A One-Page Strategic Plan? Yes - It Is Possible

A guest spot this week on PLANNING by Verne Harnish from www.Gazelles.com

Verne is the author of “Mastering the Rockefeller Habits” and runs a consulting firm in North America that provides executive education, coaching and technology services to help mid-market companies around the world build and execute a strategic plan.

VISION – A DREAM WITH A PLAN – Most people don’t have visions, they have

dreams. The one-page planning document guides you to answer 7 simple questions

around your dream – Who, What, When, Where, How, Why and the always difficult

“but Should we or Shouldn’t we?”

You’ll see these anchor questions at the top of each column of the one-page planning document and bolded below to provide you a verbal and visual clue to match the “how to” sections with the appropriate columns on the form.

TWO OVERARCHING IDEAS – Alignment and Simplicity. The one-page planning

document is designed to encourage simplicity (there’s not a lot of space to write, so you must be concise and focused) and alignment (think of the document as a crossword puzzle, where figuratively“4 down” needs to align with “7 across.”).

FOUR KEY DECISIONS to help you move forward with purpose and direction – Essentially the “bottom lines” of the form:

1) Getting the Right People (aligned with the Core Values and Purpose)

2) Long Term Goal – BHAG

3) Strategy – Brand Promises and X Factor

4) Short Term Focus – Critical Number(s) for the year and each quarter

If you get these decisions right, everything else falls into place much easier. And you’ll likely dominate your industry, have three to five times industry average profitability, have a lot of cash, and will grow revenues at twice the industry average. In addition, customers and employees will be attracted to your business.

DOWNLOAD PLANNING DOCUMENT here and contact Andy to help you put together your one-page plan for YOUR business.

Andy Burrows

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