the organization to the frontline.

Create Strategic Alignment

The Strategic Alignment Model above shows what’s possible with respect to involving more and more people in the process as it unfolds. It is a natural, cascading effect—similar to water flowing down terraces in a mountain stream. Here are the steps: Read more

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FOCUS YOUR ATTENTION ON WHAT MATTERS MOST

Focus decision-making on what matters most; Focus your attention on your intention (Purpose, Values, Mission, Vision, Goals, Objectives, Strategies, Action Plans)Are you focusing your attention on what matters most?

Or easily distracted by unwanted circumstances?

This article will provide you valuable decision-making tips to focus your attention on what you want because…

What You Focus on Expands and Grows Stronger.

How do you decide which opportunities are most important to you and your organization with the vast number of possibilities that compete for your and your team’s precious resources?

It’s helpful to have a reliable method for determining which opportunities to focus on. Then you can focus your attention on your intention. Those things you are passionate about that will generate the results you desire.

“Passion is energy. Feel the power that comes from focusing on what excites you.” ~Oprah Winfrey

I have found that understanding scientific principles helps me immensely.

During my 35 years of professional facilitation and personal experience, I have grown to know the value and power of a universal principle that has helped me and my clients to make effective, timely decisions that yield phenomenal results.

Here is a law that I like to consciously apply to my decisions, The Law of Attraction:

  • It states that “whatever we focus our attention upon gains strength and attracts more of the same.”
  • It is perhaps the most consistent and visible demonstration of the scientific Law of Cause and Effect—where every action has a reaction.
  • In essence, what you focus on expands and grows stronger. Its law!
  • So, doesn’t it make sense to focus upon what you want, rather than upon what you don’t want?

When you focus your attention (thoughts, feelings, words, and actions) upon your intention (Purpose, Values, Mission, Vision, Goals, etc.), you send a clear message to your employees and customers about what’s important to you and your organization.

Focus on the Solution, Not the Problem

This story might help shed more light on the power of focusing on what you want (desires and aspirations) instead of what you don’t want (fear and problems). Read more

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EXPAND YOUR POWER AND INFLUENCE WITH VISION

Cone of Influence-Core Purpose, Core Values, Mission, and Vision.What is the expansive Vision for your company?

 

Benefits of Defining a Clear Vision

  • A powerful Vision EXPANDS THE COLLECTIVE THINKING of your organization to encompass greater possibility and influence.
  • A lofty vision is ENERGIZING. It EXCITES everyone involved. It generates HOPE for the future.
  • An expansive Vision has everyone ASPIRE TO REACH NEW HEIGHTS with a clear picture of what you are striving to achieve as an organization.

Creating Your Cone of InfluenceTM

In my previous three articles, we explored the power of Purpose, Values, and Mission.

In this article we will “tackle” Vision (tis’ the season for a little Superbowl lingo), the other element that together forms the “Cone of InfluenceTM” of your organization.

These elements DEFINE THE DEPTH AND BREADTH OF WHAT IS IMPORTANT to your organization.

The loftier your vision, the wider your Cone of InfluenceTM.

Knowing What to Say “Yes” To and What to Say “No” To

Your Cone of InfluenceTM IMPROVES DECISION-MAKING so you quickly know what to say “yes” to, and what to say “no” to. Read more

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GENERATE MISSION-CENTERED ENTHUSIASM

Generate Mission-Centered Enthusiasm by Crafting Your Company Mission-StatementIs your organization powered by mission-centered enthusiasm?

“When you discover your mission, you will feel its demand. It will fill you with enthusiasm and a burning desire to get to work on it.” 

~ W. Clement Stone

 

A Mission Statement Defines “The Business You Are In Or About”

A mission statement is an UMBRELLA PROPOSITION that encompasses all you chose to do. It should answer the following questions:

  1. How do you want employees to behave (uppermost Core Values)?
  2. Why does your organization exist (Core Purpose; the heart of your mission statement)?
  3. What does your organization do (Products and Services you provide)?
  4. Who does your organization serve (your Customers/Clients)?
  5. What results do you desire (beyond just making money)?

The Key to Crafting a Good Mission Statement Is To Make It…

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CREATING A COMPANY CULTURE COMPASS WITH CORE VALUES

Core Values create and enduring organizational cultureWhat does your organization stand for—your Core Values?

Create an Enduring Company Culture

Successful business owners understand how vital a company’s Core Values are to creating a company culture that results in HAPPY, PRODUCTIVE, SUCCESSFUL EMPLOYEES, which, in turn, leads to HAPPY CUSTOMERS and a healthy bottom-line.

