Lessons on Strategic Planning from the Dog Park

My young lab, Jack, and I visited the Dog Park in Cincinnati this weekend. We met a small business owner and had an in-depth conversation as we walked the perimeter of the dog park. He asked for suggestions on ways in which he could improve his business. He had recently lost several of his top performing employees and was evaluating his business to see where he could improve. As you can imagine, he was very concerned about employee engagement and productivity. You’ve probably heard the statistics; 1 in 5 workers plan to change jobs in 2010 (from CareerBuilder Survey, January 2010). You may be contemplating the same issue about your business.



Here are 10 fundamental tips to maximize employee engagement:


1. Does your company have a mission and vision? If so, does it reflect your current business, or does it need to be revised?
2. Has your mission and vision been communicated to employees? What methods are you using to relay this information – newsletters, intranet, emails, one on one meetings or discussions, group meetings, or a combination?
3. Do you have 1 year, 3 year and 5 year goals for your business? Are they written down? Does your management team fully support those goals? Or are you frequently operating in “fire fighting” mode?
4. Do you have the correct organizational structure in place to meet your current business needs? Are there initiatives that are falling through the cracks? Are you maximizing the talents and strengths of your human capital?
5. How would you characterize your company’s culture? Do all of your employees appear to be enthusiastic and engaged when they come to work? Or do you have people who have “resigned in their place”?
6. Do your employees understand their roles and responsibilities? When was the last time your company reviewed and revised job descriptions?
7. Have you set performance expectations for all of your employees?
8. Do you have a process in place for measuring performance?
9. Have you performed a strategic SWOT analysis on your business? Do you understand your organization’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats?
10. Can you articulate the aspects of your business that set you apart from your competitors? Do your communications materials reflect your competitive advantage such as your website, brochures, sales collateral, presentations, etc.? Do you have the correct product mix in place? Are there opportunities to expand your product mix and capture new marketing opportunities?

By reflecting on and addressing these issues, you can strengthen your business and position your firm to capture new business opportunities.
If these pointers have been valuable, please share this information with others.

Chrissann Ruehle is Co-Founder of Black Lab Ventures, LLC. A human resources management consulting business, Black Lab Ventures focuses on on-boarding, training & development, performance management, and health & wellness initiatives. Our signature service, called Culture Branding, is a form of employer branding designed to help companies attract top talent and retain employees they already have. For small businesses, we offer our HR Start-Up Kits – a simple and affordable method to achieve an HR presence. We also offer full service packages for mid and large-sized companies, and function as a complement to their HR departments so they can focus on their core business.
For more information, please visit our website at http://www.blacklabventures.com/ or feel free to call us at 513-443-2365.