Author: Stephen Lake

What is it that distinguishes successful organisations from unsuccessful organisations?

There are many factors that distinguish successful organisations from average and unsuccessful organisations.  One key factor that repeatedly shows up in all the research is “Planning”.  Not just whether organisations plan, but the quality of the plan, how often performance is reviewed against the plan, and the plan adjusted if necessary.

One of the most alarming statistics is the high number of organisations that do not have a plan. Yet, planning can be simple, and can be accomplished in only a couple of days …

The key elements of any business plan are:

• The vision – where you see the organisation in two to five years,
• Your starting point – an analysis of where you are today,
• Your destination – what will the organisation look like when you get there,
• The delta – what is the difference between where your starting point and destination, and
• A budget – year by year, and month by month for the first year.

Key inputs in to this process are:

• Current financials – a profit and loss and a balance sheet,
• SWOT analysis – what are your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats,
• Market analysis – what is the state of the market(s) you are in, what are the cycles and trends in the market, and what do you predict the market(s) to be over the timeframe of your plan,
• Risk analysis – what risks do we currently face, and will we face, their likelihood of occurring, the consequences if they occur and if the risk needs addressing, what is the mitigation strategy, and
• Product and Marketing analysis – what products or services do we sell, who are our competitors and how do we perform against them, where does our pricing and profitability sit against the competition, and what is the true profitability of what we are doing by product or service.

Key outputs of this process are:

• Documented plan - covering all of the above elements and inputs,
• Action list prioritised - showing who is responsible for what by when,
• Review plan – detailing the process and regularity of review, and
• Communications plan – the key messages from the planning process, which audiences they need to be delivered to, and by what medium.

As John Preston of Boston College said; “The nicest thing about not planning is that failure comes as a complete surprise and is not preceded by a period of worry and depression”.