Happy New Year! I hope 2006 will be a fantastic year for you. In the October issue, I started a series detailing 7 common mistakes of business planning and how to avoid them. In this installment, we explore Deadly Mistake #3: "Focusing only on the Fun Parts of Planning." If you missed the first two deadly mistakes, follow the link at the bottom left of this page and follow the newsletter link to "archive".

Deadly Mistake #3: Focusing Only on the Fun Parts of Planning
This is one of the most common mistakes on our list. In many companies I have dealt with, strategic planning is thought of as the only kind of planning that exists. In fact, you'll often hear companies talk about doing their annual strat-plan, when in reality they are talking about their overall business planning process. Other organizations only focus on the financial plan. The good news is: at least they are planning.

It is for this deadly mistake that I have created The Integrated Planning Model. It is also for this deadly mistake that you can add great value to your clients' situation by guiding them through a process to ensure they consider all parts of business planning. So why is it deadly to only focus on one or two parts of the planning process? Without a fairly comprehensive process, plans rarely get executed.

It's All About the Fun
Is it because organizations don't know any better, or they just don't have a good process to follow? That might be the reason, but probably not. The primary reason that organizations only focus on bits and pieces of the planning process is because on the one hand, management recognizes they must do some planning. But on the other hand, managers and staff don't want to do anything that is going to cause them to change, or step outside their comfort zone. This may sound cynical but it's true.

A Case in Point
Recently, I facilitated the second meeting in a series with a local municipality. Our overall engagement was to help them create a plan to significantly change a certain part of their culture within the organization. This was a tall order, but the boss was committed to do what it takes.

Anyway, all of the first session, and most of the second session went smoothly. We made it through all the strategic stuff okay. They did a great job of articulating their objectives, and their vision of the future. They even came up with a detailed list and timeline of initiatives necessary to deliver on the objectives.

When we tried to assign responsibility to further define each initiative and ensure execution, it was like hitting a brick wall. We had crossed the line between the fun part of planning, and the hard part of planning. No one wanted to take responsibility for any of the execution of the plan. Without us leading them through a comprehensive, integrated process (which of course we walked them through before we started any work) they wouldn't have come anywhere near the hard parts of planning. This is only a small example, but it is typical of what happens in most organizations, at most levels.

Although this example may make it sound like there is a conscious decision to avoid parts of the planning process, this is usually an unconscious omission. This mistake is deadly, and it is one of the main reasons why so many organizations say "we do planning all the time, but we never seem to get anything done!"

Next Issue of The Planning Boot Camp Newsletter
In the next issue we are going to look at why the calendar year can be so deadly for planning.

Do you have accountabilty for business planning? Could you use a proven, comprehensive planning process complete with tools templates and diagrams?
Simply click on the link to the left, or paste this into your browser: www.planningbootcamp.com/CGA