The Value of Business Planning

Today begins our fiscal year. We're just finishing up our third business plan as a team. Not only does it get easier each year, the business plans just keep getting better and better - more realistic, more detailed, and more actionable.

When I was running development projects, I never proceeded without a plan (ok, well almost never). The value was apparent, we needed to know what to do, what we could do by when, and how we were going to do it.

Our business plans have been much more challenging. Certainly, the scope is much broader than even the largest development projects. The subject area is much more diverse, and the external factors (i.e. will anyone buy what we're selling) play a much more critical role.

But the value is indisputable. We execute better and better each quarter. Having those specific objectives and initiatives really focuses us, and the three of us have been great at keeping each other on track. It's so easy to get lost in the day-to-day and forget that we want to move our business forward. The business plan (1 year and 5 year) is the best way we've found to keep moving towards our long range goals. I'd advise any leadership team of any size to develop some sort of plan to help them balance the short term and the long term.