A ten year plan has been a standard and may still be in many organizations. Today with the speed in which business is done, a ten year plan may be best discussed in a history book. Workers in the 80’s and before used to spend 30+ years at the same company. Dinners used to take a few hours to cook in the oven and paperwork used to be delivered by a courier.
Microwaves have changed the way people make dinner, fax machines and email have changed the way people share information and even more recently shared databases between customers and suppliers have changed the speed in which we conduct business.
Speed of Business
Let’s look at closing a new customer account as an example: It used to start out with a lunch between middle managers followed by a golf game for the C-level executives. Following that were negotiations at the board room table, and then the nuts and bolts of the deal would be discussed with the front line managers of both companies. Eventually the contract would be drawn up and delivered by the sales manager for a signature.
While some larger deals still follow the above pattern, many are now initiated through the linked-in social networking site, discussions can happen through emails and access can be given to a potential client to visit a secure section of a company’s website to review options on their own. Perhaps when our children become CEOs the golf game will be replaced with an online role playing game (RPG).
New Standards Set for Goals and Strategic Plans
Considering this new pace at which business moves forward, the new standard among most business leaders is a three year plan. There are exceptions for companies who have product pipelines over two years and for companies that initiate government contracts years ahead of delivery time. A three year plan is a great start, but there is more: Milestone goals along the way, contingency plans and alternate routes must also be discussed during the first corporate planning session.
Taking it one step further, in a downed economic climate, the entire 3 year plan along with the associated milestones must be re-evaluated at a very frequent interval. Using every trick up the sleeve to uncover potential threats and opportunities and to be ready to adjust the goals to meet the needs of customers are necessary for the money flow of the industry’s economic growth.
Reassess Your Corporate Goals
A final tip that will help during this goal planning session and re-evaluations is to include managers closer to the front line. The closer someone is to the front line the quicker they can identify potential threats and opportunities. An increase in synergy of many minds combined with a decreased timeframe for long-term goals will help companies come out on top even in an economic downturn.
W Denis Nurmela - - Built multi-million $ companies from scratch - Church & Non-Profit Leader - Educated & Avid Reader - Coach, Consultant, ...
Join the Conversation