Hoshin Kanri: A Better Way for Strategic Execution

Companies must determine ahead of time what the vision and direction will be. A proper strategy must assign clear responsibilities and show what resources are to be committed. Metrics and timelines must be defined. Management must decide what core elements are to be deployed and the order of deployment.

Traditional planning methodologies focus on steering an organization in the direction desired by top management. Often referred to as management by objective (MBO) since top management establish the objectives, targets, evaluate whether employees meet these targets. Unfortunately, as we know, you can’t achieve the desired results by just dictating individual targets.

In Lean Thinking “Hoshin Kanri” is the process to select those annual objectives that will give the organization the greatest possible advantage. The word Hoshin is formed from two Chinese characters: ho stands for “method,” shin means “shiny metal showing direction.” Kanri stands for “planning.” Together, hoshin kanri is used to communicate a “methodology for setting strategic direction,” in other words, a management “compass.”

Hoshin kanri translates the strategic intent into the required day-to-day behavior. It is not another attempt to improve MBO. While hoshin kanri and MBO both aim to deploy company goals and encourage employees to achieve them, there are several radical points of departure. Specifically,

• Hoshin kanri deploys the voice of the customer, not just profit goals. More than the traditional MBO description of projected market share, profit goals, and revenues, hoshin kanri maps and controls the path to a new design based on customer priorities. It describes the behaviors needed to achieve the policies that support the strategic vision.
• Hoshin kanri deploys breakthrough strategies. It concentrates resources on strategic priorities and chronic problems by going after root cause(s) of obstacles to achieve dramatic improvements in performance.
• Hoshin kanri controls the means and methods, not just the results. It manages cause and effect linkage of supporting strategies, measures, and targets to ensure that employee efforts are realistic, synergistic, and add up to the total effort required to meet corporate objectives.
• Hoshin kanri is a continuous improvement management process, not calendar-driven system. MBO typically establishes a set of quarterly and annual goals. In contrast, hoshin kanri identifies a few critical breakthrough objectives that require coordinated and focused effort over an extended period of three to five years. Annual objectives are established within the context of these longer term objectives.
• Hoshin kanri emphasizes frequent reviews up and down the organization. In MBO, the performance review, often an annual event, does not capture or communicate valuable feedback to inform future rounds of planning. Hoshin kanri uses an explicit inter-level communication system to continually distill local lessons and channel them upward to the leaders of the organization. It routinely tracks performance, reviews the capability of the entire planning system, and modifies it accordingly.
• Hoshin kanri is not tied to performance appraisals. Authentic hoshin kanri separates the evaluation of personnel from the evaluation of the strategy. It focuses not on personnel, but on the quality of the strategic assumptions and the discipline of the planning system.

Hoshin kanri is not just a strategic planning tool, it is an execution tool. It is a system to deploy an existing strategic plan throughout the organization. In other words, hoshin management is an idea handler, not an idea generator. It depends on a preexisting statement of direction typically generated by an augmented strategic planning process.

The Hoshin Kanri process identifies and concentrates resources on the vital few stretch achievements that support the vision. It separates those performance issues that require dramatic improvement from the many incremental improvements that can achieved at the local level. All the changes that the leadership believes to be incremental are skimmed out of the strategic plan and addressed through quality in daily work. The remaining category of contribution – the vital few breakthrough achievements – becomes the core of the Hoshin Kanri process.

At the heart of Hoshin Kanri is the Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycle. Promoted by w. Edwards Deming, this management cycle (sometimes called the PDCA cycle) is an iterative process. A closed loop system, it emphasizes four repetitive steps:

• First, start with an idea and create a PLAN to test it.
• Then, DO adhere to the plan, and take corrective action when necessary.
• Next, analyze and STUDY discrepancies to identify the root causes of obstacles.
• Finally, take appropriate ACTion. If the outcome matches expectations, then standardize the process to maintain the gains. If the results were disappointing, then modify the process to eliminate the root cause of remaining problems. In either case, repeat the process starting again with PLAN.

While these steps appear in a linear sequence, when implemented the phases are best thought of as concurrent processes that can continually be improved.

Hoshin Kanri is the system for setting management’s compass toward True North. It is a tool to align people, activities, and performance metrics with strategic priorities. It can be used to communicate direction, coordinate activity, and monitor progress. It enables members of the organization to work together in the most creative way to define and achieve the strategic intent.

