Recession Recovery Planning

I was recently asked by a potential client about my approach to "business planning" in an economic recovery.

First, remember that business planning is about two things:

(1) Attaching $dollars to proposals or to project ideas,
(2) Creating a detailed and number-driven explanation of "mission, market and money-making model" for a very specific audience.

General-purpose business plans are a waste of time. Banks, investors, potential partners and employees all expect and need something tailored to THEIR point of view..

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Conventional and UnConventional Wisdom re GOALS

Conventional wisdom about organizational GOALS or objectives can be summarized as follows:

Goals (Objectives) must connect directly to achieving a mission or a higher level guiding goal.

Goals should have a clear, understandable and brief STATEMENT.

Goals should be expressed as ACTION(S) to be accomplished by a DATE. 

Goal progress and achievement should be MEASUREABLE.

So far, so good.  But the following is often overlooked:

• GOALS must be SELF-CHOOSEN to be effective. Imposing goals de-motivates.
• GOALS should be PUBLIC COMMITMENTS from the top; not work plans for the bottom of an organization.
• GOALS must neither ESCALATE nor DE-ESCALATE.  Either adds confusion and maximizes cynicism.
• GOALS work best at the TEAM-level.   Public review of personal objectives often backfires.

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