Setting business plans
Context
In many organizations the annual planning cycle has become a “ritual prior to budget approval” rather than an opportunity to consider fresh approaches to growth. Market leadership depends on innovative approaches to new and existing markets that can only be achieved if bold strategies are achieved through disciplined execution. Often plans fail because they don’t push the envelope – yielding to incrementalism – when the competition is being much more clever. Or they fail because there is a lack of disciplined execution across the enterprise.
Planning that actually leads to growth hinges on a few best practices:
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Setting the external themes that should drive growth. Focus on externalities that could reshape current or new markets is must be an explicit goal of business planning. Fresh, objective insight rather than rehashed water cooler conversations must drive the dialogues.
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A few critical aspirations and priorities must be identified. Beyond budgetary goals, “must do” initiatives that will substantially lift revenue and drive down cost – if every function participates – must become the outcome.
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Set the right Execution Agenda. If the big ideas are to flourish and reap results, they must find a place in the execution agenda. Far too often this agenda fails to survive the planning cycle. Strategic execution is trumped by crisis management and response. There is broad agreement that it would be nice to follow that strategic agenda, if only there weren’t so many surprises demanding management’s attention.
Although commonplace this exposes a critical flaw in the planning process. Either there was never real commitment to success, or there was an inability to prioritize the smallest number of most critical strategic moves that could be advanced in the face of day to day distractions.
MSG point of view
We think the greatest leverage in the planning process is in setting a realistic execution agenda that advances the smallest set of really high potential (breakthrough) initiatives. Far too often leadership aspires for this, settles for less, becomes disappointed and scales back subsequent planning because it’s a “time consuming exercise and we have a business to run”.
What we do
Market Strategy Group helps organizations break this downward spiral. We help clients get to the point where their planning fulfills aspirations because their execution agenda is realistic and management is committed, aligned and jointly accountable to its success.