Business Planning - 02:01 A Return on Investment

Let me take you back a few years to my days in office, when he led the development team within Corporate Treasury. One of the areas my team was cared for Strategic and Business Planning for the department and all the smaller units within the department.

Now at that time the Treasury was renowned for its planning. They loved the time with other departments to plan their strategies, plans and priorities. They created huge manuals of guidelines that have made the Yellow Pages sound like a women's magazine this week so that people knew exactly how to plan. They had whole teams of people to scrutinize the details in the plans of each department.

Why did they do this? Simply because they did worked.

The problem was when it came to do their planning was not as simple as you might think. They knew it was good for them, they knew it had to be done and they said all they needed to do it and knew it had to be done regularly.

... But every year it was hard to get them motivated for the effective date of the plan, let alone allocate time to do it. I mean it was really pulling out fingernails kind of hard at times.

Date is set, and then changed ... and changed some more 'commercial pressure as he approached. There were struggles for in-house (my team and I) or external facilitators - that was the best solution? (The funny thing is most of my team went on to become consultants they are now "facilitators")

People RSVP and then cancel at the last minute. They assign two full days that are gradually reduced to a few minutes over a cup of coffee between meetings. "Hey - why keep at all - because we can not simply brush up on top of last year, changing a few words around and put new photos on it as if it is not really changed much." I heard some managers say within earshot of the Under-Treasurer.

But the funny thing is that whatever the facilitator, whatever time that was eventually granted, like I would give them the final draft of the strategic plan or business for years, I universally heard "we really need to do this - no matter how hard we complain. "

Why do I say this? If the guys who know that the schedule works really hard - the harder it is for small businesses that can not be so sure of going to actually take the time to plan?
What happens when you think - and do it properly and seriously? Well the funny things happen.

First you get a horrible realization that what you thought everyone knew about your company is just you talking in your head late at night and no one else has the same understanding. This is a real wake-up call for most managers. Many managers just do not understand that people can not understand or share their vision, without taking time to communicate, communicate and then communicate a bit '.

By a process of conversation - so old-fashioned form of social networking, you start to gain a shared understanding of where the business is now. For many people in a team this is the first time you get to understand what is really there and that Mary as "the business is traveling."

The assumptions about where the business is going and what's happening next fell on rocks of the "six seriously - I thought we were doing xyz". From the rubble a new boat is built that everyone has a hand in making and sailing. (E 'was a very nautical analogy - but hey with all the flooding around lately I have water on the brain).

But the best bits are hidden bits are the bits that do not make it on paper. This is where you begin to see the team working together as a team. Joking and having fun - enjoying each other's company for a while '. See form bonds, bridges built and defuse tensions.

This is precisely the purpose of these games are made to play horrible, or ropes courses or tours that pass through the center of Mt Cotton driver training - all designed to have the team actually works as a team so that they can plan as a team.

You see a bulge in the moral energy to go forward and a map to get there. We also see increased productivity as once all actually going in the same direction, rather than spending time at cross purposes.

Now, all these results do not come if you are just cramming in a few minutes over coffee and cake Gloria Jeans. They only come if you take some 'time to plan out where you are going seriously.

The new year is a great time to plan - as mentally most of the work group on the calendar, not financial years (if you have a crowd of fanatics accountants in your team probably does not share this point of view).

So ... although it is difficult, take the time to plan. Physically close the place down for a half day or even a day. Go somewhere away from the normal work, if you can (should not be an expensive suite - your local library, community center or PCYC has often hire rooms for nominal costs).

If you can, get a facilitator to make the day flow smoothly and in order to effectively participate as equals, rather than run the show for a change.

Go ahead - you know that makes a big difference to your business! Even Treasury ago (the end) .......