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By Michael Deutch

Don’t Start Next Year Without a Game Plan!

Strategy Mapping with Mindjet provides you and your team with the ability to quickly assemble and deliver winning strategies. Unlike traditional strategic planning approaches that often feel like a burden, strategy mapping lets you engage your team to capture a wide variety of input, organize it in ways that uncover hidden opportunities and quickly build plans to drive your organization towards your goals.

Businesses, both small and large, are facing significant challenges with uncertainty lurking around every corner. And while we all know planning is critical, few set aside the time to do so. It’s too easy to get caught up in day-to-day tactics instead of setting aside precious time to define and plan your strategic initiatives. Here’s a five-step approach to help you quickly get clear on your priorities so you will not only survive in these uncertain times, but also thrive in them.

  • Start Your Strategy Map

    Kick off your planning efforts with a Strategy Map to answer the following questions:

    • Who needs to be involved and to what degree?
    • What must the plan address / include?
    • Where will you collaborate and share ideas?
    • Why is this important now? What happens if you do not plan?
    • When will your plan be ready to share with others?
    • How often will you meet to plan, track and revise?

     

    Can’t answer these questions yet? Invite your team to collaborate with you on the map. Make sure to invite a broad range of participants into the planning process to capture the expertise of front-line staff, gaining insights into the competition, customer demands and partner requirements.

  • Develop Your Strategy

    Expand your Strategy Map with your team’s collective ideas and research, answering "Where are we now", "Where are we heading" and "How will we get there". You’ll maintain perspective and clarity by having all variables visible in one place. See and understand the big picture to identify and develop your strategic initiatives.

    With Mindjet, you have the ability to:

    • Engage teams in collaborative brainstorming and planning sessions
    • Collect additional research, adding hyperlinks and files directly into your strategy dashboard
    • Organize data in ways that highlight previously hidden relationships to reveal new opportunities
    • Host Web conferences and share research in secure workspaces with Mindjet Connect

     

  • Align Your Team

    Your Strategy Map serves many purposes. Arguably, one of the most important is communication. It’s your strategy, your vision and how you will achieve it. And you will need to share all of it or parts of it with many different stakeholders. Fortunately, you have many options to present your plans including:

    • Presentation mode within MindManager
    • Export your map to interactive Adobe PDF files*
    • Export your map to Microsoft PowerPoint*
    • Export your map to Microsoft Word*

     

  • Work Your Plan

    Execution is the critical step that transforms your plans into reality. Using your Strategy Map, track your detailed action plans. With advanced task management capabilities, MindManager lets you track who will be accountable for each step in the plan, when it is due, the level of completion and if any issues arise, they can be tracked as well. Are you more comfortable tracking initiatives in traditional project tools? Not a problem. Mindjet offers JCVGantt to display your strategic plan in a Gantt chart or you can export to Microsoft Project.

  • Adjust Your Course

    Have you ever heard the old saying, "man plans and God laughs"? Since even the best plans are often wrong, it’s essential to continuously monitor and revise your plan. Periodically take a step away from the operational tactics to review progress and revise your strategy as necessary. Look for the early warning signs. Sales, costs, expenses, new leads, Web site hits… Add your metrics into your strategy dashboard map to keep you on course, optimize efforts and increase the likelihood of your success.

Throughout every step in the strategic planning process from idea gathering to execution, Mindjet provides the ability to take your game to the next level. Transform traditional planning into something exciting and tap into your team’s collective wisdom to take advantage of your next great strategic opportunity. See the big picture, respond with agility and focus your team around a common set of goals.

* MindManager 8 for Windows

Michael Deutch joined the Mindjet team in January, 2007 to help market the many uses of Mindjet technologies. Michael has over 15 years experience as a management consultant, marketer and product manager in the software industry. Connect with Michael on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook.

Check out Michael’s recent MindManager 8 series on the Mindjet Blog: