The importance of strategic planning for small businesses — Lauren Hisey

Lauren Hisey, a consultant, and speaker talks about the sustainable development elements that small businesses strive for on today’s episode of The Playbook with Mark Collier, area director for the UGA Small Business Development Center. Hisey assists small businesses in their quest for strategic planning and continuous improvement.

Every business aspires to be leaner, increase client happiness, and boost employee morale. Hisey stresses the value of meeting owners or leaders to develop relationships. These connections help people answer issues like: How can I provide greater job chances? How do I maintain growing? How do I keep the clients I now have? What are businesses challenges, what keeps you up at night?

The purpose of process mapping:

Hisey enables businesses to move forward by providing some of the strategic planning solutions they’re seeking for. She accomplishes this by instructing them on a procedure. Understanding a process map’s components is the first step. Hisey outlines the supply, input, output, and customer chain at the first level of the process map, which typically involves five to ten steps.

After she sits down with the owner or leader, according to Hisey, she concentrates on the three Ps: policy, process, and proceeders. According to Hisey, “you need all three to be a successful small business.” The process map is a visual representation that enhances customer feedback, and businesses that disregard their clients’ opinions hinder their prospects of further progress.

Continuous improvements are those elements that Hisey defines as essential to strategic planning. She established an attitude of what they can do to grow their business every single day as she began to speak with additional businesses. She made an effort to teach businesses how to problem solve and to continue doing so as they expand, technology advances, and the world around them changes. 

By using this tactic, businesses are reminded to adopt a proactive rather than reactive approach. On the other hand, continued advancements are now supporting efforts made by small businesses to address the persistent supply chain shortage. By comprehending the procedures your company follows, taking your time and sticking to the fundamentals, knowing who your internal and external clients are, what the business inputs and outputs are, and determining whether you’re providing high-quality goods and services.

Understanding that technology is a tool and not a solution is essential. Technology and business processes must work together to better serve people, not the other way around. Hisey’s methodology states that you should handle the assessment first, then tie it to people, then tie it to your technology, and lastly you’ll see the result by doing so.