Getting your operational plans to deliver on their promises: A Series Review, Part 3

Posted by on December 21, 2009

In the first article of this series, we asked the question “When’s the last time your operational plans delivered everything that was promised?” and explored as a first step towards more productive planning the need to confront the necessity of change in the process itself. We then went on to explore one very common reason that operational strategic plans fail. In the second segment of the series, we developed that topic and offered some additional tips related to key outcomes and how to define them. In this third and final segment we address a key dimension that most corporate planning processes overlook. Additionally, a new tip will be provided in this article revealing yet another valuable technique to incorporate into your business planning process.

The missing dimension: How to use the timing of eco-cycles to create more effective plans.

One of the many advanced planning concepts pioneered by Method Frameworks is that of involving the business enterprise ecosystem and eco-cycles in the planning process. The business eco-cycle term relates to the cyclical behavior of business activity within the enterprise. Eco-cycles cause sporadic peaks or dips to the organization’s revenues, then cascade throughout the enterprise eco-system, effecting many different dynamics, such as: energy, focus, human capital availability and of course cash availability. For example, the “focus” impact might manifest into a symptom as simple as a decreased ability of leaders and managers to tap into the organization’s “energy” reserves in order to get that needed marginal push for execution of planned initiatives during peak eco-cycle business periods. In another example, the challenge of “focus” might come into play when too many priorities are simultaneously addressed, especially when corresponding to a peak eco-cycle period. In this case, the eco-cycle contributes to overwhelming the business managers responsible for line-level tactics and potentially could undermine commitment to the execution of the plan due to field-level decisions made in the trenches by battle-fatigued managers. Keep in mind that the planning horizon that we are recommending is based on a rolling 12-month cycle, and broken-down into quarterly components. This allows for tighter plans that are better attenuated to seasonal cash-flow ebbs and flows within the budget and for the anticipated peaks or dips in activity caused by eco-cycles in the business.

To sum-up this point, eco-cycles must be taken into account throughout the planning process, with the first review of eco-cycle data being analyzed during the very initial planning phase (within the Method Frameworks Plan4 process, we begin to look at the eco-cycles at the “Inputs” phase). Eco-cycles must be reviewed and re-reviewed throughout the planning process. The Plan4 process takes a deeper view into the eco-cycle during our detailed analysis phase, the Plan Analysis Review, which is sometimes referred to as “Current State Assessment” . The eco-cycles are modeled to feed the prioritization and justification process models and later the alignment validation to budget data prior to any initiative planning taking place. Consider this activity akin to risk mitigation in the form of contingency planning.

Critical as it is, unfortunately, this dimension to planning is quite often overlooked, undermining the reasonableness of the plan.

Planning Tip: By understanding truth within the business ecosystem, we can identify the potential consequences to the enterprise and segments of the chain.

As mentioned in previous articles, strategic and operational plans need reality-checks to insure they truly are reasonable. During the Current-state Analysis and Review phase of planning (to get further explanation on Current-state Analysis, click here), the business eco-system and eco-cycles are reviewed to be sure we have “true” business information to base planning upon. In this context, the business ecosystem determines how our decisions and actions in one area will affect other areas. To explain this concept, consider the delicate properties of interoperability that exist between the internal business segments of the organization along with the many additional segments of the extended enterprise that must be considered, such as: suppliers, channel-partners, competitors, stakeholders and customers.

Wrap-up

Planning that falls short of defining the inter-relationships of the internal and external segments of the full business eco-system and do not consider the impacts of changes to one upon the others are introducing unnecessary rick to the business. Moreover, eco-cycles that exist within the business eco-system are another dimension that should be accommodated within the planning process. Business eco-system analysis during planning offers a big payoff. For example, to develop improvements to any one segment, we can:

• Evaluate performance at any (or within any) single segment,
• Determine process optimization opportunities within a segment and across the segment chain,
• Evaluate competition (are they better, faster, cheaper, etc),
• Identify synergies between the segment outcome and the activities within the ecosystem.

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For permission to use or reprint any portions of this copyrighted article, contact Method Frameworks at articles@methodframeworks.com.

About the Author:

Joe Evans is the President and CEO of Method Frameworks.  Joe is a published author, frequent speaker and recognized expert in corporate strategic planning. To contact Method Frameworks about scheduling Mr. Evans about an upcoming speaking engagement, visit www.methodframeworks.com/business-speaker or email requests to media_relations@methodframeworks.com.

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Method Frameworks is a leading business strategy and management consulting company, based in the Dallas / Fort Worth area and serving clients nationally and internationally.

Discover our capabilities and learn why Method Frameworks is the strategic planning partner chosen by Fortune-500 companies and small businesses alike. Let us show you how to realize 140%+ ROI on your strategic planning efforts through our unique Plan4^SM process that brings together strategy and execution into a powerful plan.   Plan4 is our proprietary business planning process that involves an integrated set of actions designed to help companies gain sustainable advantage. Download our brochure to learn more about Method Frameworks and our services or download our Plan4 Planning Process Overview.

You can contact Method Frameworks at 877-317-5264 (877-31PLAN4) or follow this link to request a meeting with a planning consultant. Check our articles and blog often at www.methodframeworks.com to get many more planning tips and information about our Plan4 process.

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