The strategic timeout and aligning priorities to strategy

Do you take time to think about your business strategy? I mean, REALLY take the time…the way that great business leaders do? If not, then how do you know if your priorities are in line with your strategy? Maybe you have a good handle on that personally, but what about your team? How do they know if what they are doing is in line with your strategy? Do you micromanage every decision they make? That suppresses growth and turns the dream of business ownership into something more like a nightmare, so that won’t work.

Here’s a tip: create / refine / communicate your strategy at least quarterly through a facilitated process and then integrate a “strategic timeout” into your daily work routine. A strategic timeout is 15-30 minutes of focused thinking on all aspects of your business strategy.

Here are a few questions to ask yourself during your strategic timeout, to get you started:

• “Is where I am spending my time and resources in line with my priorities and strategy?"
• "Do we have management systems in place, and are they working? Are we measuring the performance of those systems, and are those metrics meaningful?
• "Do we have the right people on the team? Who do we still need? Who needs to go?"
• “What do we need to do to stay ahead of our competition with our sales and marketing?”
• “Does our sales staff have the training and resources they need to maximize yield?

There are plenty more, but you get the idea. What did you think about today during your strategic timeout?