I was recently talking to a business owner who was really struggling with report overload. Every day he would get a report from his accounting department, legal, marketing, customer service, and operations. And most of those reports were several pages long and packed full of facts and figures. On the surface, this seems like a great thing. He has his hand on the pulse of the business and the level of accountability within his team is top-notch. But what he found in reality was that it was causing more harm than good. His growth had stalled and he struggled to digest all the information he received each day, and found himself often putting off key decisions. The reports would often get filed away without even as much as a glance. Sound familiar? You aren’t alone. Thankfully there is a better way. And today I want to share with you the power of a good one-page plan.
Strategic Action Plan
One of the first things we teach our business clients to do is to create a quarterly strategic action plan or SAP for short. This one report will not only keep them on track, but really help them get a laser focus on what will help grow their business and what is just background noise. This one-page, 90-day sprint includes your top three priorities for the quarter that will make the most difference for your business and your bottom line. Nothing more, nothing less. It will break down the important focus areas, the criteria in which you measure success, and the steps needed to achieve that success. So, instead of having a long to-do list, you can refer back to your strategic plan each and every morning to focus on the areas that you designated as top priorities at the beginning of the quarter.
Depending on your areas of focus, some of them might continue for more than one quarter. But you should only ever have three focuses at a time. And you want to encourage everyone on your team to do the same. Their areas of importance will vary as will their tasks, but a strategic action plan will really help everyone in your organization stay focused and on track. It is also really beneficial to share your SAPs with the team, so that everyone knows what your top areas of focus are for the quarter.
Frequency and Transparency Is Everything
Now you might be thinking, this is just another report that will end up in your inbox. But, this is going to take the place of all the others. If your team is creating a strategic action plan and storing it in a centralized location like a project management tool, you can not only eliminate the daily reporting, but also have access to the information that really matters when you need it most. You will also find that you and your team will have more time to work on high-value tasks, instead of creating reports every day that don’t get read or analyzed.