Plan for 2013 - 4 Questions to Ask Yourself

As you consider your plans for 2013, ask yourself these 4 questions.

1. What frustrates you the most about your business?
2. What are you trying to accomplish this year?
3. What do you think you'd need to double your business this year?
4. What strategies have you tried to improve your business that worked and didn't work?

Share your thoughts with your Advisor or Business Coach for discussion on how she/he can help you.

I would love to hear some of your comments in the comment section below this blog. I will personally take the time to respond.

 

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Entrepreneurs - 15 Questions to Ask Yourself

Whether or not you are planning your start-up, launching a new product and/or focusing on what it will take to get your business to the next level, ask yourself these questions.

1. Clarify my goals ... where do I want to go?
2. What kind of enterprise do I want to build?
3. What risks & sacrifices does such an enterprise require?
4. Can I accept these risks and sacrifices?
5. Setting strategy ... how will I get there?
6. Is the strategy well defined?
7. Can the strategy generate sufficient profits and growth?
8. Is the strategy sustainable?
9. Are my growth goals too conservative or too aggressive?
10. Executing the strategy .... can I do it?
11. Do I have the right resources and relationships?
12. How strong is the organization?
13. Can I play the role required? 
14. What knowledge, experience and skills gaps exist amongst my team and I?
15. What advisors can I put in place for support? 

 
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Questions to Ask When Assessing The Culture

If you are stepping into a new company in a leadership position or taking a role in a new area of your current company, always assess the culture and the impact you choose to have on it. It will be critical to you being able to successfully implement your strategies.

The answers to the following questions will help you understand what you need to about the culture you have inherited and provide the foundation for making your decisions on how you choose to manage it:

1. What is the essence of what the company stands for?
2. How is it really different from it's competitors?
3. What do people who are most successful share in common?
4. What are the common traits among those who have failed?
5. Who are the 5 most respected people in the organization and why?
6. What are the characteristics of the organization's failures or missed opportunities?
7. Do you have the right people to address the issues and implement your strategy?
8. Who are the gatekeepers?
9. Who are the people who really make things happen?

As companies transition from one size to the next, I often see or hear of new and smart leaders coming on board to help take a company to the next level. The successful ones take the time to understand the culture and consider it when developing/implementing strategy. Others end up not so successful because they ignore the culture and wonder why they couldn't get things done.

Take the time to understand the culture and embrace it. You will more clearly see the road map for the most successful path to making the cultural changes "if" required for your journey of getting your company to the next level.

 

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