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    • Action plan

    Learning to prioritise your internal strategies

    Medium effort

    Medium impact

    Every business leader has been guilty of spending too much time working in the business, instead of on it. It’s easy to get distracted by the day-to-day demands of management, particularly when it comes to client work. However, it’s important to put the hours in and prioritise your internal strategies if you want your business to succeed in the long run.

    • We’ve designed our action plans to be completed in the order of steps laid out and explained why each step is important
    • Customising your action plan lets you set your own completion dates, assign tasks to others and get notifications
    • Helpful tools are provided for certain steps while a tracking metric at the end will help you determine the long-term success of your effort
    • A downloadable PDF version of each action plan is available if you’d like to compete it offline
    What's involved? Ways to use this action plan Measuring impact
    1

    Commit 30 minutes every day to planning and internal strategy

    Impact: high

    Why will this help?

    Scheduling time to work on your business means you can plan other tasks around it and it won’t get pushed down the priority list.

    2

    Conduct a business health check to see where improvements can be made

    Impact: high

    Why will this help?

    Taking a step back and looking critically at your business will show you where there’s room for improvement. It’s easier to make internal processes a priority when you have a specific idea of what needs work.

    Conducting a business health check

    A business health check is a simple way to evaluate the strength of critical elements like cash flow, systems and staff performance.
    3

    Run scenario planning exercises to test the impact of different strategies

    Impact: medium

    Why will this help?

    Financial models allow you to evaluate potential strategies and think about what they mean for the business, before you take the leap with something new.

    Using scenario planning to inform your decisions

    Scenario planning is a great way to visualise and assess the potential impact of decisions. Use our useful template to get started.
    4

    Delegate tasks to employees to free up time to work on the business

    Impact: medium

    Why will this help?

    Delegating non-essential tasks gives you the time and headspace to focus on internal strategies.

    Identifying tasks that can be delegated easily

    Deciding what to delegate and who to delegate to isn't easy. Our template breaks down the delegation process, allowing you to prioritise what you’re going to delegate to your team.
    5

    Set personal goals that prioritise internal strategy and build in accountability

    Impact: medium

    Why will this help?

    Setting goals related to strategy on a quarterly basis will help cement the process in your day-to-day working life. Building accountability, such as presenting a plan on a particular date, adds pressure that can make it more likely you stay on track.

    Holding yourself accountable to goals as a leader

    Your goals are crucial to moving the business forward, but it can be hard to stay focused. Our checklist will help you build a structure.

    What can I do with this Action Plan?

    Start this Action Plan

    Add some extra information to this plan and we’ll help you get it done.

    • We’ve designed our action plans to be completed in the order of steps laid out and explained why each step is important
    • Customising your action plan lets you set your own completion dates, assign tasks to others and get notifications
    • Helpful tools are provided for certain steps while a tracking metric at the end will help you determine the long-term success of your effort
    • A downloadable PDF version of each action plan is available if you’d like to compete it offline

    Download and print

    Get a printable template for this Action Plan, fill it in with some target dates, and share it with your team. Pin it on the wall where everyone can see it.

    Get the printable Action Plan

    Learning Groups

    We also run Learning Groups on these topics where you can join other leaders tackling the same challenges.

    Find a Learning Group

    How will I know if my action plan is working?

    Time spent on strategic thinking

    The amount of time you invest in company strategy

    Why this metric?

    You need to commit time to develop your internal strategies.

    How do I start tracking?

    Start blocking out time to work on strategy. At the end of each month, check whether you spent the time you planned and review your progress.