Answer: Most successful people are good at personal planning; it is what makes them successful. However, when a group of individuals or different departments or a team or different companies must work together it is critical that they have one process that reflects each of their diverse needs and interests. It must be easy to use and implement. You must be able to create a simple plan that everyone understands.

Answer: Before you can write one you need to involve all the people that have a vested interest in the development of the plan. If you follow the step by step process we use to discover the key information you need in your plan then you can just fill in the Strategic Business Planning Template that we provide. Writing the actual plan becomes an easy step.

Answer: First the creation of the plan allows you to focus your limited resources on the highest priority business opportunities for your organization. Next you need to have your entire team of key people buy in to the plan. Even though your senior executives may have great Vision people will not buy in to something they have not fully committed to. Our experiences are that if you involve them in the plan creation you will get maximum commitment and effort during the plan execution which is the most critical part.

Answer: I have looked at many of these tools and while some are good none address the key issues of how you facilitate, build and execute a strategic business plan. It really is a partial solution to the problem and does not address the most common problems we have seen. It's like having the New England Patriots playbook and thinking you can get to the Super Bowl without having the Coaches teaching you to use the plays correctly.

Answer: A lot less time than most people think because they don’t have a streamlined process. In more than 90% of the situations that we have been involved in and that is more than 700 planning engagements we can complete a plan in about 6 hours or less. Sessions that run longer usually require building a few additional smaller plans that support the overall plan.

Answer: From 3 -27. The process will accommodate any size group. The largest session that we have ever conducted involved 27 people from seven different companies. They were designing a product to meet the needs of the telecommunications market. No one knew each other before the session and we had to get every one on the same page. The session took two days due to the complexity of the situation. The outcome was we had a plan that everyone agreed to. The project required $30M in funding. The solution was delivered to the marketplace in less than 18 months, which was less than the allotted time and under budget. For an IT project this is unheard of.

Answer: Having a great planning process is only half the answer. Knowing how to Strategically Execute the plan is the other half. Both are critical to success. So we focus on both areas. Knowing how to make people accountable, how to resolve conflicts, how to make the plan your daily “GPS” so you stay on track are just as important as the plan development. That is why we concentrate on Plan Building to get the Right Plan in Place and Strategic Execution which is where you will get your Results. Rarely does anyone have a comprehensive approach – that is what we provide. Once understood the process is simple to follow and should be used for all planning activities.