As a Business Advisor in the Hawkes Bay region I was dismayed to see how few businesses practiced strategic thinking and planning. During the business discovery process that I worked through with clients it actually shocked me to learn how consumed clients (business owners/ managers) were with fearful thoughts of failing to comply with this, that and the other legislative/ regulatory requirement…at the detriment of not thinking creatively/ strategically about the future direction of their businesses.
We all understand the need for legislation/ regulation to play a governing role in business behaviours, yet in my view New Zealand is getting dangerously close to a situation where legislation and regulation is actually “dictating” virtually “all” business behaviours…and consequently business owners are now reluctant to entertain exploring either strategic direction or operational practices that have the potential (even) to be in conflict with legislation/ regulation.
As a business owner, if you choose not to create strategic and operational plans for your business, then you are signaling to your internal stakeholders that you don’t actually have a “big picture vision” for the direction that you would like to steer your business in.
Plans give people “purpose”. If you choose not to create plans for your business – and then share these plans with relevant internal stakeholders – you are telling your team that you haven’t really given much thought to their roles in (and contributions to) the business moving forward; a message which they are likely to react to by thinking “where is this business heading to, where do I fit into the future of this business ?”…and possibly even the insecure thought of “the owner clearly hasn’t worked-out how I fit in their business in the future, so I wonder what kind of future is in store for me if I stay on-board…I think I’ll take my skills to another business which can demonstrate a clearer picture of its direction and how I fit in that direction”.
Remain prepared to think – and encourage your team to think – creatively/ strategically about how you want to evolve your business; and commit these thoughts to a Strategic Plan as a starting point for future direction. As a part of formulating your Strategic Plan you will/ should consider a SWOT Analysis, which will/ should give rise to you thinking about what specific legislation/ regulations could impact your strategic objectives – and how. Conceive your strategy, and only having done so then consider likely impacts/ barriers related to legislation/ regulation. Having identified such threats it may be that you need to alter your strategy to more convincingly fall within legislative/ regulatory constraint. However, what you will have achieved as an end outcome is the determination of new fertile ground for the development of your business (e.g. altered structure, new product/ service, more professional marketing practices, etc).
Remember – creative thinking helps to push boundaries and open doors to new frontiers; whereas legislation/ regulation serves to curb and standardise behaviours. New Zealand has a long heritage of being a pioneering nation…hopefully this inspirational past will be remembered long into the future.