Micheal Treacy and Fred Wiersema in their book, Disciplines of Market Leaders suggest that market leaders show excellence in at least one of three areas: Operational, Innovative Technology or Customer Intimacy.

As the world economy changed in the past few years companies have scrambled to maintain some degree of control; management looked for ways to forecast what would come next, how could they soldier on in such an unpredictable economy? What performance metrics could be monitored?

FocalPoint Business Coaching is an international service – we are completely in tune with the issues faced by businesses tackling the changing global economy – our clients deal with them every day and we are right there to coach them through it.

Here are four keys that we recommend when developing a strategic business plan to that will keep you in the global game.

1. Shorten time spans: Objectives, performance reports, assessments and feedback need to be condensed to respond to our instant reaction, internet driven, global economy.

2. Re-evaluate your benchmark: Benchmarking is about establishing standards and good practices – and about aiming for excellence within your industry. It might be about comparing yourself to the competition, but, in a world market, the competition could change tomorrow, so what do you do?

The key here is to focus on efficient QA/QC methods and the establishment of an external performance monitoring system – never keep your doors closed too long! A system that continuously keeps track of the competition and monitors business performance in the market needs to be put in place and nurtured by management: customer feedback, competition analysis and media monitoring systems are all excellent strategies to put in place.

3. Innovation: I’ve said it before – this is what is going to drive you forward in today’s economy. Always be open to new ideas and make it easy for them to get to you by establishing great communications within your organization and through your customer base.

4. Team cohesion: The people who work with you, for you – your team – need to

• Involved
• Dedicated and loyal
• Stimulated

Give your people everything they need so that they can give you 110% performance.

Want some guidance? A FocalPoint Business Coaching professional can help you perform a business analysis and guide you through some strategic planning that will give your business the power it needs to move forward in a global sense – call today for a free coaching session or contact one of our business coaches.