Like this article? PLEASE +1 it!

Three Trends Facing Future Business Strategic Planning

Written by: Leanne Hoagland-Smith

Article Overview: Where does time go? What seems like just yesterday you were planning this year's goals and now it is 6 months or heaven's forbid 2 years later!

Free Download - How to Craft an Engaging Message That Highlights What You Do to Increase Sales By Leanne Hoagland-Smith

Three Trends Facing Future Business Strategic Planning

Where does time go? What seems like just yesterday you were planning this year's goals and now it is 6 months or heaven's forbid 2 years later!

Looking to the future is many times difficult because we are so focused on the past and the present. Recently when speaking to both local leaders here in Northwest Indiana as well as nationally, I surveyed them as to the challenges that they see down the road the next one to 10 years. As someone whose business consulting and sales coaching practice is very much about determining future trends as part of the strategic planning process to help my clients secure their competitive advantage, I see these 3 critical issues facing all organizations from the smallest to the largest.

#1 Critical Business Trend is Succession Leadership. With the forthcoming retirement of the 65 million baby boomers, finding leaders and then developing those individuals in any organization will be as Ford Motor has stated: “Job #1.” No longer will businesses steal human capital talent from their competitors because there will be none to steal. Everyone will be in the same boat. The recent announcement by Steve Jobs of Apple to step away for 6 months is a perfect illustration of the importance of succession leadership with the strategic plan. (The stock declined 10% within hours of his announcement.)

#2 Critical Business Trend is Strategic Planning. No longer will organizations adopt the role of Captain Wing It who is flying Sky High Airlines 135 heading for sunny Bermuda or is it flight number 351 en route to the Bahamas? The key resources of time, people, money and energy will continue to become even more valuable. Miss-directed actions that cost resources will land companies in the hole of No-Return. The 21st century is knowledge driven and how to leverage that knowledge through critical thinking skills.

#3 Critical Business Trend is Human Capital Talent Development. The greatest resource of any organization is its people and it is the most under-utilized. Each employee has incredible potential that is dormant just waiting for the right person to let the “genie out of the bottle.” Current productivity research suggests between 20-25% of all employees are actively engaged on the job, meaning that they are giving at least $1 worth of work for every dollar received in compensation. This data suggests there is a lot of untapped performance (75-80%) just sitting along the sidelines not delivering a positive return on the investment. Strategic planning must address this wasted resource.

Take Action Coaching Tip: Review these 3 issues and determine if they are important today or will be important tomorrow. Establish goals with your strategic plan to ensure that your actions will secure you a competitive advantage.

Related Articles

More On Strategic Thinking

The Positive Impact of Strategic Thinking and Planning on Your Success

Strategic Thinking What Does It Really Mean

Strategic Thinking Planning for Nonprofit Organizations

“A Major Communication Tip For Successful Strategic Planning – Provide Definitions of Major Strategic Planning Terms As You Begin”

Home > Business-Coach > Leanne Hoagland-Smith > Three Trends Facing Future Business Strategic Planning

Article Tags: 10 years, 21st century, baby boomers, business trend, competitive advantage, critical business, critical issues, critical thinking skills, flight number, ford motor, future trends, illustration, key resources, looking to the future, northwest indiana, sales coaching, steve jobs, strategic plan, strategic planning process, succession

About the Author: Leanne Hoagland-Smith
RSS for Leanne's articles - Visit Leanne's website

Executive consultant, sales coach and speaker, Leanne Hoagland-Smith, partners with innovative and crazy busy leaders who want to dramatically improve their team results. What this looks like differs for each firm and why a free strategy session is offered just by calling 219.759.5601 CDT USA to have a conversation about the results you are seeking. If you prefer you can forward a request to coach@processspecialist.com

Her book, Be the Red Jacket is a no-nonsense and quick read to help discover potential gaps that may be keeping you from your goal to increase sales. The forward is by Evan Carmichael of EvanCarmichael.com

Remember if you think you cannot or you think you can either way you are right. (Henry Ford). Sales Coaching Tip: Change your thoughts; improve your results.

Click here to visit Leanne's website

More from Leanne Hoagland-Smith

Leadership Assessment

Leadership Audit For Business

Business Building Check List

Related Forum Posts

Different Hats - CEO Sales & Marketing & Leadership Development Company Strategic Vision 10 Alliances & Growth Strategies 10 Hiring & Managing People 8 Mentoring 8-9 Strategic Planning for Clients 10 Execution of Marketing Campaigns 9-10 (i have great people who do the nitty gritty) Financial Management 9 Bookkeeping 3 (outsourced as I really hate the fine details like GST0 Administrative Follow Up 6-7 (again have great staff) Writing & Publishing 9 (getting better all the time!) Speaking 10 (so I have been told) Self Promotion 9-10 Web development & Promotion 6-7 (learning more and have brought on players who are 10+) Babysitting Employees (1 - wont do it, that's why I work so hard to hire and motivate the people I have) Great topic Kevin!! Jude

HRPreneur - Hi everyone, I am new to the forum and I recently started my own Human Capital (HR) consulting firm called HRPreneur Inc. HRP focuses on making human capital a strategic differentiator for SME's. Below is a summary about HRP; Who We Are: HRP is a Human Capital consulting firm with 30 years of experience that becomes an extension of your company by providing a full array of services to help you create a highly engaged workforce focused on achieving strategic results in order to build a long lasting great company! Mission: HRP provides small and medium sized businesses a Strategic HR Business Partner to increase employee engagement, resulting in cost savings, increased productivity and results at an affordable rate! Vision: To inspire and warrant SME's reach their full competency! Cost Effectiveness: We provide over 30 years of experience at a fraction of the cost at a strategic executive HR business level You will save between 50% to 60% in costs per year on salary, bonus, benefits, training, office space alone We will provide you additional cost efficiencies through our services Services: • Strategic Human Resources Planning • Organizational Redesign • Change Management • Organizational Culture Development • Employee Engagement Programs • Leadership Assessment and Development • Compensation Design • Talent Acquisition • Assimilation and On-Boarding • Performance Management • Talent Management & Succession Planning • Human Resources Due Diligence • Human Resources Audit • Full Service HR Outsourcing

Business Innovation - Hi Simon If you can finish off the Business Plan and think about your strategic direction or how you are going to use your product to convince people it's a great idea, it will set the foundation for your programming project. You see, when you are looking for funding you will need a Business Plan and Strategic Plan that will convince companies to invest into your new idea. Has anyone achieved this idea before using another industry besides health and fitness that you know of? You should also design some mockups as a "preview" for your programming project. This will also help reduce your programming costs as everyone will know exactly what you want if you have detailed mockups already completed including any functionality you require. Starting mockups for websites and software applications on paper is the best way if you're not a guru in graphic editing software.

My entry - 1. The Best Business Books Ever: The 100 Most Influential Business Books You'll Never Have Time to Read - this is a fascinating book about the history of Business theory, and I'd recommend it to anybody. 2. The Big Book of Small Business: You Don't Have to Run Your Business by the Seat of Your Pants, by Tom Gegax. Ditto. 3. PADI: The Business of Diving Book Okay, so this book won't be of use to anyone who doesn't want to start a scuba store, but I did, and this book was of course invaluable to me in reaching that goal.

Future Financial Corporation - I've never heard of Future Financial Corporation is this a new company?

Recommended Article for You close


Name:
Email: