Traditional strategic planning does not work.
The strategic planning process in large businesses is an annual event that results in a voluminous document that 90% of the employees never see.
Most small businesses do not develop strategic plans, its in the "CEO's head".
The process is ineffective in both cases for one reason, its not communicated to the rest of the company (and its suppliers, sub-contractors, etc), effectively.
At CFO Services of Pennsylvania, we like to keep things simple.
To plan effectively, its important to keep in mind a few things: ·The plan should be no more than one page in length.
·Everyone in your organization, and even key supporters of your organization, should be involved ·If you can't measure it, you cannot monitor it.
On a quarterly basis, your actual results should be compared to plan.
Key employees and management should meet monthly to review where you are compared to plan.
Our website has our preferred template that we use with our clients.
All businesses and their markets are different so we modify the plan format on occasion to meet the needs of our clients.
Its important to think incrementally when developing your plan.
Worry about where you want your business to be three years out (we recommend planning no more than 3 years in today's economic climate) and what initiatives you and your staff will undertake during the next one or two quarters to move toward your long-term goals.
If you take this approach, the intervening time will take care of itself.
If you have multiple strategic business units, a plan should be developed for each and consolidated We recommend that key performance measures be limited to no more than 5, preferable 3 measures.
Its easy to get caught up in the minutiae as you develop your measurement criteria and lose sight of the big picture.
Remember that everything is linked.
Lead generation is primarily a marketing function which feeds sales results which drives operations.
"Fail to plan, plan to fail.
" "If you can't measure it, you can't manage it.
" Clichés? Sure, but success in business doesn't happen by accident, particularly in today's challenging economic climate.
The strategic planning process in large businesses is an annual event that results in a voluminous document that 90% of the employees never see.
Most small businesses do not develop strategic plans, its in the "CEO's head".
The process is ineffective in both cases for one reason, its not communicated to the rest of the company (and its suppliers, sub-contractors, etc), effectively.
At CFO Services of Pennsylvania, we like to keep things simple.
To plan effectively, its important to keep in mind a few things: ·The plan should be no more than one page in length.
·Everyone in your organization, and even key supporters of your organization, should be involved ·If you can't measure it, you cannot monitor it.
On a quarterly basis, your actual results should be compared to plan.
Key employees and management should meet monthly to review where you are compared to plan.
Our website has our preferred template that we use with our clients.
All businesses and their markets are different so we modify the plan format on occasion to meet the needs of our clients.
Its important to think incrementally when developing your plan.
Worry about where you want your business to be three years out (we recommend planning no more than 3 years in today's economic climate) and what initiatives you and your staff will undertake during the next one or two quarters to move toward your long-term goals.
If you take this approach, the intervening time will take care of itself.
If you have multiple strategic business units, a plan should be developed for each and consolidated We recommend that key performance measures be limited to no more than 5, preferable 3 measures.
Its easy to get caught up in the minutiae as you develop your measurement criteria and lose sight of the big picture.
Remember that everything is linked.
Lead generation is primarily a marketing function which feeds sales results which drives operations.
"Fail to plan, plan to fail.
" "If you can't measure it, you can't manage it.
" Clichés? Sure, but success in business doesn't happen by accident, particularly in today's challenging economic climate.
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