I get it. Entrepreneurs are people of action. Doers. Many of us jump into business and start getting it done. Few of us slow down long enough to generate a strategic plan that positions the company for future growth. We know we want to create a bigger future for our business, but we aren't sure where--or how--to begin.

After a few decades of reading, attending workshops, and talking with hundreds of fellow entrepreneurs, I've found three non-negotiable elements to set the course for your business--and then make it happen:

1. Paint a Picture of Your Future

Resource: Vivid Vision by Cameron Herold

As the company's leader, your most crucial job is to articulate what the business will become and where it's going. Cameron Herold's book, Vivid Vision, provides a step-by-step process for creating a three-year Vivid Vision (also called a Painted Picture) for your organization. It's straightforward and proven to be successful.

Pro tip: Go to a place where you feel creative--the beach, a coffee shop, your favorite hike--and let yourself dream. Producing this detailed Vision in writing accomplishes several things necessary for success:

• It gives everyone a shared purpose and direction.

• It promises a bigger future.

• It focuses efforts and filters opportunities.

• It becomes 42% more likely to happen just because it is written down!

2. Craft Your One-Page Strategic Plan

Resource: Scaling Up by Verne Harnish

Does having almost everything you need to guide your company on one piece of paper sound too good to be true? It's not only possible; it's a game changer when you follow the template outlined by Verne Harnish in Scaling Up:

• Gather key people at an offsite and read your Vivid Vision to the group. With this in mind, together, define the company's core values, purpose, sandbox, and brand promise. (Don't worry, the book provides a guide.) After identifying these, the rest of your strategic plan will flow naturally.

• Reread the Vivid Vision and identify five to eight areas of the business that need to change to bring the Vision into reality. Describe what those areas look like as if they have already happened. These become your three-year Vivid Vision Priorities.

• Ask the team to jot down actions that must happen to make these Priorities a reality--there will be many! We use Post-its under each Priority. Give everyone 15 votes per Priority. Instruct them to vote on actions that will take the company furthest with the least amount of effort in each category. Yes, you can use multiple votes on one item. Top vote-getters become either One-Year Goals or Six-Month Initiatives. Save the others for future review.

• Assign each Goal and Initiative to one person who will be fully responsible for getting it done.

Plug each item into the template, and Bingo! You have everything you need to guide the business on a single sheet that you can easily share with the rest of the company.

3. Set Up Clockwork Execution

Step three is where the rubber meets the road. Sure, you can write a great vision and map the actions to get there, but how do you actually get it done? I will share our company's secret sauce: the MIF. Short for Move It Forward, it's the name of the meeting we've held every other Wednesday for years. The MIF creates a structure that propelled us to complete hundreds of initiatives and achieve more success than we thought possible. Here's how:

• Block out three hours every other Wednesday to work on goals. This can be done once a month but not less frequently.

• Assign one person as Strategy Shepherd. This person facilitates the offsite strategic planning meeting and the MIF. They set the agenda based on the One-Page Strategic Plan. A week before the MIF meeting, the Strategy Shepherd emails the owners of all Goals and Initiatives, asking if they want to be included on the agenda, the subject, key participants, and the time needed. Setting the agenda early enables project owners to prepare and maximize meeting time. Some team members will be in the room for one topic; others might participate in five. Those who don't attend are expected to spend time working toward company goals.

If you take away only one idea from this article, make it this: If you don't intentionally create time for a MIF meeting, the urgent will overwhelm the important. There will never be time to proactively make the company better and achieve what is necessary for your Vivid Vision to become a reality. These two monthly meetings comprise only 4% of business hours--you can't spare that to move the company forward?

These three non-negotiable steps of strategic planning and effective company management will create a bigger future for you and your company. We call it slowing down to speed up. While it's hard for action-oriented achievers, a few hours of intentional focus provide the necessary framework for quick, effective decision-making, company-wide goal execution, and cohesive culture.

Do these three things, and you'll achieve results beyond what you thought possible. We did.