{"id":19711,"date":"2020-02-03T16:10:31","date_gmt":"2020-02-03T16:10:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dev.redrockqatar.com\/?p=19711"},"modified":"2020-02-05T09:33:28","modified_gmt":"2020-02-05T09:33:28","slug":"reflections-on-business-planning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/redrockinternational.com\/qa\/reflections-on-business-planning\/","title":{"rendered":"Reflections on business planning"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"19711\" class=\"elementor elementor-19711\" data-elementor-post-type=\"post\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-1c01bc6f elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"1c01bc6f\" data-element_type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-403a299c\" data-id=\"403a299c\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-416b1c48 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"416b1c48\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Business_Planning\"><\/span>Business Planning<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-34a893a9 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"34a893a9\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>We, the Red Rock international team in Doha, have just completed a mid-term review of our annual business plan which took three days.\u00a0 There were ten of us involved, one of the team flew in from the UK and another from South Africa.\u00a0 One person cut their holiday short in Brazil in order to be present.\u00a0 We value the process as I\u2019m sure you do.\u00a0\u00a0 Here are some comments on what we did, what we achieved, what went well and what we learned.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-6901018 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"6901018\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Getting_the_ambition_right\"><\/span>Getting the ambition right<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-fbcf7d8 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"fbcf7d8\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>We try to set a culture where meetings start on time and finish on time.\u00a0 To finish on time, it is important to be realistic about what can be achieved in the time available to meet. \u00a0Most of us tend to think we can do more than what is realistic and then meetings overflow and can lose quality.\u00a0<span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">We have four \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/redrockinternational.com\/qa\/about-us\/\">purposes<\/a>\u201d around business development, service quality, community contribution and creating a great place to work. We set out to do the following:<\/span><\/p><ul><li><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Refresh our understanding of the current plan<\/span><\/li><li><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Review and revise our targets<\/span><\/li><li><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Revise the resources required \u2013 people, equipment, and training<\/span><\/li><li><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Review and revise our marketing strategy<\/span><\/li><\/ul><p>I think we got it about right.\u00a0 What was more challenging for us was to keep track of what had been decided!\u00a0 Our admin of the meetings was not so strong, next week we need to revise the plan and make sure the detail is recorded.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-86f3ed6 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"86f3ed6\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Letting_the_people_talk\"><\/span>Letting the people talk<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-d14572a elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"d14572a\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>We have three smaller teams: the team build team, the learning and development team and the programme team. These groups broke out regularly to discuss the plan.\u00a0 It is easy to hang around the table as a large group for too long.\u00a0 A good meeting is one in which you have opportunity to put your ideas forward and be heard.<\/p><p>This generally worked well for us.\u00a0 A noisy room of engaged people is a healthy sign.\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-7b598e5 elementor-widget elementor-widget-gallery\" data-id=\"7b598e5\" data-element_type=\"widget\" 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class=\"elementor-gallery__container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a class=\"e-gallery-item elementor-gallery-item elementor-animated-content\" href=\"https:\/\/redrockinternational.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Group-discussion-staff.jpg\" data-elementor-open-lightbox=\"yes\" data-elementor-lightbox-slideshow=\"7b598e5\" data-elementor-lightbox-title=\"Group-discussion-staff\" data-e-action-hash=\"#elementor-action%3Aaction%3Dlightbox%26settings%3DeyJpZCI6MTk4NDIsInVybCI6Imh0dHBzOlwvXC9yZWRyb2NraW50ZXJuYXRpb25hbC5jb21cL3dwLWNvbnRlbnRcL3VwbG9hZHNcLzIwMjBcLzAyXC9Hcm91cC1kaXNjdXNzaW9uLXN0YWZmLmpwZyIsInNsaWRlc2hvdyI6IjdiNTk4ZTUifQ%3D%3D\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-gallery-image elementor-gallery-item__image\" data-thumbnail=\"https:\/\/redrockinternational.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Group-discussion-staff.jpg\" data-width=\"1024\" data-height=\"682\" aria-label=\"\" role=\"img\" ><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-gallery-item__overlay\"><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a class=\"e-gallery-item elementor-gallery-item elementor-animated-content\" href=\"https:\/\/redrockinternational.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/red-rock-business-planning.jpg\" data-elementor-open-lightbox=\"yes\" data-elementor-lightbox-slideshow=\"7b598e5\" data-elementor-lightbox-title=\"red rock business planning\" data-e-action-hash=\"#elementor-action%3Aaction%3Dlightbox%26settings%3DeyJpZCI6MTk4NTAsInVybCI6Imh0dHBzOlwvXC9yZWRyb2NraW50ZXJuYXRpb25hbC5jb21cL3dwLWNvbnRlbnRcL3VwbG9hZHNcLzIwMjBcLzAyXC9yZWQtcm9jay1idXNpbmVzcy1wbGFubmluZy5qcGciLCJzbGlkZXNob3ciOiI3YjU5OGU1In0%3D\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-gallery-image elementor-gallery-item__image\" data-thumbnail=\"https:\/\/redrockinternational.