Vision & Strategic Planning (Step 2 to “Becoming a Momentum Agency”)
This is the second in a series of eight pieces which will share our in-depth thoughts on how to become a Momentum Agency. These are agencies that consistently outpace the industry in terms of revenue growth, profitability and a culture that attracts A-level talent.
Momentum Agencies do an outstanding job in managing the eight variables that drive growth and success over time. In our experience, these growth drivers are:
A compelling mission that attracts talent and clients. (This was the subject of our previous mailing.)
Defined vision with a strategic plan on how to achieve it. (This is the subject of today’s mailing.)
Differentiated and compelling value proposition defined by deep knowledge and expertise.
Organizational structure that effectively and efficiently sells and services the value proposition.
A belief in core methodologies and IP.
Culture (including formal training around those methodologies).
A dedicated new business development function.
Understanding how to manage an agency for fair profit.
What is VISION?
Your vision informs your team where the agency is going. It’s an aspirational, objective and measurable statement about where you want the agency to be at some fixed point in the future.
It defines what success will look like. And it includes a specific timetable for getting there.
For example: Within five years, we will be a $5,000,000 agency working with five of the top ten companies in our areas of expertise. We will have offices in three strategic locations, a staff of twenty and earn an operating margin of 25%.
Each of these goals is objective and measurable. Something like “We wish to be the best”, however well intended, is too vague, cannot be measured and so is too incomplete to be your agency’s vision.
The benefits of VISION.
Your vision will help all your associates understand where you wish to lead the agency. They’ll see what you’re seeing. This will encourage them to have confidence in you as their leader and in the stability of the business. It will energize the team and provide the basis for an optimistic, “Can do” culture throughout the firm.
Vision provides the foundation for determining senior team roles and related accountabilities. It helps to ensure alignment around the agency’s goals and a context for and with whom you’ll be building the agency around. If someone’s not on board with your vision, he or she shouldn’t be there.
By providing an exciting and measurable target to shoot for, vision should also motivate superior team performance. People work harder, smarter and achieve more when they know what their efforts are helping to achieve.
Finally, your vision should enhance your own life options as the agency’s owner. A successful firm being steered in a sound direction and supported by a deep senior team will ultimately create attractive options for you.
STRATEGIC PLANNING – What it is and why it’s very important too.
A vision without a strong strategic plan to achieve it is just a wish. Your strategic plan shows you and your team how to actually get there. It’s the roadmap for converting a wish into reality.
Having a strategic plan helps everyone within your agency by:
Providing a clear and focused approach for accomplishing the vision.
Helping everyone (including you as the owner) understand how all roles fit in achieving the vision by defining accountabilities and the firm’s annual expectations of them.
Guiding your talent and investment decisions.
Providing at the appropriate time a path for the owner’s eventual exit in conjunction with an exit plan.
Research indicates that agencies with strategic plans are more successful… but that the majority of agencies don’t have a plan. Don’t be one of those agencies. Your strategic plan is your guide. Without one, how do you know where you’re going and how to get there?
The key elements of a STRATEGIC PLAN.
A strong strategic plan includes the following elements in clear, succinct, no-frills language:
SWOT analysis.
Specific goals, steps and timetables for growing each revenue stream.
Specific steps for each core business function (Talent, Finance, Business Development et al.).
Identified threats and how to address them.
Identified opportunities and how to capture them.
Measurement of everything previously accomplished so you know whether or not you’ve achieved your goals to date.
After it’s developed, your strategic plan should be updated annually. However, a quarterly review of progress is very helpful in identifying new threats and opportunities as well as the strong and weak players on your senior team.
Frequent and consistent communication will make your VISION and STRATEGIC PLAN even stronger.
As with Mission, Vision should be continually reinforced in interactions with the senior team and at staff meetings. Make sure it’s kept front-of-mind and never forgotten.
Similarly, the Strategic Plan for each revenue stream or core business function should be part of at least monthly meetings with the assigned leaders. There should also be senior team meetings each quarter to assess progress, discuss how to overcome any barriers or pursue new opportunities that have been identified.
So, in conclusion…
Vision and Mission create your agency’s true north. Along with Values, they become the prism through which all owner/CEO decisions should be viewed. This will help drive team alignment, accountability and stability within the culture. Decision making will become consistent and predictable.
The Strategic Plan guides specific investment and growth decisions. It provides annual goals for the agency team and specific senior leaders to achieve. It also ensures the agency makes steady progress toward the Vision over time.