Lean Quote: Managers Light a Fire Under People; Leaders Light a Fire in People

On Fridays I will post a Lean related Quote. Throughout our lifetimes many people touch our lives and leave us with words of wisdom. These can both be a source of new learning and also a point to pause and reflect upon lessons we have learned. Within Lean active learning is an important aspect on this journey because without learning we can not improve.

"Managers light a fire under people; leaders light a fire in people."   — Kathy Austin

While a leader can be a boss, not every boss is a leader. The distinction between being a boss and being a leader may seem small, but it means the world to the people who work for you. 

The definition of leadership is “a process of social influence, which maximizes the efforts of others, towards the achievement of a goal.” That is why it is my belief that if you are a good leader for your organization, then you really don’t need to worry about being The Boss. You will gain more influence and have more positive impact on your organization if your team feels valued and respected and has an understanding of where you expect them to be headed.

Here are few key points on leadership:

• A company is a community, not a machine.  When building a synergy on any team, you have to start by building trust and confidence up and down the chain of command.  Start by developing a vision that is easy to communicate and easy to comprehend. Once your team understands the collective vision and goals of the organization, individual goals become closely tied to the collective goal.  Brainstorm with your team and listen intently to suggestions and incorporate best practices.
• Management is service, not control.  Once a vision is established, a great leader constantly queries his/her managers to see if they have the tools necessary to excel.  Once the tools are determined and obtained, empower your managers to make decisions on their own, but always make it clear that you are available to assist at any time.
• Employees are my peers, not my children.  This point ties into the previous point about providing service.  Nobody in any organization likes to be “talked down to” or constantly second-guessed.  Treat your team members as you would expect to be treated.  Remember, you want to encourage the sharing of ideas.

A great leader recognizes the value in individual team members and ensures that their talents are being utilized in the most effective manner. Provides constructive feedback and seek it yourself.  Remember, we are pursuing excellence each and every day.

Being an effective leader means saying, and believing, that the buck stops with you. That your role is to set a vision, give employees the direction, support, and tools they need to reach success and then get out of the way and allow them the room they need to move forward.  You and your organization will be poised for greater success if you remind yourself of this every day – and you too might find that simply keeping a list like this handy on your desk is an easy way to keep yourself on the right path.

During your life, you will face two kinds of managers: leaders and bosses. It does not matter how high the position of these individuals; bossy people are more likely to fail while those who lead will succeed.

Keeping Employees Motivated: 5 Essential Tips

Employees are the lifeblood of any company or business. Therefore, they need ‘VIP’ treatment so that they can go about their duties with dedication. As a boss, one of the greatest achievements you can hone is to have most, if not all, of your employees on your side. Employee motivation is an integral part of performance and excellence for a business or company. No magic can replace the efforts your staff put in the company, as they are the centerpiece of the organization. Their attitude and diligence in duty ensure that everything flows daily.

For these reasons and more, employees have the power to make or break a business or company. It does not matter if you yell at them and give them ultimatums. If they lack the motivation to work, you will only be flogging a dead horse. Therefore, instead of wasting your time, as it is valuable, why don't you use it to increase their motivation? Maybe, you do not have a clue on how to go about this fete. Luckily, we did in-depth research to come up with the following five solid tips to keep your employees motivated. Feel free to apply them in your daily discourse with employees and try to change their mentality and general perspective.

1.     Be their support always

In most cases, employees only seek a boss that can double up as their shoulder to lean on, when they feel disturbed or have different issues. Ask yourself, am I supportive of my employees as a boss?

Leadership and, proper leadership for that matter, is one of the vital ingredients of employee motivation. When you work closely with your staff while encouraging them in their duties, you prove to them how supportive you are as a boss. This way, they will not want to let you down.

Always try to be sympathetic whenever they share things that concern their work or even personal life. Knowing that they can count on you or have a listening ear is vital to their motivation working for the company. The kind of support you give to your staff has a significant influence on how the employees see themselves and the company in general.

Just the same way a little kid would expect you to lend him or her listening and sympathetic ear is the same manner your employees need you to do behave.

2.     Set the right example

How would you even call yourself a leader if you do not lead by example? It would be best if you were an icon that your employees look up to when working in the company. Yes, you are the boss. However, this does not give you the license to act like a jerk. Remember, most employees will do as you do and, not as you say.

