Business Snakes and Ladders, or Business Chess?

Are you playing Business Snakes and Ladders, or Chess?

Start investing in planning your business.

There you are, running your business, climbing a ladder, making some progress, then along comes a snake...

Just as things were starting to look pretty good, the dreaded snake comes along to kick you in the proverbials. So, how do you avoid playing "Business Snakes and Ladders?"  

The answer may just surprise you. Start playing Chess instead.

Think carefully about the next move in your business, looking two and three steps ahead to make sure that it’s going to work? Chess is a great game of strategy, where smart thinking is usually victorious. Even if you’re ultimately not victorious, then you know you’ve played the best game that you could have done – and there are many valuable lessons to be learned that you can implement next time. You don’t become a GrandMaster because you were victorious in every game, but because you planned your game and played to the very best of your knowledge - knowledge that you knew at that time. And when you came up short, you learned what to do even better next time.  You plan your games.

So why plan?

At ActionCOACHinLincolnshire we run 90 Day Planning sessions once a quarter – or, every ninety days. We call it GrowthCLUB and have done so for over a quarter of a century because it does exactly what it says on the tin, i.e. we are planning for growth. For people that haven’t experienced GrowthCLUB before, one of the biggest questions people have is in and around the time commitment.

 “Why would I spend a whole day of my time writing a plan which I haven’t needed up until now? And, if I do make a plan, what will it do for me that hasn’t happened already?  As things stand right now, I’m really busy, so I’m not sure I can spare the time.”

What a great question, and the time concern is perfectly understandable. I’m always drawn back at this point to a saying from an older, wiser, friend of mine who, many years ago was explaining the difference between amateurs and professionals (in this context it was actually about golf). The difference, he said, between amateurs and professionals is that amateurs play more than they practice (if ever), and professionals practice more than they play. Putting it in the context of Usain Bolt – he only ever performed for two minutes in total, in the history of his Olympic Games. But how much time did he put into his planning to be ready for those two minutes? 

However, even with the above, nobody wants to waste a day doing anything, certainly not something as dry as ‘planning’ !!   GrowthCLUB is akin to one of those things where ‘seeing is believing’. You really do have to experience it for yourself before you ‘get it’. 

One of the most common reactions we see when people attend for the first time is:

“Why have I never realised previously that I needed to have been doing this??”

Our businesses keep us really busy and, as such, we rarely take the time to stop and actually think about what we are doing. This, in turn, leads to another common reaction, or realisation – that people have never actually ever invested a whole day of their time to work on all the projects, issues and challenges around their own business. Why would you not do this?

Mostly because they haven’t had that time before because they’re;

answering emails

on the phone

talking to customers

talking to employees or suppliers

In essence, they’re just so busy doing ‘stuff’ in their own business that they never actually make that time.

The Benefits of Planning

GrowthCLUB allows you to take the time to look at the business almost through a fresh pair of eyes. As GrowthCLUB is held remotely, the distractions of the workplace no longer exist – you’ve taken yourself into a completely different environment. That, in itself, is very powerful. Just having the time, free from all distractions, to stand back and think about where your business is heading. Working out what’s urgent and what’s important. What you ‘need’ to do, and what you ‘have’ to do. What are those things that you know have needed doing, but you’ve been ignoring?

All these ‘issues and opportunities’ that normally reside only in your head, can now be ‘dumped’ on to paper, discussed openly between the owners/partners/directors – and, very often, with other people who might be on your table or in the room with you. Funnily enough, these people have been where you’ve been !  They’re either doing the exact same thing as you (first time attendee) or they’ve been there already – and have come back because they realise the power of planning their business, and what successes they get from the planning. What is apparent, though, is that you’re not on your own. You are in a room of other pro-active business owners who are all planning the next quarter for their business. 

The experience is actually quite normal. These planning sessions have been running for many years for a reason. Problems you may have, have been seen previously - and people have solved these problems and dealt with these dilemmas before, and they’ve been able to move on.  Just knowing that this platform exists allows people to gain confidence from that. Business owners are reassured to discover that it’s not just them that have this problem – others have already trodden the same path. It’s reassuring to understand that they haven’t failed in any way – that they’re actually doing okay. That other people have found it the same as them, and realising they’re actually following a path that is more well-worn than they ever thought when they first looked, makes GrowthCLUB a very safe haven.

Clearly, planning ahead for your business has many benefits, and why GrowthCLUB remains a staple of the ActionCOACH system after so many years. In his brilliant book, The Seven Habits of highly Effective People, Stephen Covey mapped out the seven habits that sets some people apart. It’s no coincidence that the first two habits are;

1.  Be proactive

2.  Begin with the end in mind

Planning your business at GrowthCLUB takes care of those first two habits. Seriously, that is no coincidence.

Finally, let’s return to the Snakes and Ladders and Chess analogy at the head of the article. Creating the right plan and vision in your business is more important than ever. What's your next move?

Is your current plan for your business based on a Chess-like strategy with a clear thought process, or more Snakes and Ladders and fingers crossed?

John McHale – ActionCOACH Business Coach

John is a multi-award winning Business Coach who works with businesses to help them grow sustainably. If you want to know more please contact us via email at [email protected], or DM us here on LinkedIn.