Even small organizations can create and execute meaningful strategic plans. Creating a well-defined strategy is hard work and not for everyone, as it requires us to begin to say "no" to stuff we usually say "yes" to. You are hereby invited by facilitator Ed Kless, to open a dialogue about how best to go about creating a strategy for your small business organization.

1. Creating strategy in a small business
Ed Kless
GN-26
Wednesday, July 29th, 1:30pm – 2:15pm
@edkless

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The contents of this presentation were provided by the individual(s) and/or
company listed on the title page. The information and opinions presented in this
presentation may not represent the positions, strategies, or opinions of Sage.
Unless explicitly stated, Sage is not responsible for the content herein and no
endorsements are implied.
©2015 Sage Software, Inc. All rights reserved. Sage, the Sage logo, and any Sage
product and service names mentioned herein, are trademarks of Sage Software,
Inc. or its affiliates. All other names used in this presentation are for informational
purposes only and may be trademarks of their respective owners.
@edkless

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How? vs. What matters!
How do you do it? What refusal have I been postponing?
How long will it take? What is the commitment I am willing to make?
How much does it cost? What is the price I am willing to pay?
How do you get those people to change? What is my contribution to the problem?
How do you measure it? What is the judgment I need to make?
How have other people done it successfully? What do we want to create together?
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Strategy Staff
Skills
Structure
Style
Systems
Shared
Vision
The Modified Seven S Model
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Seven S Model Fundamentals
Strategy Staff
Skills
Structure
Style
Systems
Shared
Vision
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Strategy beliefs
• Strategy is about analyzing your situation
• Strategy is about what to do
• Strategy is planning
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Strategy realities
• Strategy is more creative than analytical
• Strategy is more about what to say “no” to
• Strategy is execution
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The MOASQ is:
How much value are we going to create for our
customers (in the period) and how are we going
to do that?
NOT
How much revenue do we need to make (in the
time period for the plan) and how are we going
to achieve it?
@edkless

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1001 Days of History
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
1 201 401 601 801
HappinessofTurkey
Days of Life
Thanksgiving
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Strategic Triangle
“Be better than the competition at what is important to customers.”
Original 3C concept developed by Dr. Kenichi Ohmae
Customer
Company Competition
Differentiation
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The oldest and most basic strategic tool – Lascaux
S W
O T
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Another simple, but better tool
Start
Stop
Continue
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Business Process
We have known for years that:
Employee
satisfaction
Customer
satisfaction
Financial
performance
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• Question 1 - How can we educate our people better than
our competition in both technical and people skill areas
so that they will be more valuable than their counterparts
at other companies?
• Question 2 - How can we become more valuable to our
customers by listening to the them and understanding
their market, and applying the two together?
• Question 3 - What three things would you change about
your company’s practices and policies?
Three great strategic questions
@edkless

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Marcus Buckingham’s 12 Statements
• I know what is expected of me at my job.
• I have the materials and equipment I need
to do my job right.
• I have the opportunity to do what I do best
every day.
• In the last seven days, I have received
recognition or praise for doing good work.
• My supervisor seems to care about me as
a person.
• There is someone at work who
encourages my development.
• At work, my opinions seem to count.
• The mission/purpose of my company
makes me feel my job is important.
• My co-workers are committed to doing
quality work.
• I have a best friend at work.
• In the last six months, someone has
talked to me about my progress.
• In the last year, I have had
opportunities to learn and grow.
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Fred Reichheld’s Ultimate Question
What is the likelihood that you
would recommend our
product/service to a friend or
colleague?
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The Big Three
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What to Do Next
• If you are not going to commit to something,
do nothing
• Research various strategic planning tools
(aka diets) and decide to which one you can
commit
• Commit! Commit! Commit!
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Questions?
• Send any questions you may have about this session to the
following email by August 15:
@edkless
ConferenceSessions.NA@sage.com

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Session survey
• Complete a survey for this session!
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http://goo.gl/2MUPWW
Session code: GN-26
Session title: Creating strategy in a small business