Plana is the framework of your business plan. You can work through it alone but I believe you will be missing out on a massive opportunity.
I encourage you to find ways to involve others – employees, investors, advisers and perhaps also key customers – and seek their contribution. Because of their involvement they are much more likely to believe in and commit to the contents of your plan and the greater your chances of achieving the stated actions and goals. (If you put yourself in the shoes of a sales person would you rather have a sales target imposed on you or be invited to give your thoughts and have a discussion?)
Every aspect of running a business ultimately relies on the skills, training, motivation and attitude of people. Like it or not, your business is only ever likely to be as good as the poorest performer in the chain, whether they work directly for you or one of your suppliers or sub contractors. Finding appropriate ways to involve others in the planning process can help identify these weak spots which are invariably either skills gaps and training needs or communication issues.
In addition, those who are given the opportunity to contribute should have a far greater ‘buy-in’ to the plan. It can also identify those who wish to pull in a different direction to you. If these happen to be key people you will need to try and agree common goals with them – ‘agreeing to disagree’ is unlikely to prove a sensible option.
Society is diverse, your people will have different views and ideas reflecting their different backgrounds, qualifications, work experience, age, sex and so on. Embracing diversity and actively encouraging your people to contribute will help to ensure challenges and opportunities are tackled in a wide variety of ways so increasing your chances of identifying innovative ways to take the business forward. If you recognise that your business lacks diversity, then a strategy to correct this should be included in your plan.
The more you access Plana to update, amend and refer to it the better. The more it lives and breathes within your business the more likely it will help to shape and focus your day to day activities. It should be referred to in meetings and staff appraisals, every opportunity should be taken to test its contents and to monitor actual business results against the assumptions and forecasts contained within it.