Best Practices for Implementing Your Business Strategy

All organizations — be they small businesses, nonprofits or large corporations — are apt to acquire different needs as they grow and evolve. But how can we, as the leaders of these organizations, respond to those changes?

We’ve talked a lot about the three pillars that are meant to support business growth and all the needs that come along with that growth, and by now, you should be familiar with the first two: first, you assess the current state of your business or executive team to determine the specific issues or goals you’d like to address. Then, you design a comprehensive solution tailored to the variables that make your business unique.

That leads us to the third pillar: implementation. Here are four key things to make sure you do as you prepare to put your plan into action:

1. Understand the timelines involved. Some goals are tasks are a one-time to-do,make sure you assign a realistic time frame to complete those tasks. Other goals require multiple steps (i.e. hiring a new sales person: placing an ad, conducting interviews, etc.) Make sure that the timeline assigned to those steps is realistic and reflective of the process. Designate any necessary deadlines, and stick to them.
2. Make sure to allocate the right amount of resources. Do you have enough time, the correct people and sufficient funds to get the job done?
3. Delegate appropriately and responsibly. Often times, you may be the biggest obstacle to implementation —  don’t be afraid to delegate assignments. The rule for delegating is to ask yourself: if I do this and it doesn’t come out the way I want it to, can I live with the results? If the answer is yes, delegate. If not, don’t.  When you delegate, you want to make sure that you’re not abdicating a task — check in with the people on your team throughout the completion of an assignment and make sure to arm them with whatever they need to be successful. But never assign a project and then completely walk away.
4. Establish systems of accountability. If you’re not measuring the implementation of your plan as you move forward, you simply won’t be able to track the results. Make sure to set up benchmarks throughout your assess, design and implementation phases so that you’re aware of not only what you’ve accomplished, but also areas that need improvement.

The assess, design, implement methodology is a simple, proven and powerfully effective way to prepare for and welcome in your organization’s next phase of growth.