The One Hour Plan for Growth: How a Single Sheet of Paper Can Take Your Business to The Next Level

Chapter 1. The Shortcut

Having an effective growth planning system is the best indicator of whether your company will grow.

—Steven S. Little, Author

Congratulations on your commitment to develop your own One Hour Plan for Growth. There are three basic ways to use this book.

1. Take the Shortcut. You'll have a plan in one hour including the one most important strategy to grow your business.

2. Read through the book if you want to do the in-depth version of the plan including several strategies to grow your business.

3. Involve your team in the process to create greater commitment and buy-in (see www.1Hour2Plan.com).

Think of each step in this process as a piece of your planning puzzle. At this time you don't know what the final picture will look like. As you build your plan, it may not make sense until you are done. So, you must trust the process. Let's get started. Here are the steps to the planning process.

Step 1: Where Do You Want to Go? Write Down the Long-Term Aspirations that Drive You and Your Team (25 minutes)

• 1:1 Vision Exercise—Define the big goal that will inspire you and your team (see Chapter 3).

• 1:2 Mission Exercise—Define why your organization exists, the ultimate contribution you make to your customers' lives (see Chapter 4).

• 1:3 Values Exercise—Define the standards of behavior that will help your team enjoy working together (see Chapter 5).

• 1:4 Objectives Exercise—Define the measures of your success and organizational performance (see Chapter 6).

Step 2: Where Are You Now? Write Down ...