What you show is very important to your staff. You might think that giving orders in the comfort of your office while swinging on your swivel chair is the perfect idea of a boss. The only problem is that you are shooting yourself on foot. This is only creating rebellion and animosity if anything. When you go to the office and practice something you have been preaching to your staff, they will be more than willing to emulate your actions. You might be shocked by how much your employees will be motivated when you lead from the frontline.

3.     Define the goals, vision, and mission of the organization

It is quite challenging to focus when you do not even have a clue on what you are focusing on. Let us take an example of a journey. Will you boldly travel to an unknown destination when someone randomly selects you for the fete? Of course, you will have your doubts and reservations and will feel less motivated to work.

Conversely, your employees need to know what they are working towards and, this is clear in a vision or mission statement. Therefore, you need to let your staff know about the organization’s goals, mission, and visions. This way, they will put their dedication and hard work towards achieving this milestone. Motivation lies in your ability to convince your employees what targets the company has and how everyone can work together to achieve them.

You need to make sure every staff member understands his or her role in this journey. Therefore, you need to divide tasks and labor so that everyone has their part to play. If possible, place them in different teams with their distinct roles. Positive teamwork and energy will motivate each one.

4.     Try to ensure the general mood and happiness in the company is intact

Are you a friendly boss? If not, do you know that not being one can affect the general feeling of your employees? Nothing breaks employees' motivation, like having an uncaring boss. This is especially the case when you make no effort to improve the general mood of the staff. You do not have to do much to enhance the mood of your team. Sometimes it is all about the little motivating factors, which make your team energetic and ready to serve the company.

Try rewarding employees, for instance. Whenever they reach or exceed the company's expectations, please give them a reward that motivates them to do more. It can be in any form, depending on what the company can afford. You can promote him or her, organize a trip, or give them a raise in remuneration. Anything that can get the individual motivated.

5.     Create an ideal work environment

Ask yourself, do the employees feel motivated to come to work every morning? Moreover, if not, does the work environment have anything to do with a lack of motivation? In most cases, your staff will feel less motivated to report to work when the work environment is negative.

Employees spend most of their hours daily in the office. Imagine all of these hours seated in a negative environment. Would you feel motivated to work with all of your dedication? Make the workplace an ideal area for staff to work. Make sure that they always feel motivated to come over to the office daily.

Conclusion

In summary, we hope that the tips above will help you motivate your employees. Most of them are easy to follow and will not cost you much. Try them today and notice the difference.

Author Bio

Isabell Gaylord is a professional content writer and journalist who currently works at Dissertation Today. 

10 Keys for Lean Daily Management

Many companies that experience great success with lean hold kaizen workshops to rapidly implement lean tools. It’s no secret, however, that many of these companies find that the improved system quickly reverts back to its non-lean state.  The problem is that lean is a people-dependent system.  All the lean tools, such as posting standard work, require people to use them daily and if they do not understand them, or care about them, the tools will quickly decay. We need to develop people so that they want to use the tools for daily improvement.  This requires internal motivation. What we are really trying to accomplish is to develop people so they have the drive to improve toward clearly defined performance goals.  We want to make improvement a habit. There is no tool that develops people, but there is a methodology that can aid in development often referred to as shop floor management, or daily management.

The purpose of daily management is to make everyone come at a common platform, take charge and ownership of each and every aspect, for example, improving production, productivity, material availability, etc., and most important is the increasing communication.

10 Keys to Daily Management:

1.     KPIs That Matter

To take your production to the next level, you need to collect and analyze the relevant key performance indicators (KPI), or metrics.  The right metrics can help you find the sticking points or weak spots in your production line and processes, giving you the information and insights you need to continuously improve and refine your business.  KPIs allow you to monitor, analyze and optimize production processes regarding their quantity, quality as well as different cost aspects.

2.     Setting Standards

Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible, And like-wise you want to turn your expectations into clear standards through team discussions and displaying the end results. Setting standards help your lean leaders to be able to clearly display the company expectations of a task to your team. It also makes it easier for the leader to correct and adjust behavior if necessary.

3.     Visual Displays

Utilize a visual board to display its goals, targets, and performance metrics. The look and feel of the visual board should be standard across your system, with each board including the standard metrics as well as a designated space for discussion and prioritization of improvement ideas. The visual board should be located in an accessible area so that the data and metrics stay in front of everyone.

