The ability to set and implement a business plan is a key skill of good leadership. A business plan determines EVERYTHING that happens to and in a business. To a large extent it determines the level of excellence that can be reached.

To start the business planning process you have to develop a vision, mission, and values statement and do a complete internal and external evaluation of where your business, or planned business, stands.

Your Vision, Mission and Values, should be written for both you personally and for your business. You should refer to them regularly to help you focus on what you believe in, where you want to go personally and where you want your business to go. Your personal and business statements combined become your business' culture which will be significant as you go forward and build your business.

Once you have your Vision, Mission and Values statement in place and have completed your internal and external evaluation, the next step is to put together a SWOT analysis for your business (SWOT=Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats). You have to do some real soul searching on this and put the information on paper as honestly and in as much detail as you can.

With the SWOT analysis complete your next step is to define your goals and objectives.

Goals are the next step down from the Vision. Vision is the big picture. Goals are generally short term (1,3,6, 12 months). Goals need to be outlined for you and your business.

Objectives, sometimes confused with goals, are the specifics of how to reach each goal. Objectives are measurable. They should be established for the same time frame as your goals.

Objectives must support your goals. Both goals and objectives must be realistic and obtainable. Setting goals and objectives that are not realistic and obtainable increases the odds of failure and frustration.

Next is to define the strategies that will be used to meet your goals and objectives.

Strategies can be as simple as a one-page listing of each strategy to a multi-paged document defining each strategy and associated tactics in detail. you must review your strategies regularly.

Tactics are the specific steps you need to put in place to implement each strategy.

Tactics should be written, detailed and measurable.

Strategies and Tactics are dynamic and need to be reviewed weekly and adjusted based on results being obtained, or not being obtained, and other factors that may arise and potentially affect the end results you are seeking.

To complete your business plan you need to add your key staffs BIO's and your revenue plan which is a complete topic in itself.

In summary:

A business plan united by a clear vision, mission and values statement tends to accomplish far more in a shorter period of time than those without a clear statement.

Always hold firm on your vision, it should be the cornerstone of your operation, your guiding light.

Your Strategies and Tactics should be fluid. You always need to be forward looking. Being proactive in managing your strategies and tactics will give you the best chance of realizing your vision. If you are only reactive to changes or problems, you will not reach your objectives.

The key to a successful business plan is to jointly set the business strategy and tactics with all the key people involved, so that everyone is aligned with the vision, mission, values and goals. This insures that the business goes forward with everyone working together, promoting the vision and mission internally, as well as externally. This gives the business the greatest chance of attaining it's goals.

Setting a business strategy requires an understanding of the company's history, in particular the past year, and then looking forward to the year ahead in detail and the next four years in general.

A business plan is only a plan. It is only as good as the people implementing it. ALIGNMENT IS KEY. Forces pulling together in the same direction, will accomplish much more than forces pulling in different directions. A team working together. This requires good business management.

The future will not happen if one wishes hard enough. It requires decision, it imposes risk, it requires action, it demands allocation of resources, above all human resources, it requires work.

Andrew C. Nester is a Business Management Consultant providing business strategy processes and support to companies of all sizes. Visit our web site at http://www.bizstrategies.biz/business-planning.html for additional information on business planning and to get your free copy of our white paper, "Business Management Coaching: Who Needs it Anyway?" You can email Andrew at andrew@bizstrategies.biz or you can reach him by phone at 707-987-8375.

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