Module 7: Ways to Improve Business Practices Guided by the
Philosophies, Belief System or Filipino Values
As a business owner, you are probably aware of where your business
could improve. Sometimes business owners want to improve their business but
are not sure how to begin. This is an overview of some key steps you can take
to start improving your business.
Assess your situation
Before you start making changes, it is a good idea to make sure you
have a full understanding of the factors affecting your business success. These
may include your current business practices, market trends, or changes to the
wider environment in which you operate.
Tools that can help you assess your business' situation include:
SWOT-analysis — helps you identify your business' strengths,
weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
Benchmarking — measures your business’ performance against
similar-sized businesses in your industry.
Market research — investigates your business' market and industry
to identify trends, changes, and customer or client demands.
Trend analysis — uses business data collected over time to identify
consistent results or trends.
Webinars (web-based seminars) — provide useful information to
help develop your business skills.
Set clear goals
Business goals can be as broad or as specific as you want them to be.
Writing down your goals clearly will make it easier for you to achieve them.
Make sure your goals are S.M.A.R.T.:
Specific — state clearly what you want to achieve.
Measurable — make sure you can evaluate the success.
Achievable — check if your objective is something you have the time
and resources to meet.
Relevant — make sure your objectives improve profit drivers and
improve some part of your business.
Timely — set a specific date for completion.
Once you have written down your goals, you should prioritize them to
decide which ones to focus on first. Some goals may need to be more urgent
than others. It is also important to recognize that some goals will need to be
addressed with a long-term strategy as you will not be able to meet them
immediately because of resources, finances, or time.
Identify strategies for achieving your goals
your goals and list the factors you think are creating your current
circumstances. Think about what strategy you could use to improve the
situation. Depending on the goals you are trying to meet, you may want to
think about using the services of a business professional such as a professional
trainer, contractor, or business adviser. Think realistically about what you can
do yourself and where you may benefit from some support.
Develop a plan for implementing your strategies
To achieve your goals, you need to work out how to implement your
strategies. Strategies often include several specific actions or tasks. It is a good
idea to develop a plan on how you will do this.
Write your plan in a format that suits you. It should include:
a time frame — how long a task will take to complete as well as the
start and finish dates.
actions — state the individual actions as precisely as you can.
responsibilities — assign accountability for each action so everyone
knows precisely what you expect from them and who is responsible
for ensuring the work is done.
resources — list budget, staff, or supplies needed to complete each
action.
a desired outcome — state how you will know that the action has
been completed.
When you have developed your plan, you might want to also update your
overall business plan.
Measure the results
Establishing how you will measure the results that you want to
achieve may be as simple as checking what you have completed. With larger
goals, you may have to establish a more complex measurement process like
increasing profit by a set percentage, or gaining a particular number of new
clients. With these types of goals, it can also be useful to set points to measure
their success as you are working on them. This will help you keep your plan
on track.
Consider how often you want to measure your business achievements.
This can also help you set new goals regularly. Learn more about measuring
the success of your innovation.
