The fourth rule of planning

By far my favorite rule is el grandote numero quarto. Start big by creating a vision of the future of the company. Then narrow the focus as you get back to present and address what to do immediately and how to implement.

Establish where you want to be in the next five years. As the Bible says, “without vision the people perish” The Bible does not say that you have got to attain the vision. It is saying that people need one to live into. This is critical. When you have a vision you are creating a future for the company that the employees can live into and fulfill on.

It is important that the breakthrough guessing/planning process allows for dreaming, visioning and looking at what is needed for a bright future to be realized. Typically we do this by asking the group to go three to five years into the future and recording the results on a flip chart.

The following questions need to be asked to arrive at a future vision. If you were already standing in 2016, what would the world look like? What are the important trends affecting your industry? What is your industry dealing with and what does it look like? Once a futuristic scenario has been developed, the group then looks at what they would like the organization’s image to be.

The planning team then asks what customers are saying about the organization. Why are customers loyal in 2016? What goods, services and new products have you brought forth? The team speculates on how big the organization is and how many employees are there.

This part of planning can be used to run growth scenarios. Have at least one for aggressive, medium, sluggish and no growth. Play with the numbers and have some fun with what could be. The planning team should get familiar with the possible territories and futures.

For more information about CMI's planning process visit our website: www.cmiteamwork.com