Be Different or be dead

February 17, 2011

How to build your business plan around chaos

Source: Unsplash

Your business plan must be built around the chaos of the times; it must be execution driven.

Your planning process must fit the realities organizations are confronted with these days. Volatility. Randomness. Chaos. Unpredictability. Relentless change

Yet in spite of these dynamics, traditional Business Planning 101 is still advocated by educators and is used by most organizations. SWOTS, in-depth issues analysis, predictability modelling and mathematical assessment of alternatives pervade the planning process.

The objective seems to be to seek the last bit of perfection in the plan and then assume that it will be effectively executed as written.

This is a big mistake. Nothing ever turns out the way you planned. Nothing.

Nothing is ever perfect and trying to seek the 100% solution is unproductive in any case.

The planning model to fit current times must be flexible. It must accommodate unexpected change. It must achieve results. It must generate enthusiasm . It must scare the pants off the competition.

Here are three things you can do to to make your planning process more relevant:

▪️ Get your plan just about right —  It will never be perfect so why bother?
Get it directionally right. Don’t tie yourself down to a specific outcome when there are so many unknowns that influence it. Be flexible to pivot when you need to and your original vision is no longer relevant.

▪️ Execute flawlessly — Take your imperfect plan and be brilliant at executing it. Spend 80% of your time figuring out how to implement it and 20% determining it’s essence.
It is a failure of leadership that plans fall short on execution.

▪️ Learn and adjust on the run — Learn what’s working and not working through execution. And adjust your plan based on this learning.

Build in a feedback loop so you get real time information on whether or not your expectations are being achieved.

Get comfortable with the fact that your future is uncertain.

Get comfortable with imprecision. With a bit of vagueness. With the fact that you can iterate yourself to success if you pay attention to your results and learn from them.

Execution driven planning is what is needed to distinguish yourself from the competitive herd.

Take the step.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 2.17.11 at 11:00 am by Roy Osing
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