All small businesses start in a very similar way, and I’ll bet you can relate to this story:
Jack and Jill started their small business just by themselves. They did most things together– they did the sales together, they discussed stock levels as they ordered stock, they worked side by side as they stacked the shelves, they took turns to write different pages of their website, they kept the books together, together they opened every morning and closed every evening.
Then they got busy as the business grew and they hired a store helper, Sue.
Sue was really keen and helpful, she mucked in and helped to do everything as well. In some things, all three of them were interchangeable as they looked after all the tasks in the business.
But things were starting to get missed because they got confused about who was going to do what. This didn't really matter because one of them would see the confusion and between the three of them they sorted it out.
Then the business became more successful and they hired Tom. Between the 4 of them, they did all the activities of the business as people could. If one was busy another picked up the slack.
But more...
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External Influences in Indigenous Organisation Planning
Across the last 30 years that I have been working with Indigenous organisations, I have found that Indigenous organisations are the most conscious of writing strategic plans out of any other for-profit or not-for-profit organisations I have ever worked with.
The way they do it also follows a trend.
When you wrote your last strategic plan, did you do it in a "workshop"?
That’s what most Indigenous organisations do – they clear out some time and take their team out of the workplace so they won’t be disturbed, and they spend a couple of days discussing what’s going on in the organisation and how to improve it and set goals and strategies.
But here’s what’s wrong with this approach – more often than not you discuss and find solutions for problems and opportunities from inside your business, and forget that it is the external stimuli that could have serious and unpredictable effects.
You probably started your planning by applying a little SWOT Analysis. You write on a whiteboard all your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. If your facilitator is on the ball he or she will explain that strengths and weaknesses are internal issues - you can use your strengths and eliminate your weaknesses with...
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