Simple and succinct business planning on one page

Article contributed by Fiona Powell.

by Merv Neal

In the 20th Century we made an art form out of complicating our Business Planning process. The bigger and more complex the plan the better the plan… RIGHT?… WRONG!

Maybe that was OK for last century but let’s face it, we just don’t seem to have as much time anymore. For this reason unless we can process what it is we have to consider in a “Simple and Succinct” manner we just don’t do it.

Enter The 1 Page Business Plan, arguably the most effective planning tool in the world.

Let’s first of all consider the roadblocks to effective planning:

1. It’s expensive. 10, 20, 50, or 100,000 dollars is not unreasonable when we start to talk about the cost of a Business Plan. The 1 Page Business Plan is completed in a day, or maybe two depending on the complexity of the business or the level of discussion required .

2. It’s such a large document we have to create. 100 to 200 pages are expected. The 1 Page Business Plan, as the name suggests, is all on an A4 sheet. The big benefit here is that it can be placed on the coffee room wall or above people’s computers. This provides a daily focus on how we are going to grow the business.

3. It’s so complicated. We don’t understand what’s actually being said, especially once the Accountant, Solicitors, and a Business Consultant have all had their input. Don’t use any terms other than that which the folks who have to implement the plan will understand. Widgets produced, meals served, room reservations, happy customers. These words make a plan real and therefore understood.

4. It’s out of date so quickly. Yes three months is about the effective term for most business documentation nowadays. So the point is not that it’s out of date quickly, but that it remains out of date because it’s so difficult to update. It’s certainly easier to update one page rather than one hundred.

5. And finally, we went to all this time effort and cost and our business continued on exactly the same way. This happens because the people were never involved in the Planning Process, or actions were never documented as to what has to happen the very next day. There was too much emphasis on the future in 3 to 5 years rather than tomorrow.

Put simply, going through the steps of developing a Vision, establishing Values, undertaking an Externally Focussed Strategic Analysis, writing a 1 Page Business Plan, and then implementing it through an Integrated balanced Scorecard will overcome all of these objections all in one day.

What are you waiting for?

Merv is speaking in New Zealand in Christchurch 27th January 2009;Auckland 28th January 2009;Wellington 29th January 2009

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