4.     Daily Huddles

Daily huddles take place at the value stream level and last for about 10 to 15 minutes. Huddles are led by the leader and are attended by all members of the value stream. Huddles take place directly in front of the visual board so that the metrics that are displayed on the board can be discussed and updated as needed.

5.     Gemba Walks

The leadership team needs to visit the actual place (Gemba walk) to ‘check things out’ and see if there are any issues that need to be addressed.  Auditing processes by visiting the floor and talking with employees.  The purpose of the Gemba Walk is to observe processes, not to evaluate the people preforming the process. Leaders then go to work on the problems and actions from the morning meeting.

6.     Problem Solving

It’s necessary to create an environment in which hiding problems is neither acceptable nor possible. The right way to work, which lean thinking advocates for, is exposing problems, effectively solving them, and asking for help and getting it whenever necessary. Problems occur constantly and more time is required to understand and solve them, the bigger their consequences.

7.     Coaching

Highlighting improvement opportunities, idea prioritization, and evaluation are not part of frontline employees’ normal work. These behaviors need ongoing encouragement and mentorship beyond the initial training. Strong, capable department leadership and visible senior leadership are crucial for encouraging, recognizing, and promoting these behaviors and accountabilities to sustain daily management.

8.     Accountability – Improvement Tracking

Daily accountability is the vehicle for interpreting the observations recorded on the visual controls, converting them into assignments for action and following up to see to it that assignments are completed. As with the other principal elements of lean management, daily accountability relies on disciplined adherence to its processes on the part of leaders.

9.     Leader Standard Work

For daily management to be successful, it is critical for leaders at all levels of the organization to be committed to the process and visibly be present at huddles. The role of these leaders at huddles is to encourage teamwork and collaboration, help remove barriers, mentor and coach frontline staff, and foster systems thinking.

10.  Everyday Communication

Leaders should regularly communicate with employees across all levels of the organization to ensure that information is disseminated and to learn about employees’ experiences, problems, and suggestions. Communication is enhanced by the leaders who remain in contact, are able to clarify, and convey information concisely and clearly. Since lean management favors an approach where managers are in regular communication with employees about their work and their process, employees should feel they are empowered to make better decisions.

The main purpose of the daily management process is the enabling of robust “Check” and “Act” activities. An organization that places daily management at the core of its management system will be capable of identifying deviation as soon as it occurs and to initiate the problem solving process right away.

Such an organization will be best placed to deal with future challenges, because it has created a solid method for dealing with uncertainty and problems, and because it has continuously engaged and developed its people (the real value creators).

Lean Quote: Empowerment and Delegation

On Fridays I will post a Lean related Quote. Throughout our lifetimes many people touch our lives and leave us with words of wisdom. These can both be a source of new learning and also a point to pause and reflect upon lessons we have learned. Within Lean active learning is an important aspect on this journey because without learning we can not improve.

"I don’t know about management techniques as such. I only know about engineering and people. The most important thing is the respect for people within the corporation and so it is incumbent on the managers to create an environment within a corporation in which all employees are encouraged to take initiatives in carrying out the work and doing the work with pleasure."   — Soichiro Honda, Honda Motor Co., Ltd.

One challenge many managers experience surrounds delegation. You can’t do everything yourself which means you need to respectfully delegate work throughout your team. Leaders need to motivate and empower their employees to want to work for you and with you.  

Empowerment may not be a new concept to you, but many organizations experience problems because they don’t know how to ‘live it’. It is still too common for ‘delegation’ and ‘empowerment’ to be confused, and for the latter to be regarded as something you can use over somebody else, like having authority. 

Empowerment is not delegation because:  

Empowerment is where the organisation has enabled or coached the employee and now continues to support that person within the scope of his or her own work, as previously agreed

Delegation is about giving away parts of your own job to someone else; it is not about giving people scope within their own jobs 

However, the processes involved in delegating should be similar to those for empowering. With empowerment, accountability and responsibility rest with the person empowered. With delegation, responsibility can be passed on but accountability for ensuring the work is done stays with the person who delegated the task.

An empowered organisation encourages the entire company to believe in empowerment and checks to see that the ‘infrastructure’ for empowerment is in place.

Lean Tips Edition #149 (#2446-2460)

For my Facebook fans you already know about this great feature. But for those of you that are not connected to A Lean Journey on Facebook or Twitter I post daily a feature I call Lean Tips.  It is meant to be advice, things I learned from experience, and some knowledge tidbits about Lean to help you along your journey.  Another great reason to like A Lean Journey on Facebook.