 

“The only truly reliable source of stability is a strong inner core [purpose and values] and the willingness to change and adapt everything except that core.”

~Jim Collins & Jerry Porras, authors of Built to Last

 

Your Core Values…

  • are your guide for WEATHERING ETHICAL DILEMMAS.
  • become the fabric for weaving GOOD SOUND DECISIONS.
  • serve as your employees’ MORAL COMPASS.
  • form your lasting LEGACY.

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STRATEGIC PLANNING IS YOUR TEAM’S COMPASS AND ROADMAP TO NAVIGATE UNCERTAINTY

Creating Certainty in the Midst of Uncertainty

A strategic plan provides a flexible compass and roadmap for your organization. It has you analyze present and emerging circumstances and project into the future.

These days, I coach leaders to look at planning like molding clay. Continuously molding the plan as circumstances shift.

Done right, strategic planning can be an easy, fun, and inspiring process for involving all team members. It amplifies and accelerates the success of any team and organization.

Here are the 4 overarching phases of the process…

The 4 Phases of  Strategic Planning

  • The 4 Phases of Strategic Planning and the 12 Step Strategic Planning Process1st Phase: You and your team Clarify the direction to take the organization and why to do it.
  • 2nd Phase: Organize so that all team members are on the same page, moving in the same direction, toward the same common goals.
  • 3rd Phase: Your team Acts together collaborating to implement the action plan and keeping the plan alive.
  • 4th Phase: Monitor and adjust the plan to ensure the team is Realizing results that fulfill mutual desires and expectations.

Here are the 12 steps of the strategic planning process within each of the 4 phases… Read more

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STRENGTHEN YOUR C.O.A.R. WITH STRATEGIC FOCUS

Strengthen Your C.O.A.R.-Clarify-Organize-Act-RealizeHave you Strengthened Your C.O.A.R. (Clarify-Organize-Act-Realize) for 2023?

Do You Want to Be a CREATOR or REACTOR?

We can choose to be creators or reactors in life. A creative life is a joyful, expansive life. A reactive life is a stressful, diminishing life.

When I find myself feeling emotionally and physically exhausted, I take a break from the chaos to refocus my attention onto something more satisfying—energizing future positive possibilities. It comforts me to remember that this too shall pass, so why not plan a rendezvous with the spectacular!

We feel most alive and energized when we are moving toward an intention/goal.

This is a great time to focus on strengthening the C.O.A.R. of your business and life by creating a new intention, project, or solution.

Here’s my four-phase Strengthen Your C.O.A.R. TM process that I have discovered during my 35 years of business consulting and project management… Read more

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REIMAGINE YOUR DESTINY WITH BUILT-IN FLEXIBILITY

When dealing with today's uncertainty, reimagine your destiny by preparing for the unknown and focusing on what matters most now.Dealing with Today’s Uncertainty

Are you and your team feeling anxious about today’s uncertain business climate?

You’re not alone.

With record inflation on the heels of a global pandemic, businesses of all sizes are anxious about what the future holds.

I can surely relate. It certainly has disrupted how I serve my clients.

Prepare for the Unknown

What has worked time and again to ease stress in times like these is to CREATE A FLEXIBLE PLAN that can be molded like clay as circumstances change.

The key word is “flexible.”

The best companies expect the best and PREPARE FOR THE UNKNOWN.

Thinking through ways to pivot, before you need to, will give you and your team an INCREASED SENSE OF PURPOSE AND CONFIDENCE.

Focusing On What Matters Most

This approach will help you and your team to FOCUS ON WHAT MATTERS MOST now, with an eye toward the future.

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3 NEW YEAR RITUALS TO RE-ENERGIZE YOUR BUSINESS

3 new year rituals to re-energize your businessThis time of year, I enjoy practicing 3 rituals to re-energize myself and my business that I think you’ll find valuable as well. At the beginning of each year, I reflect on where I’ve been, celebrate where I am now, and project where I want to go. 

 

Here are the 3 new year rituals I suggest you practice to re-energize yourself and your business:  Reflect, Celebrate, and Project

  1. Reflect on the Past Year

  • List all the successes that you have achieved personally and that your team has achieved together.
  • Identify all the adversities or problems you have overcome personally and as a team. Realize that they were truly blessings in disguise that will help you deal with similar issues in the future.
  • Use the successes and lessons learned during the past year as a springboard to new adventures in 2023.

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