What does your business plan look like?

According to the Harvard Business Review, only 11% of Executives say that preparing their strategic plan was worth the effort. Why should this be, we know that working to a plan dramatically increases the chances of success?

I believe it’s because so many plans have become far too complicated and unworkable, with Executives becoming slaves to them.

The business planning process we provide, helps create a meaningful and valuable plan in less than half a day.

It’s short on pages, short on words & figures and big on value.

And it helps users track and adjust progress so that they can get to where they want to.

It comprises six simple stages:

1. Vision – what is it you want to build?

2. Mission – why does the business exist?

3. Objectives – what results do you need to achieve? And are these SMART? (Specific, Measureable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely)

4. Strategies – what needs to be in place to achieve these Objectives?

5. Action Plans – what is the work that needs to be done

6. Scorecard – forecast, budget and actual figures, plus performance comments.

The challenge for most people is to keep it simple, to keep it on track without drifting off into reams of spreadsheet figures – we are talking top line here!

And the exciting thing about it is that it creates a great snapshot of where the business is, in a way that everyone understands.

This means that it’s easier to keep the whole team rowing together, in time and in the same direction.

Join me on Twitter and LinkedIn.