“It’s never too late to be who you might have been.”
If you’re like me, you know a few famous quotes, but may not know who said them. The above is a case in point.
Turns out, the quote is widely attributed to George Eliot, a prolific English novelist in the Victorian era who lived and died in the 1800’s. A little research and I discovered that the story doesn’t end there. George Eliot was a pseudonym for Mary Ann Evans. Evans wrote under her own name as well, but chose to write her more serious work using a man’s name.
In this way, Mary Ann Evans was the embodiment of her ideal – as she too reinvented herself.
It’s not too late for us either. Or in the case of business in the 21st century: it’s never too late to plan who you’d like to be.
Allow me to make this tangible.
While we talk about making sure we set our goals and strategy in the fourth quarter or prior to your fiscal year end, it’s still not too late. Planning is never a wasted effort. Let me encourage you, dear reader in this: it’s never too late!
How do you set goals, a strategy and go about developing a strategic plan?
Five tips:
1. Identify your major initiatives for the year. This doesn’t necessary have to be revenue, it can be a strategic initiative to build a new building or roll out a new CRM.
2. Be SMART: your plan must be Specific, Measurable, Achievable/Attainable, assigned to a Responsible Party and fit within a set Timeline. When we talk about moving the company forward, it’s the big things that take your business to the next level. It’s about creating a plan that lays out not only what you’re going to do, but how you are going to do it. A note on the timeline: every activity needs to have very specific target dates. In fact, the more specific, the better. This is one way to build in accountability.
3. Allow a strategic plan to evolve. While your high-level goals aren’t likely to change, how you achieve them might. To make sure the plan can evolve if it needs to, review it quarterly to add, build and course correct.
4. Move the ball forward on deadlines: the responsible party should check in during their weekly meetings with the people executing the objectives of the plan.
5. Plan monthly status updates with the president/owner and his or her management.
Good luck and let me know if I can help.
Remember, it’s not too late to be who you might have been!
By Blair Koch
