Month: June 2007

Today’s world comes at us so fast that it almost seems as if the speed of change prohibits planning. Less than 20% don’t think so. The work of today’s service professionals mirrors this. Pick an area where your prospective customers have problems, and help them fill those needs goes the mantra of today’s consultant.

1. It is too scientific – some of the greatest examples of success are often told for their lack of schooling – Bill Gates from Microsoft, Dave Thomas of Wendy’s fame. Is it an academic issue… or an issue of hard work and common sense? The educators comment among themselves about how many people have put into practice the subjects that their doctorate dissertations cover, and how many of those ventures fail. Don’t you have to have a Harvard degree or be a member of some famous consulting firm to have the smarts to do planning? Doesn’t look like it.
2. It takes to long – this is probably true. But, it does not need to take as long as it currently does. Using new strategic planning tools such as graphic facilitation, have shown to shorten meetings by 24%. These new processes make consensus of the group move from 58% to 79%. We, as humans, think visually and some of these new methods have been proven to tap into the human thinking process.
3. It is too expensive – as practiced by most people that are doing planning, this is often the case. But a few companies have adopted the new visual/graphic process for their planning and are seeing huge benefits in speed, communication and direction. For every Procter & Gamble, or General Motors, who use the new processes, there are also others who don’t want their competition to know about these cost saving tools.
4. It never gets used – a builder has a strategic plan that gets used a lot – it is called blueprints. A ships captain has a strategic plan that gets used a lot – navigational maps. A professional football team has a strategic plan that gets used a lot – a play book.

Don’t make excuses anymore for not planning. Plan it all before you act!