Venn to Win! Identify Core Values and Do Some Venn
Our past two articles have focused on planning, emphasizing:
The value of setting a vision of what your company needs to look like when you exit it and when you want that to occur. Then, working backward to establish quarterly goals for the next 12-18 months.
Building upon this by conducting a premortem. Answering the question: If we get together one year from today and everything has gone wrong, what are the most likely reasons?
Next, we shift into the next critical planning exercise – establishing the company’s core values. This process involves two components.
First, establish and embrace core values. This exercise should be collaborative. Start with the executive team working together to set no more than six draft values. This exercise only takes a couple of hours and one short follow-up. Then, share them with the next management layer and get their buy-in. Finally, share them with the entire company. After that, incorporate them into everything the company does. How best to do that can be a lengthy additional newsletter.
Second, identify your core strategic purpose. I underlined strategic because I focus on how you will grow revenue and make money. The process I use frequently is the Hedgehog Concept popularized by Jim Collins in his famous book Built to Last – use a Venn diagram to identify your brand promise.
Next, we will discuss the final element to successful revenue growth planning – identifying your Rocket Ship offering.
Thought for the Day
Growing an organization is like riding a roller coaster at an amusement park. You are up one minute and down the next, but it is never boring.
When faced with challenges, it is customary for you to be much harder on yourself than you should. One exercise to break you from this habit is to ask yourself, what advice would I give a close friend if this happened to her? Then, cut yourself some slack and follow that advice.
Don’t ever let doubts, struggles, or anything slow you down from advancing toward your goals. We all have a unique purpose of contributing to this world and the companies where we lead and work.
We utilize the A2B Playbook, our planning and infrastructure growth tool, to aid companies in the following areas:
Strategic planning engagements help growing companies grow faster
Help organizations that recently raised money sharpen plans, set quarterly priorities, and enhance Board reporting
Assist organizations in preparing for a transaction, focusing on messaging, communications, and due diligence
Help companies that have hit a rough patch break through and reignite growth
Let me know of organizations that can use our help.