Seven Steps
to a
Successful
Business Plan
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American Management Association
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Seven Steps
to a
Successful
Business Plan
Al Coke
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©2002 Alfred M. Coke
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The Traditional Approach: Good Intentions,
Dismal Results xxix
The Piecemeal Approach: No Way to Fit the
Pieces Together xxix
The Deflected Focus Approach: Falling Short
of Your Company’s Real Needs xxx
The Three Unique Features of This Book That Will Help
You Achieve Your Business Plan Goals xxxi
Your Management Story xxxi
The Concept of backPlanning xxxii
The 5-Page Business Plan xxxii
How to Convert Your Goals Into Practical Business Behavior xxxii
The Key Questions: The Business Plan Self-Test xxxv
1 How to Create a Compelling Company
Story That Inspires Employees to Excel
1
The Company Story: The “Single Most Powerful Weapon”
in Preparing a Business Plan 2
The Three Reasons Company Stories Fall Short of
Expectations 3
When a Story Is Badly Told 4
When the Story Pieces Don’t Add Up 5
When the Story Isn’t Believable 5
The Antidote to a Badly Managed Story 5
How Slogans Work as Windows Into Your Company 6
Organizational Energy Fields: The Invisible Forces
That Hold Your Company Together 10
Fields of Belonging 11
Fields of Challenge 11
Fields of Purpose 12

Phase 2: Planning 40
Contents
vii
The Bubble-Up Theory: Why Planning
From the Bottom Up Doesn’t Work 43
Phase 3: Implementing 44
Phase 4: Sustaining 47
Skills Development 48
Coaching and Communications Training 48
Explaining How Money Works 49
Process Mapping 50
Leadership and Managership Training 52
Summary 53
The Key Questions: Building Your 5-Page
Business Plan 54
The Practical Applications: Beginning a Successful
Planning Cycle 55
3 Strategic Planning: The Five Critical
Considerations That Can Help Your
Plan Succeed
57
How to Embrace the Fast-Changing Laws of the
Business Universe Into Your Company Story 59
Bad Attitudes: How Organizations Get Into Trouble
With Poor Planning 63
Timid Companies: Thinking Small and Failing
to Take Risks 63
Arrogant Companies: Three Deadly Excuses for
Not Writing a Business Plan 66
How to Choose the Best Time Frame for Developing and

Sharing the Vision: How to Encourage
Employee Involvement 96
When to Use Multiple Visions in Your Plan 97
Contents
ix
Rallying the Employees: How to Create Purpose With
Your Mission Statement 98
The Three Critical Functions of a Mission Statement:
Communicate, Appeal, and Define 99
Why Profit Has Its Place—But Not in Your
Mission Statement 105
Mission Analysis: How to Keep It Simple by Defining
Your Core Tasks 106
The Specified Task: The Heart of Your Mission 107
The Implied Tasks: Unstated but Essential for
Achieving Goals 108
Applying the Mission Analysis 109
How to Convert Your Mission Statement Into Daily
Activities 109
Summary 111
The Key Questions: Preparing Vision and
Mission Statements 112
The Practical Applications: Writing Your Present
and Future Statements 112
5 Strategic Goals, Objectives, and Tasks:
How to Set Them and Then Make
Them Happen
113
How to Create Strategic Goals That Deliver What You
Promise 114

Strategies: Big Picture Tools for Accomplishing
Your Plan 139
Using Tactics to Reinforce Your Strategies 143
Get Started Writing Strategies and Tactics 144
Summary 145
Contents
xi
The Key Questions: Breaking Out of Complacency 146
The Practical Applications: Working on Your
Strategic Plan 147
6 The Six Driving Forces That Affect Your
Business Plan—And How to Focus on the
Best One for Your Company’s Needs
149
The Player-Driven Organization: Putting Employee
or Customer First 152
The Plans-Driven Organization: Achieving Goals Is
the Name of the Game 155
The Process-Driven Organization: Continually
Seeking Improvement 159
The Products-Driven Organization: Producing the
Best and Staying on Top 161
The Properties-Driven Organization: Making the
Most With What You Have 163
The Payoff-Driven Organization: Catering to Status 167
How to Find a Single Focus to Drive Your Company
to Success 169
Why the Customer Is Not Always Right 169
How to Use Focus to Clarify Your Mission 171
Shifting Focus: Is It Worth the Effort? 173

