If you’re in the majority, you’re saying 2011 was challenging on all fronts. Your organization was doing more with less. You had increasing demands, and planning—real, honest-to-goodness strategic planning—probably took a back seat to just getting things done.

Opportunities for business growth abound—but you’re likely to skip right over them if you’re only jumping from deadline to deadline. Sure, a few things might fall into your lap. And maybe that’s worked out OK for you. At MB Piland, we’re not OK with “OK.”

It’s a brave new year. It’s time for you to be brave, too. Here are some tips to get you moving in the right direction.

Be informed

• When was the last time you Googled yourself? Your competitors?
• Have you even looked to see what bloggers are saying about you (if anything)?
• Have you asked your clients/customers if they’re getting what they need?
• Have you taken note of all your customer touchpoints and evaluated them for effectiveness and being on brand?
• Have you monitored the social mediasphere to listen and respond?
• If you’ve done research in the past, have you repeated it to see how you fare compared to your previous measures?

You get the idea. Get up above the fray and look at your place in the market. That will help ensure your strategy is grounded in a genuine understanding, rather than just your own perceptions.

Daydream
What would your organization look like if the sky were the limit? (It is, actually.) What would it sound like? Smell like? Feel like? Who would your customers be? How would you interact with them? How much profit would you make? What kinds of people would be your colleagues? Where would you be located? What kind of fun could you have!? You can write it down, or make a collage of photos and type torn from magazines. You can doodle and scribble. There’s no wrong way to go about it.

There’s a current ad from The GAP that’s a really good example. It has bits of type, photos of its people, its environment, product shots, pets, employee activities and more. I love how it conveys their vision... “denim Valhalla.”

What’s your dream?

Do it now
It is easy to let the urgent daily deadlines get in the way. Carve out some time at the start of each day to think about what you need to do for the big picture, long term. Break your big task into smaller ones, then make some mini deadlines and work them into your schedule. There. See how easy that is?

Opportunity is everywhere. But you can only see it if you carve out some time to think. Time flies. Don’t let it leave you in the dust