Strategic Planning does not mean creating a big complex plan.
The purpose of a strategic plan is simply to make business better. An effective strategic plan only has 3 elements: Customer, Employee, and the Bottom Line.
There are three questions you want to answer in your strategic plan;
How can we make it better for guests?
How can we make it better for employees?
How can we make more money?
Sit down with employees and ask them about the business. What are they hearing from customers? What do they need to do their job better? What outstanding maintenance issues are you missing?
Now Make a list of questions and ideas by department
Here are a couple of examples:
Food and beverage:
-How can we increase the average amount of a bill?
-How can we get guests to buy a desert?
Retail:
-What shops should we consider opening?
-What products should we carry to increase spending per guest?
-Do we have any maintenance issues?
Now go through your financial statements. Where can you do better? What can you eliminate altogether?
Don't view your strategic plan as something you shape once a year. New ideas can show up at any time. Re-examine the strategic plan every quarter to see where you can improve and what new ideas you can insert into the plan.
If employees are disorganized it can cause problems for you and other employees.
As a leader, you need to deal with it. Other people are watching and wondering why you are letting this problem continue.
Sit down with the disorganized and explain what you see and why what they are doing is disruptive. And figure out why it is happening.
Maybe they need more from you. Maybe you haven't said anything about it so they assume what they are doing is ok.
Good leaders are constantly repeating what they want to happen. You have to set expectations and constantly remind people.
By the way, if you have good employees leave them alone. Don't adopt a blanket policy that impacts everyone. Deal with the disorganized employees and let the organized employees keep getting work done.
One of the quickest ways to get ahead in your career is to take on more work and do a great job.
When the opportunity arises, you should volunteer to take on more responsibility.
The people who get ahead in life are the ones who raise their hands when the boss needs someone to take on a project.
And, usually, it is the busiest person in the room who raises their hand.
This is because they have a system and know what they can get done. They know how to delegate, follow up, track a project
If you want to get noticed by your boss, volunteer to take on a project. By taking on more work and doing a great job, you are going to get noticed. You are going to get exposed to other high performers. You are going to get experience doing bigger work.
Most people will pass on the opportunity to take on more work. But you can't afford to miss the experience and exposure.
Even if you don't know what you're doing, take on the project anyway. You will figure it out. And the big secret in life is nobody else knows what they are doing either. Don't hold back because you don't know what to do.
Take the challenge this week. Find some more work to volunteer for.
When you need a break from all your hard work call Magical Vacation Planners. They are here to help. You can reach them at 407-442-2694.
Have an excellent career by learning from Lee: Career Magic
Lee’s website: https://www.leecockerell.com/
There are times when people of higher positions in an organization feel like they are above other positions.
Let me be blunt. Some people feel they are hot stuff and don't appreciate the employees who are really making the business operate.
During my career, I was treated as if I wasn't as good as others because I didn't have a college degree. But I know I am not unique. Women have dealt with treatment like this for a long time. So have older employees. And young employees.
It becomes a cultural thing. And once it is part of the culture, the only way it can change is through top leadership.
A nice suit doesn't make you special. An MBA doesn't make you special. Every employee should be respected. The message, behavior, and culture of appreciation and respect have to come from the top.
Making the change won't happen right away. It took time to get the culture you have and it is going to take time to turn it around.
If you don't get culture right, you are going to miss more opportunities than you realize.
If you are a leader, make sure everyone who reports to you is appreciated and respected. If you have the courage to step up. you can try to push it further up. Pushing for change isn't easy. But you can make a difference.
Don't underestimate what you can do to help people.