Business Plan Resources Industry Standards In Small Business Plans

Writen by Peter McLean

The purpose of adopting a quality standards framework is to enable and encourage small businesses to strive for excellence. In some industries, such standards are imposed by government regulations. In fact, the drive for compliance is becoming more and more the norm in an effort to guarantee a minimum level of quality of services to customers.

Effective small business owners and managers engage in best practice activities anyway, and the adopting of standards underpins their business policy development. They take a proactive approach to striving for excellence in their business because they know that by doing so they will achieve highly successful financial results and their key business objectives.

The structure for developing a set of standards within your business requires thinking about the kind of business you are in. The next step is to make a commitment to best practice in the industry sector of which your business is a part.

The following seven areas serve as a guide for aligning and integrating excellence in business:

1. Build leadership and management capacity
2. Develop a strategic business plan
3. Inculcate customer focus throughout your business
4. Deliver products and services that provide value
5. Create a developmental culture
6. Adopt a common decision making framework
7. Measure your business performance

One - Build Leadership And Management Capacity
Implementing this principle ensures that the business owner and managers are committed and dedicated to the purpose and the direction of the business. The leaders of the business show the way, through their own beliefs, attitudes and behavior. They engage in their own leadership skills development as a constant.

The leaders in the business are the ones who must live the mission, vision and values of the business, on a daily basis and at all times in everything that they say and do. They adopt an 'always learning' mindset.

Two – Develop A Strategic Business Plan
Effective business owners have a deep and thorough understanding of the nature and direction of their business. To this end, they clearly articulate the vision they have for their business within the framework of the small business plan. Everyone in the business understands the business plan. Everyone knows what their roles, responsibilities and accountabilities are in bringing about the results that have been spelled out for achieving the vision of the business.

Three - Inculcate A Customer Focus Throughout Your Business
Everything that is done within a business is about delivering quality outcomes and results for customers. The effective business owner knows who his or her customers are, where they are located and what their needs are. With this knowledge in hand, they then ensure that their customer needs are met and, indeed, exceeded. Systems, policy development, procedures, processes and measures are all essential in achieving this area of excellence.

Four - Deliver Products And Services That Provide Value
The effective business owner and manager always make sure that their business provides value for money with their product/service range. This means having proper controls in place for quality assurance, from product design and development, production, distribution and customer follow-up and feedback. These control mechanisms are indicative of an ongoing, continuous improvement culture that ensures value for customers on a consistent basis.

Five - Create A Developmental Culture
The successful business owner creates an ethos where continuous learning is the hallmark of pursuing excellence in everything that is done. This is evidenced from the recruitment stage through to exiting. All the employees in a value-based business are employed as being competent and being the 'best fit' for the business. They are always developing, both personally and professionally. They all have development plans that are aligned to business objectives and performance outcomes.

Six - Adopt A Common Decision Making Framework
Effective decision-making is critical in achieving excellence. Successful high performing business environments adopt a common language and agreed ways of arriving at best-balanced choices, reaching conclusions, resolving conflict and making hard-edged decisions. Everyone in high performing business cultures knows what these frameworks are and uses the tools consistently to ensure common understanding in the implementation of problem solving/conflict resolution.

Seven – Measure Your Business Performance
Establishing benchmarks and measuring results and performance against agreed objectives and outcomes will insure high performance and excellence in business. Such measures are identified and spelled out in concrete terms in relation to the other six areas listed above.

Peter McLean is a highly experienced Coach, Senior Manager, Consultant, Business Owner and Company Director. He successfully coaches top Executives in some of Australia's leading multi-national companies. One such Senior Executive recently won an International Award for Excellence within his particular field. In addition, Peter works extensively in the Public, Private, Commercial and Not-for-Profit sectors, delivering outstanding results for his clients. To learn more of how you can benefit from Peter's experience, visit the Essential Business Coach web site!