We humans love a straight line, a direct path. Linear thinking is a natural approach to reaching business goals. We strive to get our ducks in a row, align our next steps, and get our house in order so that we can create a nifty flow chart.
All well and good…mostly. But not when it comes to planning for business growth.
Successful growth relies on four key focus areas, each a specific set of disciplines:
Leadership determines and ensures that the right Vision, Mission, and Goals are established and adhered to.
Strategy establishes how you will achieve the Vision, stay on Mission, and reach your Goals.
Culture is comprised of the Values and Norms you create and sustain to achieve your Vision, Mission, and Goals.
Communication embodies the Content, Style, Methods, and Frequency with which you effectively shared information required to achieve your Vision, Mission, and Goals.
Each Focus Area is a specific set of Disciplines required for success, and each interacts with the others to help create and establish the Vision, Mission, and Goals of the organization.
It’s natural to consider each of these separately, but that doesn’t take into account that each Focus Area interacts and influences the other Focus Areas:
Creating a growth plan depends on considering the interdependence of these four areas. Approaching them linearly won’t get the job done…at least, not optimally.
Failing to consider the interdependence of all four Focus Areas can lead to or will result in…well…failure.
The best opportunity for successful growth is to develop your plan while considering each Focus Area in concert and congruence with the others. Doing that at the beginning will give you a straight line to success:
