|
|
|
|
StrategicPlanning360.com - Strategic Planning Information At Your Fingertips... |
|
|
 |
|
3 Ps of Planning - Prepare, Personalize, Pilot
Here's a really simple way to make sure your plans always produce the results you expect. "There is one quality which one must possess to win, and that is definiteness of purpose, the knowledge of what one wants, and a burning desire to possess it." - Napoleon Hill Every plan must provide its leader with the capability to fulfill this multi-level purpose: => To inspire the commitment of others, => To execute on the plan's promises => To supervise the plan to successful conclusions. The reasons why many plans fail can be grouped into one of these categories: its strategic approach, its relevance to people, its use as a control tool. You need to follow the 3 "P"s for planning and learn how to develop plans that deliver breakthrough results. Prepare Your Plan! Sounds obvious, doesn't it? If you hope to follow a plan, then you have to prepare for it, don't you? Wise planners have clearly defined ways to prepare their plans. => What major goals do you want your plan to accomplish? => How many resources, assets and partners will your plan require? => When will your plan begin and when will it end? => Where will you find the most reliable information? => Who will benefit from your plan, who will do the work of the plan, who will be responsible for leading the plan? => Why will we need each section of the plan and why will that section be important to our success? Personalize Your Plan! Every plan involves people. They are either participants in or beneficiaries of your plans. Regardless of their roles, your plans must be sensitive to their talents, values and priorities. When you include the following principles, you can make your plans "people-friendly": => Defining their problems, wants and expectations => Building communities of like-minded folks => Expanding your impact through partnerships => Linking their needs to your delivery of value => Addressing their hunger for new growth opportunities and prosperity Use these ideas to find ways to serve the demands of those people affected by your plans - that means involving your partners, suppliers, employees or team mates and your constituents or clients. Pilot Your Plan! If your plan is supposed to guide you, why don't you use it to pilot your efforts to successful outcomes? Commercial pilots use their 'flight plans' as a checklist, map and control manual to make sure they land us safely at the right airport. You wouldn't want to end up at some place 1000 miles away from your home or office, would you? As a Checklist => What steps do you need to take? => What outcomes or results are your actions supposed to produce? => Who does what and at what stage are they supposed to do those tasks? => How much work needs to be done? => How are you supposed to do your tasks? As a Map => Indicates or suggests direction => Defines distance between starts and finishes => Provides pathways, specific processes or flows => Shows intersections, linkages and connections => Gauges progress towards milestones and targets As a Control Manual => Describes conditions, factors and forces => Supports problem-solving and decision-making => Empowers training and coaching interventions => Facilitates situational, contextual or structural analysis ------------------------------------------------------------ Leadership stands on a foundation of effective planning. Great leaders use plans to strengthen the resolve of their people and focus those people on crystal-clear goals. W. Clement Stone was a self-made, mega-millionaire entrepreneur who lived and believed this truth - "You, too, can determine what you want. You can decide on your major objectives, targets, aims and destination." Are you ready to shape your plan and plan your shaping? Are your most ardent desires searching for the concrete certainty of a plan? Are you hungry for the next growth opportunity? If so, use these 3 "P"s as your guide, your map and your playbook - when you do, you'll breakthrough your roadblocks! Copyright © 2005, Mustard Seed Investments Inc., All rights reserved. ------------------------------------------------------------ About the Author: Bill Thomas teaches leadership techniques using strategic, innovative, evolutionary-focused concepts - his 2-Volume, how-to Manual, "Strategic Organizational Leadership: Create & Deliver Fail-Proof, Breakthrough Plans", uses an energizing process of group development to produce value empowered results! "See it, Plan it, Lead it, Improve it!" http://www.leadership-toolkit.com/planning.html ------------------------------------------------------------
 Strategic Planning News for Monday, Feb 6, 2012...
Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Business Plan: Planning the Operations Writing a business plan is no easy task, sure you can whip something together in a day or so, but without proper planning you are setting yourself up to fail. Many first time entrepreneurs have a bit of trouble writing a business plan, which will be acceptable to bankers and investors. One easy place to fall down on is the understanding of the daily operations of your chosen business model. Hunters and Gatherers - Are You Serving Both Their Needs? The University of Exeter in the United Kingdom recently published research financed by Barclays Bank, which has implications for everyone who is serving the general population. A Rough Cut on Feasibility A piano tuner recently moved to Buffalo, NY, and would like to assess the business possibilities for him in his new home. He plans to estimate how many piano tuners the greater Buffalo area can support, and compare that to the number listed in the phone book. How do we advise him as to how to estimate the "right" number of tuners for the area? Microsoft Great Plains Implementation: Healthcare/Hospital example ? overview for consultant Microsoft Great Plains fits multiple services market niche and healthcare is not exemption. In the case of Healthcare/Hospital there is usually healthcare patient history tracking system in place and backoffice or accounting application should be integrated on the ongoing basis with the above mentioned system plus often Hospital or association is non-profit organization and non-for-profit accounting specifics should be taken into consideration. Questions to Ask Yourself When Starting a New Home Business I love the excitement of starting up a new home based business. I enjoy trying out new ideas and approaches with the new venture. I dream the big dreams and hope to obtain some of them (if not all of them). I am sure you have those same feelings as well. Organization is imperative when starting any business. Some say that a well funded business has the best chance to sustain losses until it's profitable. However, if you are on a shoe string budget like me, money management is the key. How to Snuff Out the Competition Without Leaving a Mark Does the competition drive you crazy? Benefiting from Strategic Thinking I recently took an organizational behavior class where my professor conducted a strategic thinking exercise in which groups of students were to be a part of a scholarship committee. The purpose of our committee was to use strategic thinking on allocating a scholarship budget to reward several incoming freshmen to our university. I, along with some classmates represented freshmen candidates who would receive the scholarship. Business Plan Descriptions of Computer System Entrepreneurs often give little if any consideration to their computer system needs in their original business plans. It is a necessity to have mention of your computer system as bankers and/or investors will want to know how you will keep track of your future endeavor. You need to carefully spell out your needs and their costs to insure you are asking for the right amount of money for your new project and to insure that you know what you need in advance. All too often entrepreneurs are not completely sure of what is needed and then when they see what is available they want it, this adds costs. Then comes the customization and feature creep as high paid programmers design the modifications. If You Don't Focus, Innovate and Evolve, You Die After 128 years of business, a household word, Montgomery Wards, Inc., closed their doors forever and filed bankruptcy. 3 Undercover Ways to Make Big Profits from Your Competition You have heard that there is extra money on the table marketing products related to yours. You have also heard that your direct competitors product is off the table. How unfortunate. Wouldn't it be nice to be able to profit from the hard work, expertise and quality of your competitions product? Succession Planning: Problems Getting Started A survey released by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants in the spring of 2005 illustrates a widespread problem on the lack of succession planning [deciding who will take over running the firm when the current managers die or retire]. The survey found that 60% of responding certified public accountant (CPA) firms have owners who are in the 55-to-62-year-old age bracket, and more than half (56%) have at least one partner who will retire in the next five years. However, according to the survey, 81% of these firms still do not have a written succession plan in place. Among those firms with annual revenues under $150,000, the percentage rose to 96%. If we polled small businesses in other fields, the percentages would be comparable: around 80% of small business owners have no succession plans. A Unique Joint Venture Twist: Make Huge Profits Even If You Have No Money, No Products, and No List Would you like to jumpstart your online or offline business without spending a ton of money? Business Plan Long Term Goals Writing a business plan is not an easy endeavor, nor is predicting the future. You will need to spent adequate time in preparing your long-term goals and objectives. This will help you understand what you are doing and where you wish to be. Martin Luther King in is most famous speech said; "I have a dream" which is noble indeed, but had he had a "Strategic Plan" with quarterly objectives he may have seen that dream come true in his lifetime. Are You Ready To Go International? Although North Americans were the dominant population on the Internet, that has now changed, and the rest of the world has caught up rapidly. And while English is still the most widely used Internet language, it's not the language of choice for many, many Internet users. Advice To Manufacturers Creating A Business Plan If you are a manufacturer wanting to use your business plan to attract investors, then your plan must do two things. It must: Becoming Wise - Wild & Free - Writing A Successful Business Plan - Part 2 - Do It In Steps So you've decided to write your own business plan because you know the value that the experience will give you. With the books and software that are out there today you can probably sit down and complete the plan in a day or so, right? Plug in the numbers, add the notes, write the whole narrative (story), print it and get it out to the banks or investors. Designing an Efficient Distribution System Let us look at a few of the big distribution networks in the US that we use today. The US Post Office for instance is a huge complex chain of symbiotic relations ships with vendors to deliver by truck, work with FED EX for air, previously that airmail idea started commercial aviation. The reason it grew big and evolved so well is because of the special teams and companies and individuals from the first air mail carriers to the Wells Fargo Coaches. A much better system than Paul Revere; although he was very simple with only two possible signals 1 or 2 "if's" scenarios. Let's face it 1's and Zero's or 1 or 2 ifs are different than today. How To Get More Business During The Winter Months Business seems to drop, slow or even stop during the winter months. As tourist traffic slows or stops during the winter months so does the incomes of many local business owners. The first step in overcoming this problem begins in your brain (don't they all?) Six Key Areas For Evaluating A Strategic Alliance Strategic alliances are increasing at a rapid rate. It is good for business, good for the consumer. A strategic alliance is similar to a joint venture. Everyone remains in his or her own entity, yet come together for a single purpose or period of time to create something that could not otherwise be created. I Always Play by the Rules and It Stinks! This week I coached a wonderfully lovely woman I'll call Jill. She's a bright woman, very compassionate and sweet. She's at one of the corporations where I am an outside consultant/coach. This was our first meeting but within seconds I could tell she had a lot on her mind.. and her plate.
|
Copyright © 2005 - 2012 StrategicPlanning360.com. All rights reserved. Legal Info Site Map |
 |
