Moving from “Wish We…” to Winning
We love movies. We love the thrill of the chase, the edge-of-your-seat anxiety, and the shock of a miracle pulled off at the last minute. But as much as we want to see that over and over again on the big screen, we don’t want to experience it in our businesses. Running your business might bring with it some thrills, and there will always be an element of the unknown, and a cloaked villain working against you, (I know, I should talk about competitors like that),but you should be more in control of your winning moments and strategies than those heroes in the movies.
The good news is, there are simple ways to strategically plan a path from where you are to where you want to be. Let’s discuss three of them: Gap Analysis, Fishbone Analysis, and SWOT Analysis.
The good news is, there are simple ways to strategically plan a path from where you are to where you want to be. Let’s discuss three of them: Gap Analysis, Fishbone Analysis, and SWOT Analysis.
Gap Analysis
Let’s start with Gap Analysis. You can use this tool to identify what you want to change and how you want it to change.
- Decide what topic you want to perform the Analysis on. Examples include revenue, profit, market share, product features, etc.
- Identify where you are right now with that topic. Is your revenue at $5 million? Do you have 7% of the market share?
- Identify where you’d like to be in a specific time frame. In 4 years, do you want to reach 13% of the market? Or grow your revenue to $12 million?
- Identify the gap between where you are and where you want to be.
- Determine how the gap should be bridged.
Now it’s time to use either the SWOT Analysis or the Fishbone Analysis to carry out Step Five.
SWOT Analysis
List out the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats related to moving your business forward.
- Strengths (internal): What is your business already doing well in this area?
- Weaknesses (internal): Where do you need to improve?
- Opportunities (external): Where are your untapped markets?
- Threats (external): What are some factors that will try to stop you from growing?
Fishbone Analysis
This analysis is slightly different and helps identify a priority order for tasks. First, make a list of the six M’s:
- Manpower: the people needed
- Methods: the processes needed
- Metrics: the measurements needed
- Machines: the technology needed
- Materials: physical items needed
- Minutes: the time needed
Next, list out everything that falls under each of those categories. For each item you add, on a scale from 1 (low) to 10 (high), assign a value:
- Impact this will have on our business
- Resources needed to make this happen
- Time needed to make this happen
Example:
- Manpower: the people needed
- Need to add a salesperson to our team
- Impact on our business: 8
- Resources needed: 2
- Time needed: 9
Total: 19
- Need to add a salesperson to our team
Go through this through process with every item you list under the 6 M’s. At the end, rank the items based on numerical score. This will give you an idea of where to begin as you work on bridging your analyzed gap.
Each of these different analyses can help you move from reactive to proactive decision making. They provide concrete insights that can be shared with multiple team members, ensuring that everyone works together to achieve your business goals. Need help building a Strategic Business Plan? RedRock Leadership can help!
Jeff Ruby
Founder & CEO of RedRock Leadership