Click this link for A Lean Journey's Facebook Page Notes Feed.

Here is the next addition of tips from the Facebook page:

Lean Tip #2446 – Allow Time for Big-Picture, Strategic Thinking. 
People tend to try to squeeze strategic planning discussions in between putting out fires and going on much needed vacations. But to create a strategic plan, your team needs time to think big. Do whatever it takes to allow that time for big-picture thinking (including taking your team off-site).

Lean Tip #2447 –Get Full Commitment From Key People in Your Organization on Your Plan. 
You can’t do it alone. If your team doesn’t buy in to the planning process and the resulting strategic plan, you’re dead in the water. Encourage the key people to interact with your customers about their perception of your future and bring those views to the table. 

Lean Tip #2448 – Make Strategy a Habit, Not Just a Retreat. 
Review the strategic plan for performance achievement no less than quarterly and as often as monthly or weekly. Focus on accountability for results and have clear and compelling consequences for unapproved missed deadlines.

Lean Tip #2449 – Communicate The Plan
You simply can’t over-communicate. Communicating the plan has to be done in multiple ways to engage and inform all stakeholders. Everyone should know what the plan is and what their role is in executing it. Find out how your various stakeholders prefer to receive information and try to meet them where they are.

Lean Tip #2450 – Make Plans Realistic, Measurable, and Data-Based.
The three key differences between successful and good strategic plans are:
• Having a realistic connection between the intrinsic motivations of employees, organization’s goals, and client outcomes.
• Creating accountable, measurable activity at individual, team, division, and group levels.
• Continually challenging processes. Decisions should be based on robust, unbiased, intelligent information, not emotion.

People are the ones who get things done. If your plan does not get down to the point of having specific people responsible for initiatives within your plan, then the work will never get done because nobody will have ownership in it.

Your plan must include measurable results. We call them “Performance Measures”. If not, then people will never know when the goal has been achieved.

Lean Tip #2451 – Take a Key Role in Communicating Company Strategy
Have you ever played the children’s game “Telephone”? By the time the message gets to the end of a long line of people, its content has likely been drastically altered beyond recognition. Miscommunication costs businesses more than $37 billion USD each year – you don’t want to add to that total. Be direct, make sure everyone understands your plans, and ensure that you communicate your vision and goals to all staff members.

Lean Tip #2452 – Encourage All Employees to Commit to Your Strategies
The more that your employees engage and interact with your goals, the more likely it is that they will stay committed to them in the long run. During meetings and performance reviews, remember to encourage commitment and remind everyone of goals and their own roles in achieving them.

Lean Tip #2453 – Transparency is Key
Maintaining a sense of transparency throughout your entire organization will allow your employees to see the productivity of their managers and vice versa. Overall transparency can translate to a healthier and more productive work environment for everyone, improving overall engagement.

Lean Tip #2454 – Build Trust When Times Get Tough.
Something beautiful happens in a migrating flock when a bird is sick or wounded: two of the birds drop out of formation to assist, aid and protect their fellow member until the bird can fly again. They are a team, all in it together. A team is a formation of trusted relationships, fostering natural accountability. This is the basis of success.

Unfortunately, many work teams don’t function like this. If one person is struggling, people sometimes gang up on that person and feel “let down” that he is not pulling his weight. They complain about this person to management, and feel burdened to have to take on more of the work.

Instead, when situations arise when one team member is struggling, managers should take time to find out what is happening and why. When people fall short, think of it as an opportunity to build trust and inspire better work. Ask the person what is going on and together discover ways to improve performance. That might mean shifting the person’s role, or inspiring that person to take on more of a leadership role. Working through hardships together builds stronger teams.

Lean Tip #2455 – Everyone Gets Recognized.
In the 2015 Employee Recognition Report by the Society for Human Resource Management and Globoforce, 90 percent of the 823 HR professionals surveyed said an employee recognition program positively impacted engagement.

Engagement is essential to keep a company growing and reaching for its vision. When employees aren’t recognized, they lose track of their purpose. But in contrast, when wins are celebrated, employees want to win more.  

A simple expression of gratitude, such as a thank-you note or gift, shows employees that management is paying attention and notices that they are consistently working hard and succeeding at their individual goals.

When recognizing top talent, explain how employees' efforts are pushing the company toward large-scale goals. Show how their performance is meeting and exceeding expectations to encourage more hard work and dedication.

