Business Plans:

On just one page!

Every organisation should have a good, solid business plan. A well-structured business plan shows where you are now, what you intend to accomplish and how you plan to do it. However, the problem with most traditional business plans is that for the most part they just gather dust because they are often seen as too wordy, daunting to read, difficult to appreciate the nuances of phrasing and often lack connectivity.

Traditional plans take too long to produce because writers typically spend hours agonising over the prose; making sure the document looks good and “flows “properly; worrying about the level of detail (too much?….. too little?).

Traditional plans are not dynamic – once written they take too much effort to update – ask yourself when was the last time your plan (if you have one) was re-written.

Traditional plans are often deemed “so important” that they are only shown to a select few! Which if you think about it is rather perverse. They aren’t used to help create a universal understanding of where the company is going, they don’t aid communication if anything they hinder it.

Traditional plans are often seen as “high level wishes” and often lack details on the execution – I recommend that you get every department, profit centre, function to develop their own one page plan. This will help ensure “buy-in” to the bigger plan and keep everyone “on message”

Over the last few months I’ve been helping a number of clients develop ONE PAGE BUSINESS PLANS and have been amazed at their effectiveness.

If you want to improve your business, engage your employees, communicate your strategy better, then I urge you to develop a one page business plan. Once written put it on your wall for daily reference (the bigger the paper that it is written on, or printed on, the better e.g. A1 or even A0).

One page plans work because:

• They are flexible, easy to edit and revise.
• They enable you to track objectives, goals and targets.
• They are highly visual and improve communication of the business strategy to everyone in the company/department.
• They can be created in a few hours – no agonising over the time spent producing a document that is hardly ever referred to
• They focus on actions rather than the process of writing a document.

For help with creating your plan please click here for a free consultation.

Click the link to see the full 8 pages issue1-cognisi-v20-1

“Dare to be…. There comes a time when your experiences and hard work aren’t enough.”

The Bottom Line Radio Programme with Evan Davis

Evan Davis recently hosted the business conversation show The Bottom Line and looked at executive coaching and its role in supporting business leaders. A few of my clients who listened to the programme said that they recognised much of what was discussed…. the reasons for working with a coach; the benefits accrued; the approach and style of the coaching sessions …. basically they said it resonated with them and endorsed why they use me to support them in their business.

After such a positive recommendation I thought I’d forward a link to the programme and hope that you will listen to it:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0739rfv

If the discussion tempts you into wanting to know more, please contact me by email (leigh@cognisi.co.uk) or ring me on 07768 290694 for a FREE, no obligation introductory coaching session.

“Cognisi coaching helps business owners and directors unlock the 10-20% of hidden potential that exists in most businesses….”