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/red-rock-business-planning.jpg\" data-width=\"692\" data-height=\"797\" aria-label=\"\" role=\"img\" ><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-gallery-item__overlay\"><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a class=\"e-gallery-item elementor-gallery-item elementor-animated-content\" href=\"https:\/\/redrockinternational.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Working-together-design.jpg\" data-elementor-open-lightbox=\"yes\" data-elementor-lightbox-slideshow=\"7b598e5\" data-elementor-lightbox-title=\"Working-together-design\" data-e-action-hash=\"#elementor-action%3Aaction%3Dlightbox%26settings%3DeyJpZCI6MTk4NTQsInVybCI6Imh0dHBzOlwvXC9yZWRyb2NraW50ZXJuYXRpb25hbC5jb21cL3dwLWNvbnRlbnRcL3VwbG9hZHNcLzIwMjBcLzAyXC9Xb3JraW5nLXRvZ2V0aGVyLWRlc2lnbi5qcGciLCJzbGlkZXNob3ciOiI3YjU5OGU1In0%3D\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-gallery-image elementor-gallery-item__image\" data-thumbnail=\"https:\/\/redrockinternational.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Working-together-design.jpg\" data-width=\"1024\" data-height=\"682\" aria-label=\"\" role=\"img\" ><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-gallery-item__overlay\"><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-2ca40ba elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"2ca40ba\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Getting_engagement\"><\/span>Getting engagement<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-0f4109c elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"0f4109c\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>I lead the team.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been in the business for over 20 years.\u00a0 I\u2019ve got the most experience.\u00a0 Tempting therefore to assume that I\u2019ve got all the answers, know the way forward.\u00a0 But if I want to get engagement, if I want a plan that my team will want to execute from a heart level, I\u2019ll need to give away responsibility and authority during the planning process.\u00a0 This is the key to growth.<\/p><p><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">During our time we strengthened the authority of the three team leaders.\u00a0 We made sure each team leader knew what their target was. We did our best to make sure each team leader has authority as well as responsibility,\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">is able to make financial and people decisions as well as being responsible for delivery.\u00a0 We now need to re-write our job descriptions and organiasation chart.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-b54a979 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"b54a979\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Bringing_life\"><\/span>Bringing life<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-44bf159 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"44bf159\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>When planning, it is easy to be just numbered focused. This gets a little one dimensional.&nbsp; I consider my team to be like plants, I want to plant them in the right pot and soil where they can flourish and grow.&nbsp; To do this I need regular feedback from them about what is going well, where they would like the team to focus, what is exciting for them and what is challenging.<\/p>\n<p>During our planning we took time to discuss what it is like to work for Red Rock, what is going well for us and what could we do to make our working life better.&nbsp; One of the areas that was highlighted regularly was a better balance \u2013 we tend to have too much to do and work too many hours.&nbsp; To do this it is not a case of better time management, it is having the courage to say \u201cno\u201d to the wrong opportunities and \u201cyes\u201d to the right ones.&nbsp; I am not particularly strong in this. I find it difficult to turn any opportunity down.&nbsp; I\u2019ve positioned one lady who is an excellent judge of what we can\u2019t and can do well to be in a position to override my decisions in this area.&nbsp; I\u2019m comforted and anxious.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-45c663ad elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"45c663ad\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><i>If your team is in the process of making some big decisions, <a href=\"https:\/\/redrockinternational.com\/qa\/contact-us\/\"><b>get in touch<\/b><\/a> and see how we can help.&nbsp;<\/i><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We have just completed a mid-term review of our annual business plan. We took three days over it. We value the process. I\u2019m sure you do as well. Here are some comments on what we did, what we achieved, what went well and what we learned.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":19846,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"248","_seopress_titles_title":"Blog - %%title%% %%page%% %%sep%% %%sitename%%","_seopress_titles_desc":"Nick Ashley, Managing Director of Red Rock International Qatar offers some reflections and insights after some recent business planning as a team","_seopress_robots_index":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[248],"tags":[245,240,243,242,241,246,86,244],"class_list":["post-19711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-insights","tag-authority","tag-business-development","tag-communication","tag-meetings","tag-planning","tag-presentation","tag-qatar","tag-responsibility"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/redrockinternational.com\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/redrockinternational.com\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/redrockinternational.com\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redrockinternational.com\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redrockinternational.com\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19711"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/redrockinternational.com\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19711\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redrockinternational.com\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19846"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/redrockinternational.com\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redrockinternational.com\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redrockinternational.com\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}