Lean Tip #2456 – Lay Out the Vision for Change
Clearly state what is changing and why. Show employees where you are today and where you intend to be tomorrow. Make sure you show them why this matters to the organization, how it will positively impact their careers and how you plan to measure success.

Lean Tip #2457 – Personalize Tasks For Success.
Make sure the tasks you assign to each person play to their strengths. When people are set up for success, they are more motivated to achieve. Like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole, nothing will get done if you have a big-picture person working on detail-rich tasks. Be clear with each person about how their work is vital to the outcome. Then set measurable goals and let them know how they will be held accountable. If appropriate, let the individuals take part in defining the work they will be undertaking.

Lean Tip #2458 – Stay Connected with Employees.
Stay connected to ensure that everyone is clear about the mission that they are working toward. Keep an open-door policy as much as possible. If that's not feasible, consider making yourself available via email or during certain hours of the day. It's important that employees let you know when challenges arise. That's not to say you should listen to every gripe and complaint, but you can let everyone know you are empathetic to their concerns and are willing to work with them to find solutions. Further, encourage employees to bring a solution with them when making you aware of a problem.

Lean Tip #2459 – Nip Resistance to Change in the Bud.
Be aggressive in addressing instances where you see resistance. This is important for two reasons. First, small problems have a nasty habit of ballooning into bigger ones. Second, you don't want unhappy employees poisoning the minds of other employees who have already bought in.

Lean Tip #2460 - Be Prepared to Change the Change.
Just as employees resist change, sometimes we fail to realize that our own changes aren't working the way we want them to. Assuming you have the right workers on the right task, solicit their feedback. You have to be prepared to take the advice they give and adjust your own game plan. Sometimes that means midcourse corrections. Other times, it means scrapping the plan and starting from scratch. That's not defeat -- it's the ultimate sign that you value the buy-in your employees have for your ideas.

Lean Quote: 5 Reasons Why Business Strategy Planning Is Important

On Fridays I will post a Lean related Quote. Throughout our lifetimes many people touch our lives and leave us with words of wisdom. These can both be a source of new learning and also a point to pause and reflect upon lessons we have learned. Within Lean active learning is an important aspect on this journey because without learning we can not improve.

"Hope without plans is like a car without wheels."  — Terry Mark

Developing strategy takes time and resources. It requires the time and commitment of some of the most highly paid and highly experienced people in your organization. So, if your team isn’t willing to invest what is needed, I recommend that you don’t do it. Poor planning is often worse than no planning at all.

So, why do you need a strategy? Why take time for planning? There are many reasons. But these five reasons are important considerations.

1) To set direction and priorities:

First and foremost, you need a strategy because it sets the direction and establishes priorities for your organization. It defines your organization’s view of success and prioritizes the activities that will make this view your reality. The strategy will help your people know what they should be working on, and what they should be working on first.

Without a clearly defined and articulated strategy, you may very well find that your priority initiatives—the ones that will drive the highest successare being given secondary treatment.

2) To get everyone on the same page:

If you find that you have departments working to achieve different aims, or going in different directions, you need a strategy.

Once you define your strategic direction, you can get operations, sales, marketing, administration, manufacturing, and all other departments moving together to achieve the organization’s goals.

3) To simplify decision-making:

If your leadership team has trouble saying no to new ideas or potential initiatives, you need a strategy. Why? Your strategy will have already prioritized the activities necessary for success. Priorities make it easier to say no to distracting initiatives.

4) To drive alignment:

Many organizations have hard-working people putting their best efforts into areas that have little to no effect on strategic success. They’re essentially majoring in the minors—because their activities aren’t aligned with the priorities. Your strategy serves as the vehicle for answering the question, “How can we better align all our resources to maximize our strategic success?”

5) To communicate the message:

Many leaders walk around with a virtual strategy locked in their heads—they know where their organization needs to be and the key activities that will get it there. Unfortunately, the strategy isn’t down on paper and hasn’t been communicated thoroughly. As a result, few people are acting on it.

When your staff, suppliers, and even customers know where you’re going, you allow even greater opportunities for people to help you maximize your success in getting there.

Planning is essential to the success of any business. When a company has a plan to follow, leaders are better equipped to prepare for the future. A business plan creates a focus for the company, uniting employees toward common goals. When everyone works together, it’s easier to manage time and resources, to position the company for growth.