Plan-Pilot-Invest

Capital is certain an item of great need for people these days and for the expressed intention for business development. All of us have heard pitches for various new concepts and opportunities and most of us will quickly gravitate toward the financial impact of any such idea or proposal. That's a good thing and I consider it usually a perspective of stewardship. But there are ideas worth investing in and worth making the capital initiative to see them work. But how do you get from step A to step X in the process without making the huge investment?

This is where a simple model of "Plan-Pilot-Invest" will come into play for us quite well. The concept is simple.

First, take the time to sit and map out your expectations and goals for your project then develop your strategy plan. Strategic planning takes on many forms, for which I have no intention to invest in here. But there is a process to your planning and a means of engaging others. Proper planning is critical.

Second, take the general framework of your plan and do a pilot on a shoe-string budget to test its validity, engagement, need, etc. Here's a hint... as you are building your strategy take into considering a phase roll-out of your plan. This way you can map out the basic needs up to the luxurious needs. This way you don't have to sacrifice the greater/bigger pieces, they are just in que for future delivery.

Third, once it's been piloted and you've seen the success points you were looking for, then make the pitch for the capital investment and now you'll have some foundation to "sell" your idea or product.

It's simple, but so is the principle. Prove it small then the investment for larger will come. Or better yet... he who is trustworthy with little will be trusted with much.

Challenge: build your strategy in steps and allow a season of piloting before making the big plunge.

Personal Base-Lining

As a new year begins many people will sit and write their New Year resolutions and try their best to keep them. Sadly I’ve heard that most New Year’s resolutions are broken within the first week. I was having a discussion with a colleague where we were discussion how we might approach resolutions better.

This was when we discussed the idea of base-lining our goals. Now, I based mine more off “blue sky” life goals rather than specific resolutions as I try and keep my goals life-long and consistent in nature. But this tool could work for either.

The simple approach is to (1) make a list of personal goals, however many and however defined. Then (2) take those goals and give them a simple value between 1-5 as to where you hope to be in “x” weeks/months. Also note (3) where you feel like you are currently. Sure, this is completely subjective, but it’s just you and your reasoning should remain mostly consistent.

Here is what you can achieve. You have (1) written your goals, (2) noted where you currently feel you are on those goals, and (3) set a means to measure where you will be several weeks/months down the road.

Allow me to share an example. One goal for me is to help guide organizations to effective change and success. I have a good idea what that looks like for me and I know where I am currently. I gave myself a “2” for current as I’ve been doing more maintenance items recently and not able to work on bigger picture goals and vision enhancement. I also gave myself a “4” for a goal in that area with hopes the next three months will allow me to engage more in that area of ability and desire. That’s it; I just assign those two values and sit the paper aside.

Now, I’ll come back in three months and give myself a value for where I am then. At that point I’ll be able to see growth or areas in need of improvement. I know that I just can’t sit down a few months from now and say, “how do I feel about things?”; now I can gauge that against something more measurable.

Big picture is to discipline yourself to be objective in your assessment and quantifiable in measurement.

Challenge: Take a moment to map out your goals and blue sky ideas