Planning is not something new and specialised by a very few. Planning is an everyday activity which is something everyone should be involved with be it in either personal or professional lives.
Planning is a dynamic process which can be guided by the most basic principles of production. Output of production is predominantly through a strategic plan underpinned by a system of forecasting demand, and the elements which are required for adding value to the forecast.
- Establish your projected need or demand, based on history/experience
- Establish your present position relative to achievement of current market demands, your forward orders/contracts, your financial position, and if you do nothing different from what you are doing now, where will this take you
- Reconcile these first two points and strategically determine what is required to grow in turnover and profit on a sustainable basis.
It is of critical importance when developing your strategic business plan is determining what the new approaches and/or modification of the current approaches would be to achieve the market demands identified in taking the business forward.
As a manager and leader of your company/business, your most important responsibility is to elicit top performance from everyone and everything in the operation. Is there a best management style to achieve optimum results. I believe management needs to be inclusive, communicative and make everyone in the company feel they are an integral part of the decision making process.
Managers will invariably achieve more by setting the objectives collectively with the staff and the have minimal involvement and manage by exception against agreed KPI’s.
Regular assessments/appraisals of performance will also be a critical success factor with a good manager. This is a process which must at all times be objective, without being timid in providing hard productive feedback. Employees cannot grow without honest assessments of performance where collective agreement is reached as a means of going forward.
After many weeks spent in different parts of the world studying best practice and lean principles, I have a heightened belief and passion that Australian Business is more than capable of competing both nationally and internationally providing the strategic planning has been accepted as a benchmark of the plan for future sustainable success.
