Your business’ strategic plan is a living and fluid document. It needs to be visited and revisited in order to create the flexibility necessary to make required course corrections while achieving organizational goals. A strong strategic plan identifies critical success factors, and when implemented, those critical success factors will create organizational alignment, surface challenges before they become fires, and be the catalyst for breakthrough performance.

A must have for successful strategic planning is an operational dashboard. Just engaging in the strategic planning thought process and laying out the plan is not enough. The management team needs an operational dashboard to measure and evaluate current outcomes and data by which decisions can be made on a daily basis. A strategic plan that sits in a drawer or on a bookshelf to be revisited a year or two down the road is virtually useless. Taking the critical success factors from the plan and creating a dashboard gives management the business intelligence necessary to make solid decisions and to manage course corrections when they are required.

As important as it is for management to have this working document, it is also important that a version of the dashboard be shared and communicated to all employees. Every contributor in the organization has an interest in the progress and success of the company. The more they know about the organization’s objectives and feel part of the big picture, the more they will take their contribution to the success of the plan seriously. With rare exception, most people want to be part of the solution and not part of the problem.

Communicating the strategy and creating alignment in your organization is one of the most important things you can do beyond formulating the plan. Linking organizational goals with employee goals creates a driving force towards results. Alignment will make it much easier for you to push the organization in the right direction.

Creating alignment is significantly linked to employee’s buy-in to the plan. Spending time to help your employees see how the future success of the organization impacts their career path and their personal success is critical. Communicate the details of the plan in a way that is easy to understand and reinforce your message often. Positive traction towards results is accomplished by frequently communicating and reinforcing the plan. The daily contributions of your employees will actually make the strategic plan a reality. Let them know where you want the organization to go so they can help take it there!

Tammy A.S. Kohl is President of Resource Associates Corporation. For over 30 years, RAC has specialized in business and management consulting, strategic planning, leadership development, executive coaching and youth leadership. For more information visit http://www.resourceassociatescorp.com or contact RAC directly at 800.799.6227.

A key factor that many organizations miss is the fact that they cannot have loyal customers if they do not have loyal employees. Employee loyalty can be defined as employees being committed to the success of the organization and believing that working for the organization is their best option. It is not about employee tenure. It is about wanting to contribute to the success of the organization.

Finding good employees can be challenging and time consuming. However, once you find the right fit and nurture the employee relationship, it can be quite costly to see that relationship go by the wayside. Depending on what research you read the cost to replace a hourly employee can be anywhere from 35% to 50% of their salary, and for a professional staff person, the replacement cost can go as high as 125%.

How can your organization foster employee loyalty?

1. Share your vision and strategic plan.
   Communicating what the organization stands for, where the organization is going, and how that impacts all stakeholders, particularly the employees, is key. Employees want and need to know what they are a part of and how their contribution will make a positive impact on the success of the organization. Give them a reason to be there!
2. Encourage ideas and feedback.
   Create an organizational culture that is open to new ideas and fresh perspectives. Your employees are on the front lines and they can tell you what is working and what might work better. In a recent client engagement where we were working with a cross functional team, a woman who had the least to do with the process made one simple suggestion that ended up saving the organization hundreds of thousands of dollars. Loyal employees make positive contributions!
3. Walk your talk.
   Everything you do and say needs to embody the values and culture of employee loyalty. Recognize and respect your employees. Let them know when they are exceeding goals and objectives, and praise accordingly. If there is a challenge, then give your employee the details straight up. Give employees open and honest feedback and they will reward you with loyalty.
4. Measure Your Company’s Employee Loyalty.
   You cannot manage or improve what you are not measuring. Your organization cannot improve its employee loyalty factor unless you know your starting point. Do you have a system in place to capture that data? If not, create one or find one. Give your employees an opportunity to tell you what is going well and what needs to be improved. Based on the data you will be able to make strategic decisions that will continue to foster employee loyalty. Your people really are your greatest asset!

Creating a loyal customer base can be the measurable difference between you and your competitors. Enhance your ability to accomplish that strategic goal by creating and maintaining loyal employees. Your employees will always be the key!

Tammy A.S. Kohl is President of Resource Associates Corporation. For over 30 years, RAC has specialized in helping businesses assess, measure and improve their employee and customer loyalty. Learn how at www.resourceassociatescorp.com or contact RAC directly at 800.799.6227.

Many businesses of many sizes have spent the last year dealing with the challenging times. Some businesses have failed, many are still floundering, and many businesses are just stuck. Often when we are defensively forced to deal with outside forces we get so ingrained in our defensive mechanics that we get stuck in that mind set. Defensive mechanics will not lead to positive growth and/or results. There is no question the business world is in the process of creating a new normal. The question becomes how is your business creating and defining its new normal? What will positive growth and future success look like for your company?

It has been our experience that creating a new normal requires going back to basics. Here are some thoughts to consider that have helped our clients get unstuck:

• What is the basic foundation and business philosophy of your company?
• Why are you in business?

The answer to these two questions will reconfirm or reestablish the reasons your business exists and provide a much needed guidepost. After you reconfirm or reestablish the reasons your business exists take the time to review your vision and values.

Tom Peters said, “A clear vision of the desired future state of the organization is an essential component of high performance.” Creating a new normal requires reevaluating your vision of the desired state. Based on the changes in the current business climate, what will your organization look like in the future? The vision statement provides focus for everyone in the organization. An understanding of the vision provides the foundation for day-to-day decisions. A vision energizes action, toward a future that is better than today. How does your company’s vision need to change? There is one universal rule in success: you will never be greater than the vision that guides you. Perhaps for your organization, getting unstuck requires revitalizing your company’s vision.

In addition to a clear vision a successful company needs to communicate values and principles by which they do business. Values represent your philosophy for achieving success and they serve as important guidelines for everyday behaviors and decisions. How have recent changes in the business world impacted your values and principles? What does your organization believe to be true and non-negotiable today? As Peter Drucker said, “The purpose of an organization is to attract and maintain customers in order to generate profits and viability.” Issues such as current customer’s expectations, product quality, and service should be taken into consideration in your values statement. Your values should take into account how you feel about and the value you place upon your customers, your employees, your suppliers and vendors, stockholders, the community and all others with whom you interact and do business.

Re-evaluating your vision and values are the first two steps to revisiting your strategic direction. We have found in these ever-changing times that strategic planning is no longer a discretionary decision, and it provides the impetus to getting unstuck. Create your business’s new normal by re-evaluating your strategic plan and implementing the critical success factors that will propel your business forward. There is a very high likelihood that what you are doing today and what you did yesterday will not produce the results you want to see tomorrow.

Tammy A.S. Kohl is President of Resource Associates Corporation. For over 30 years, RAC has specialized in business and management consulting, strategic planning, leadership development, executive coaching, and youth leadership. For more information visit www.resourceassociatescorp.com or contact RAC directly at 800.799.6227.