Planning & Plan Governance

Planning & Plan Governance

Planning and plan governance is a

critical part of a midsized firm’s

leadership infrastructure: a

framework that keeps the entire

team aligned and focused.

Measurement at the Leadership Team Level

Step 1: Leadership Plan Building

Measurement is a critical step toward identifying both high performers

and low performers in the environment. In order for measures to be

effec-tive, they must be relevant to the business, and accepted by the population

as valid measures of their activity. Thus the measures must be built into

operating plans, and crafted by each leader being measured.

Weekly 4 + months

A da pta b ilit y of Pl a n

Duration of Planning Effort & Diligence

Rigid

F

luid

The Planning Process is Tailored to the Size of the Organization

Billion Dollar Firms

You?

$5M Rev

Leaders Lead

Direction flows from the top. Feedback and adjustments are

always allowed during the plan-build phase.

Introducing planning into a firm that has focused on day-to-day performance requires a careful ap-proach. Read this article to learn more about CEO to CEO’s apap-proach.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertsher/2012/05/31/how-to-adopt-a-business-plan-in-a-sea-of-resistance/

Company Plan

At the organizational level, the CEO creates a first draft, concise one page company plan, with five sections. CEO to CEO coaches the CEO through this process.

Function Plans

At the function level, each top team leader creates a first draft, concise one page function plan, with five sections. CEO to CEO coaches each leader through this process. Each function plan must support the company plan. The sum of all the function plans (if achieved) must result in the achievement of the company plan.

The top team leader of the function presents this plan to their direct reports (i.e. department heads), allowing for input and discussion.

Department Plans

Each department head creates a first draft, concise plan for their department that fully supports the function’s plan. CEO to CEO coaches each leader through this process. The sum of all the department plans falling under a function (if achieved) must result in the achievement of the function plan.

Fundamentals (1)

1. The broad intentions of the organization (i.e. growth, profit, geographic expansion) must flow from the CEO first, then the top team leaders, then downward from there. Teams cannot plan for pro-gress in a certain direction until that direction is indicat-ed.

2. Every leader must have a sense of owner-ship around their plan, and must have crafted the plan herself, with coaching as to process, format, and in full support of her leader’s plan. Her leader must approve the plan.

3. Plans at all levels must be visi-ble to all leaders during the plan build, so that interdependencies and assumptions are accessible to all planners.

Fundamentals (2)

4. Capacity, capabilities and resources must flow from the lower levels of leader-ship up toward the company plan. High level executives cannot know for certain if certain projects or objectives can be achieved until lower levels have analyzed the challenges, identified the resources needed, and crafted a plan. Once accom-plished, timelines and confidence levels can cascade upward toward the company level plans.

5. Measurements must use currently available data, or be able to use new re-ports or manual systems that can be im-plemented immediately. The creation of data collection processes are projects, not measurements. Once the project is completed, it might support a measure the next time the plan-build process oc-curs.

6. Every leader must be aware of other plans that rely on support from her plan/team, and must reach out to other plans/teams in those areas where they will require support.

Fundamentals (3)

7. The plan-set is built in three phases.

Phase 1: Top down drafts. The CEO’s draft is created, then the functions, then the

de-partments. Phase 2: Bottom

up feasibility. Work is done at all levels to verify budget,

cross-department support, feasi-bility and re-source alloca-tion. Plan

ele-ments are adjusted, and teams meet, starting from the lower leadership levels to adjust targets and scope, and to assure that controlling plans are in fact the sum of their supporting plans.

Phase 3: Top down final decisions. The CEO looks at the resulting plan-set, and makes informed decisions as to changes, including adding re-sources, adjusting priorities and so on. Final decisions are made, and plans at all levels are adjusted and finalized.

8. Once the plan-set is built and approved, plans must be reviewed monthly, in team meetings where peers (and their boss) review plan perfor-mance. More on this in the next section.

Step by Step Process Leaders will Experience

Throughout the plan-build process, there is an interplay between the guidance from CEO to CEO and guid-ance from the planner’s boss. CEO to CEO teaches the planning process and weighs in on best practices for business in general. The boss sets priorities, identifies areas to focus on, and must approved the final plan.

CEO to CEO

The Leader’s Experience

Boss

1) Presentation of the fundamentals of the One Page Planning Process & orienta-tion of the CEO to CEO implementaorienta-tion of the process. Delivered three times, about twelve leaders per session (for more conversation, and to get full coverage. 2) View “Getting started” short video to allow leader to get started with Point Click Plan, and interactive tutorial.

3) Leader, working on their own, produces their first draft one page plan on Point Click Plan. 90 minutes.

4) 1:1 private coaching session with CEO to CEO and each leader. Plans are ad-justed. We start with the CEO, then the executive team. Once plans are honed and the executive team is well trained, the process will continue to the next level. We want the exec team confident in their planning skills, and able to help their direct reports with the process.

5) 1:1 sessions with the leader and their superior, to assure that targets are ap-propriate, that additional measures, projects or strategies are added, to adjust deadlines and priorities. Plan is adjusted.

6) All leaders are encouraged to meet with other departments, other leaders to discover dependencies, garner support as needed. Plan is adjusted.

7) All leaders must create simple project plans for each project on their plan, to insure understanding of timing, needed resources, etc. CEO to CEO will do some coaching on this.

8) Leadership team meetings for big, key projects (that involve many depart-ments) are held to insure that everyone is aligned, and is talking with each other. CEO to CEO may facilitate if needed. Plan is adjusted.

9) 1:1 coaching session with CEO to CEO and all leaders. Plans are polished as to format and general business best practices.

10) Synchronization meetings begin, with CEO to CEO facilitating. The lowest lev-el controlling plan plus the supporting plans meet, and review plans to make sure they are in sync. Then the C-Suite plans come together with the CEO to synchro-nize.

11) The CEO makes final decisions about top level measures, strategies and plans. 12) If there are substantial changes, the top team meets again, and supporting plans are adjusted.

13) For those functions where there are significant changes, the functional lead-ers meet with their direct reports to adjust/synchronize the lower level plans.

On-Line Business Planning Portal

An on-line planning portal is included as a part of the CEO to CEO process. The portal allows for fast-er, more thorough training in creating the plans, as well as a tracking tool that enforces simplicity and other best practice planning behaviors. Licensed for one year as a part of the CEO to CEO proposal. The portal is a product of the One Page Business Plan Company.

LEADER PLAN REVIEWS

Expect what you inspect. Monthly

team reviews at each level of

leadership in the organization delivers

exposure and visibility, allowing for

appropriate rewards (or discomfort)

Step 3: Plan Review Meeting Fundamentals

After the leadership plans are built, monthly plan review meetings must fol-low. Plan reviews start at the lowest leadership level, informing the depart-ment leader about their departdepart-ment results. This is followed by functional team plan review meetings, then the company level plan review meeting. These fundamentals apply to all plan review meetings.

CEO to CEO would facilitate the company plan review meeting and the function-al review meetings or larger functions, or functions and departments as needed