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 Planning for Growth by Jerry Irving

“We plan for every important decision in our personal lives and yet, for many, when it comes to our businesses, we are prepared to let fate take over” says Jerry Irving, Chief Executive of Outlook, providers of Business Planning and Business Support Services. Why Plan? Although, logically, most would accept that planning should be an ongoing process for all businesses, there is, however, a range of arguments which owners of small and medium sized businesses have supported for many years in their attempts to refute this view.

Although, logically, most would accept that planning should be an ongoing process for all businesses, there is, however, a range of arguments which owners of small and medium sized businesses have supported for many years in their attempts to refute this view.

·         Some feel no need to plan as they have always done well in the past

·         Some have entrepreneurial natures which reject formality, discipline or “ working to order” as alien to their natural behaviour and so they simply do not feel comfortable with it

·         Some have no faith in planning as circumstances are always likely to change and when this happens the plan becomes invalid. So why plan in the first place?

·         Some are unable to accept the concept of developing something which is meant to be interpreted as precise and accurate and yet it is constructed largely from probabilities and “guesstimates”.

Planning does become slightly more flavoursome, however, in the case of owner managed businesses where there comes a time in the life of the shareholder(s) when their thoughts turn to exiting, handing over or realising their asset. Here they begin to consider the longer term view and begin to “do some sums”.

Despite these arguments there are many who do support the logical view by preparing annual plans and monitoring their performance against them. Most likely, they have from the start and they take considerable comfort and motivation from the feeling of understanding, control and professionalism this gives them.

“Planning for growth” is an expression which infers the existence of SMART objectives, focus, single-minded determination and a desire to achieve excellence in business performance management as a result of good planning.

Those who plan effectively for growth will increase their probability of success for several reasons:

·         The potential for growth within the current and future business environment is more likely to be researched

·         Implementation and management is made easier with a set of reasonably prescribed forecasts (many formalised into targets) against which the business will be able to review its progress

·         A good planning process will involve all the key players in the organisation. This will help to cement the validity of the plan thus ensuring commitment to its success

| 08.02.2010 |