Sustainable Growth:

Effective Management

Effective Planning

The Art, Science, and Practice

Enterprise Business Planning

While planning is conducted on a regular and formal basis, many organizations do not communicate these plans throughout their business due to their confidential nature. However, the business is expected to achieve these plans, even though they have not been communicated. Enterprise planning allows a more collaborative approach to the production and setting of organizations business objectives. Managers at various levels in the organization are involved in the planning process thus engendering an ethos of ownership and buy-in from those individuals targeted with achieving the planned objectives.¹

The Art of War: Planning

By: Sun Tzu

Strategic Planning

In the new business environment of rapid changes, heightened risk and uncertainty, developing effective strategies is critical. They prepare executives to face the strategic uncertainties ahead and serve as the focal point for creative thinking about a company's vision and direction.

Many companies get little value from their annual strategic-planning process however. To meet the new challenges, this process should be redesigned to support real-time strategy making and to encourage 'creative accidents'... More

5 Factors that Make a Project a Success

By: Eric Verzuh, the author of The Fast Forward MBA in Project Management

To be successful, a project must have:

1. A plan that demonstrates what is possible, shows an overall path and clear responsibilities, contains the details for estimating the people, money, time, equipment, and materials necessary to get the job done, and will be used to measure progress during the project and act as an early warning system... More

Business Plan

Business plans are an important test of clarity of thinking and clarity of the the business. It is important that everyone involved in your effort has a clear understanding of your objectives. A good plan achieves that.

Business plan is typically designed for either or both of the following purposes:

1. To establish a framework for management to use as they pursue the enterprise objectives

2. To convince an investor that a capital investment in the enterprise's business is a sound financial decision... More

Venture Planning

Operations generate today's value, while ventures creates tomorrow's opportunities. The primary difference between operations planning and venture planning is uncertainty.  There are four keys to good venture planning:

1. Focus on one venture at a time in one business area at a time.

2. Discover the opportunity first, and then evaluate how to exploit it.

3. Develop three cases good, bad & likely for each scenario of a venture concept.

4. Identify what type of venture you want.  Each type has an entirely different model, implementation and end result.  Each demands a different entrepreneurial approach and each requires different management and style.. More

15 Steps in the Planning Process

Adapted from "Powerful Planning Skills", by Peter Capezio

1. Define the overall purpose or goal

2. Determine the major components or objectives of the plan

3. Make sure that your objectives support the overall purpose

4. Collect and evaluate the data you will need to determine what it will take to complete each component of the plan

5. Make sure that the data you collected and evaluated supports the overall purpose

6. Develop a forecast plan

7. Make sure that your forecast plan supports the overall purpose

8. Determine action steps

9. Make sure that your action steps support the overall purpose

10. Develop contingency plans

11. Make sure that your contingency plans support the overall purpose

12. Implement your plan

13. Make sure that your implementation supports the overall purpose

14. Check the progress of your plan frequently

15. Make sure as your plan is implemented that the overall purpose remains in focus