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You want to make sure that your business is always moving, always growing, and always using the momentum of past successes to drive future ones. But how do you know when you’re moving in the right direction and not simply treading water or even focusing on the wrong things? You might have an entrepreneurial dream that you want to turn into a business reality, but it’s important to have an idea of how, exactly, you’re doing that. Here, we’re going to look at some of the most vital tools that can help you do just that.

Have a roadmap by your side

If you have a business plan, then it’s time to consult it. If you don’t have one or yours is outdated, then it might be time to create one or update it. The business plan plays a few important roles, such as outlining the internal structure of the business, as well as helping you get funding. But your business plan should also outline the next stages towards growth and the overall aims that you’re trying to meet, as well as how you’re going to meet them. There are plenty of business plan templates you can use online, as well, if you don’t have your own, but the goals have to be your own.

Get into the nitty-gritty of it

The business plan might outline the overall objectives that you’re trying to reach. However, sometimes your long-term aims can be difficult to translate in terms of steps that you can take to get there in your day-to-day. As such, taking the time to break down those aims into your OKR organisational goals and help you get a better sense of what direction you should be taking with your work each day. OKRs, also known as objectives and key results, can help you set a direction for the week’s work, laying out the steps that you need to reach one by one in order to meet those broader goals.

Keep a tight hold of the controls

When it comes to dealing with a large-scale project that your whole team is working on, then you need to get a lot more specific still. Rather than simply letting everyone know what their part is and expecting them to get on with it, you should consider making use of project management tools. These will outline not just everyone’s role, but also the specific order of the work, such as who produces what output and who uses that output for their own part of the project, and so on. Breaking projects into stages can also help you get a better idea of how far along they are so that you’re never left in the dark about the progress.

It is important to always have a keen sense of direction of what your business is doing, how it can do that, and what the eventual aim is. With a roadmap at your side, decision-making always comes down to the most important factor “what’s going to help us reach our goals?”