Strategic Planning for Small Businesses in 2021

It’s finally time to put the chaos of 2021 behind us and focus on the new and exciting opportunities 2022 will bring. Though 2021 was a challenging year, scalable and reliable growth for your small business is still obtainable. So, don’t lose hope! Achieving your growth targets for next year requires a solid growth plan. Developing an actionable, revenue-generating formula is essential to your business’s success.

The strategic planning process for small businesses can be summarized in the following 8 simple steps. 

Step 1: Analyze Your Current Strategic Position

Strategic planning always begins with analyzing your current strategic position. This typically involves understanding the external and internal environment of your business and identifying your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT analysis).

As a result of analyzing your business’s internal environment, you will better understand your strengths and weaknesses, while analyzing your external environment gives you insight into any possible opportunities and threats. 

In order to conduct a SWOT analysis, gather input from sources such as your customers and external market data. This information will help you determine your strategic position in the market, identify your business’s goals and objectives, and develop an appropriate plan for the future.

Step 2: Develop a Clear Vision

Developing a clear vision is the second step of strategic planning for your small business. Using the information gathered during your analysis, you must develop a roadmap for the future. Your business’s vision is more than just a three-line statement on your website--it’s the foundation of your strategic planning process. The strategies you adopt must be aligned with your vision, but you also must be able to adapt to changing market conditions. Adhering to your business’s vision will strengthen the integrity and sustainability of your business. 

Step 3: Develop a Mission Statement

Contrary to popular belief, your company’s vision and mission statement are two different aspects of your business’s strategic plan. Your business’s vision represents your long-term plan and long-term goals. On the other hand, your mission statement identifies the purpose of your company. This can include what your business does, who your customers are, what value you provide those customers, and more. Ultimately, your business’s mission statement helps you determine how you plan to accomplish your vision.  

Step 4: Establish Your Values

In order to accomplish your mission, you must establish your company’s values. Your company’s core values will define your business’s culture and will establish what’s expected of your employees and colleagues. A company’s culture and core values play a vital role in its success of failure. How your employees work and what they do on a daily basis will determine your company’s achievements through the year.

Step 5: Assess Risks 

Risk assessment is very important for your business’s strategic plan and is an extension of the weakness and threats identified earlier in the planning process. You must be constantly aware of potential obstacles and risks that may hinder your business from achieving its goals and objectives. Risk assessment is a proactive approach to planning ahead and allows you to act or react quickly and resolve any issues that may arise. 

Step 6: Develop Your Small Business Strategic Plan

So far, you should have identified your strategic position in the market, your vision, your mission, and the risks associated with your strategic plan. Now that this is completed, you are ready to develop a strategic plan for your small business. When developing your strategic plan, you must use your vision, mission, and values as a reference when choosing relevant strategies that will improve your strategic position.
Here are some questions to consider while developing your plan:

• What strategies will be most impactful?

• Which objectives are most urgent?

• What resources are available, and how will they be allocated?

• How will you measure the progress of your plan?

Step 7: Execute and Manage Your Strategic Plan

Now that you have developed your strategic plan, it’s time to implement it. Before executing your strategic plan, however, you must first communicate the plan to your team so everyone has a clear understanding of goals and expectations. It’s recommended you give your employees and colleagues a clear outline of the company’s vision, mission, values, goals, objectives, and strategies.
You can also continue communicating the plan’s details and any necessary adaptations with your team through meetings, email, conversations, or document sharing. Once everyone is on the same page, you can start executing your strategic plan. This can involve setting up teams, gathering and allocating resources, motivating employees, and recording your progress.

Step 8: Review Your Strategic Plan

The final step of the strategic planning process is ongoing and involves consistently reviewing the plan and making appropriate changes accordingly. Thoroughly reviewing the plan involves analyzing and measuring your business’s progress and your team’s performance. As you review your plan over the course of the year, you must remember to re-evaluate your priorities and any changes in the internal or external environment (as stated in Step 1). Revise any necessary aspects of your plan and implement those changes accordingly to ensure long-term success. 
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