Long-Term Outlook – A new year brings a fresh opportunity for organisations to revisit their strategy.
So today we’ll look at the importance of a long-term outlook when it comes to strategic planning. A long term outlook is essential for commercial businesses, but also to charities and non-profits; most of whom will now plan and measure with the same rigour as their profit-making counterparts.
Yes, executive teams and managers will always tend to focus on monthly or quarter-end results as part of their role in keeping stakeholders happy.
But that short-term focus must never come at the expense of our long-term strategic objectives and projects. At times, these might simply appear to be eating up resources and showing no profit, but they have been chosen for important reasons – reasons which are crucial to the success of the business.
In fact, if you want to stay in business…
A long-term outlook requires strategic objectives that will get you there. Yes, short-term measures will get you through every operational milestone and deliverable, but the strategic objectives measured with strong KPIs are the ones that will guide us towards the ultimate business goals; those which will take the organisation in its intended direction, in the right way and – hopefully – at the right time!
5 reasons to plan for the long term
1. It keeps your organisation invested
A long-term outlook may require significant investment and an element of risk. If you can focus on the long-term, as well as the immediately pressing demands of the short-term, you can keep your stakeholders – including employees – invested and performing with the ultimate goal in mind.
This is key for employee engagement, for market and brand perspective and also for employer brand; all of which are essential for bringing everyone on your journey with you – from the right talent to the right customers. Verbalise that strategy, make it good – make sure it does something positive for the world in some way, rather than just make money for shareholders – and get it out there in the most motivating, compelling and authentic way that you can.
2. It keeps the right focus
Short-term priorities can easily end up swaying the organisation off course, especially if resources are constantly being redirected on a knee-jerk basis to put out small fires. There will always be daily and short-term demands, and reactive incidents that require a response, but it’s vital to stay on the course and maintain your priorities.
Without that, your competitors are likely to reach their goals first – and potentially override your business in the process. With a long-term outlook, you are a captain steering a huge vessel with the right degree of confidence, knowledge and focus. It is far easier to be a great leader when you have a clear strategy and plan in place. Without these basic tools, it is almost impossible to be an effective leader, as you merely move from one short-term ‘priority’ to another and achieve very little of any substance.
3. It makes resource management easier
Particularly where the talent in your business is concerned, you want to ensure that your highest-performing resources are being directed towards the goals that will provide the greatest strategic value. With that long-term, strategic view in mind, it is far easier to manage resources effectively and to ascertain their ROI in the process.
Where resources are being wasted on non-strategic priorities, the business plan – and the KPIs that measure it – can be used to justify a reallocation of resources. Where key objectives or projects are not being adequately staffed with the right skills and talent, it is far easier to justify the business case to hire. Similarly, efforts to deliver non-strategic (and often non-valuable) activities can be analysed and retired as necessary!
4. It forces organisations to measure
Short-term priorities (or panics!) tend to result in a lot of knee-jerking and an ‘all hands on deck’ mentality which can be great for quick wins, but also tends to result in endless tactics. When you adopt a long-term outlook you will naturally measure your progress, tracking KPIs to ascertain where you are actually going in the right direction and achieving key milestones, and where you are falling short.
5. It is far more engaging!
Short term priorities can create a sense of urgency and energy but often leave employees feeling as though they are running in circles. As soon as one immediate opportunity or reactive challenge is met, another one comes along, without that necessary sense of progression and true gain. But when you have a long-term perspective, you can far more easily engage and motivate your people.
For one thing, it becomes far easier to talk about career paths, justify training and development budgets, succession plan and create a rewarding, exciting culture when there is a clear and all-encompassing goal. The biggest brands in the world all have powerful strategies and clear goals that everyone within the business can verbalise, and which they believe in. Your strategic vision will naturally be compelling, exciting and hugely motivating – and it’s the vision that will take everyone in your organisation along with you and encourage them to perform at their highest to achieve this goal.
Want to find out more?
Intrafocus can help your organisation move from short-term panics to long-term gains. Please contact our team for a no-obligation chat about how we can help you to get more from your business strategy, whatever stage of development your organisation is currently at.
