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| Original Message Added : 9 Sep 2008 How am I supposed to visualise where I want to be in 5 years time if I am worrying about getting my work done and securing new work for the foreseeable? I am a web designer currently working from home, I have one client whose project will be finished in a couple of months. They have given me an introduction that may turn into further work. |
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| Reply : 15 Sep 2008 So, how come you don’t know where you want your company to go? As a web developer, you’re in an expanding market. If you’re any good, you should be able to bank on getting a reasonable supply of work. Let me be clear, there’s nothing wrong in living a hand to mouth existence. It’s just that it isn’t the most useful (or happy) way of living. Crucially, you phrase your question in terms of where your company should be going in the long term. There is a subtle, but profound, difference between you and your business; and thinking about the company as an entity in its own right is a very helpful way of avoiding mixing up what you want with what the company needs. So, to get to the answer, I suggest you put a 60 minute ‘meeting with yourself’ in the diary in which you answer as many questions about the business five years hence as you can think of. Perhaps get a friend to help. Questions are likely to include ‘how many staff does my business have in 2013?’, ‘what sort of clients does it have (by market sector, size, etc)’, ‘what client needs do my services meet?’, ‘what type of jobs is my business doing?’, ‘does my business have any joint ventures with other businesses?’, ‘what is its main sources of new business?’, and so on. Still thinking about 2013, go on to ‘what is the purpose of my business?’, ‘what perception do my clients have of the business?’, ‘what is the business’s market position (cheap and cheerful or exclusive and expensive)?’, and so on. Write all these questions down, think of some more (imagine you’re interviewing yourself on tv – what would the interviewer ask?), and then answer them. Now you can plan how you’re going to get there. Incidentally, worrying about getting the work done and getting new work will diminish your effectiveness and efficiency. Which will make you more worried, which will degrade your performance further, which will… You get the picture. The main reason for having objectives and a plan of how to reach them is so that you don’t have to worry. It’s about being the master of your own destiny. If you could have that, wouldn’t you take it?
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| Reply : 19 Sep 2008 1) Take a day out. Go somewhere different for a day specifically to think about the longer term picture and perhaps run through Jeremy's suggestions. Get away from the daily grind and do something to inspire yourself. 2) Try imagining and visualising the personal things you'd love to have. More spare cash? New house? certain type and model of car? Make your business objectives personal by linking where you want the business to go with what you want to get out of it personally. 3) When you do get around to making some sort of plan, make two. Make one that identifies the realistic stuff that you'd be very happy to achieve and one that has those things plus all the aspirational targets you set yourself. With a bit of luck you'll end up somewhere between the two, which is a great place to be! |
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Reply : 24 Sep 2008
To create a vision and the plans that support the delivery of that vision, requires significant effort that may not be translated into cash in the short to medium term. A process that I follow when working with businesses on their vision and how they will achieve that vision is as follows:
Be bold and follow through on what you agree to do! |
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| Reply : 24 Sep 2008 So why not consult your team about where they believe the company should be and then integrating this in your plans? If you are not quite sure yourself there are examples out there that you may find some inspiration from (i.e. people that have achieved what you admire most) - there is great value in finding out the strategies those people applied to leading their organisations. This option may well take a little bit longer to crystallise your vision - it may well also be a more rewarding one! And it would make a great team building away weekend/day too - going back to Barnaby's thoughts! Understanding what makes your key people "tick", what is important to them as people and how this is aligned with what is important to what you actually want to achieve as a company will enable you to speak the same language in terms of tackling the stages with a common view, ambition and motivation. As a result you tend to get great accountability, job satisfaction, great PR that doesn't cost you anything (i.e. your staff speaking from their hearts about how they love working for your company and the great things you do there) and most of all great performance. Of course there is still the aspect of making sure the roles fit the jobs and the people the roles..... giving people clear parameters within which they can and should operate - which then enhances productivity even further. That's when creating a vision and putting it into reality becomes fun and success! |
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| Reply : 24 Sep 2008 I sense that part of your problem lies in getting mixed up between what you would like to do and what you think is possible. In order for you to make progress I suggest that you temporarily forget all about what is possible and focus on what you want. Also forget about five years and allow any period of time which makes sense. Play with this idea and see what comes out. Ask yourself why you started what were your dreams and how these have changed. Once you have freed yourself up to identify what you want you will find it easier to work out how you can move towards it. |
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| Reply : 30 Sep 2008 You might find this webinar useful at http://www.theresultsacademy.com/journey.htm Or, another excellent powerful exercise is this one - http://www.theresultsacademy.com/BEDOHAVE.pdf You can also get members of your team to complete both in relation to their current work circumstances. ;) Hope that helps. Fraser |
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| Reply : 21 Jun 2012 Focusing Strengths, and Weakness of internal Environment and Opportunities and Threats posed by External Environment. Once you've drawn out 4 to 5 points for each factor, you have to try and see what can you do to get maximum benefit from your Strengths, best use of your opportunities, and weeding out your weaknesses and hedging against your threats. Once you're done with your exercise, you will know where you want to be in next 5 years. You can keep focus on the same and keep checking on it from time to time. |
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91).jpg&maxW=50&maxH=50&action=crop "Barnaby Lashbrooke")
.jpg&maxW=50&maxH=50&action=crop "Fraser J. Hay")