Thinking Long Term: How to Communicate Your
Strategic Intent 203
The Nine Key Actions to Include in Your Strategic
Intent Statement 206
Summary 207
The Key Questions: Defining Your Corporate Culture 208
Contents
xiii
The Practical Applications: Developing Core
Values Statements 209
8 How to Build a One-Year Operational Plan
That Improves Performance
211
Situational Analysis: The Bridge Between the Strategic
Plan and the Operational Plan 213
Analysis of Company Performance 214
Analysis of Competition 215
Analysis of Market and Market Share 216
Analysis of Mission 217
Analysis of Resources 218
Analysis of Drivers 221
Analysis of Structure 222
Analysis of Reference Information 223
The Key Components of an Effective Operational Plan 224
Choose Annual Targets 225
Set Quarterly Performance Measurements 226
Concentrate on Key Tasks 227
Define Tactics 227
Coordinate the Operational Plan 228
Summarize the Short-Term Plan With a

the Future 255
Structure Without Visible Structure—A Paradox 258
Choosing Your Structure: The Beautiful Solution 260
Summary 263
The Key Questions: Creating Your Organizational
Structure 264
Contents
xv
The Practical Applications: Developing Your
Organizational Plan 265
10 Pulling It All Together: The Resources Plan 267
The Two Major Resources Problems Facing Planners Today 269
Building Your Resources Plan: The Ten Key Elements 271
Staffing Levels: How to Work at Peak Efficiency 272
Information Requirements: How to Gather, Decipher,
and Apply Information Effectively 273
Facilities: Too Much Versus Too Little 275
Technology: How to Keep Your Competitive Edge 276
Dollars: Three Significant Behaviors That Affect
Your Business Plan Finances 277
Watch Out for the Hockey Stick Approach 278
The Tail Wags the Dog 279
Preventing Post-Planning Veto 280
Untapped Potential: Making the Most of Employees 280
Corporate Culture Adds or Subtracts Resources 280
The Company IQ 281
Energy Sources 281
Story Alignment 282
People Work for Themselves First 283
Creating Employee Excitement Through Learning 283

The Nine Critical Components of a Successful
Contingency Plan 302
The Two Tough Questions for Targeting Potential
Problems 303
The Five Areas That Are Vital to Your Company’s Well-Being 304
Contents
xvii
The Six Conditions That Can Trigger the Need for a
Contingency Plan 305
Natural Disasters 306
Violence 306
Hijacking 307
Terrorist Attacks 307
Workplace Violence 308
Sudden Shifts in Business Paradigms 308
Disruptive Technology 309
Bad Mental Models 309
The Antidote for Bad Mental Models 310
Unknown Problems 311
Known Potential Problems That Are Ignored 312
Excessive Growth: Too Much, Too Soon 313
The Early Warnings That Can Help Keep You on Track 313
The Six Steps to Diminish the Negative Impact of a
Troubled Situation 314
How to React Quickly and Decisively to Disaster Situations 315
Decision Making in a Crisis 315
Damage Control 315
The Seven Rules for Successfully Managing a
Contingency Situation 317
Summary 320

Business Plan 345
Assurances for Leadership and Managership Development 347
The Two Techniques for Skills Training 348
Summary 349
The Key Questions: Implementing and
Sustaining Your Business Plan 350
Contents
xix
The Practical Applications: Implementing
and Sustaining Activities 351
Epilogue: A Word From the Author 353
Appendices 357–403
Appendix A: The Full Business Planning Model 357
Appendix B: The 1-Page Strategic Plan 361
Appendix C: The 1-Page Operational Plan 365
Appendix D: The 1-Page Organizational Plan 369
Appendix E: The 1-Page Resources Plan 373
Appendix F: The 1-Page Contingency Plan 377
Appendix G: Preconference Assignment 381
Appendix H: Plan Continuity 391
Appendix I: Master Action Plan Worksheet 397
Appendix J: Short-Term or “Quick Fix”
Action Plan Worksheet 401
Notes 405
Bibliography 409
Index 419
Contents
xx
List of Figures
xxi

Figure 2-12. During the sustaining phase you must pay attention to
the leadership and managership activities required to keep the
planning momentum.
CHAPTER 3
Figure 3-1. The old model of management was rational, logical, and
linear while the new model requires interactive relationships as the
foundation.
Figure 3-2. backPlanning is a concept of starting at some future
point in time to establish a vision and goals, then working back-
ward to confirm the mission. Execution is then a forward activity
from the base of the mission. Consider the phrase “back planning
and forward execution.”
Figure 3-3. Extend your time analysis backward to give as much
depth to your business plan as possible.
xxii
List of Figures
Figure 3-4. Planning creep is a common business trap limiting a
company’s potential.
CHAPTER 4
Figure 4-1. The mission and vision serve as the two end points for
the path of your plan.
Figure 4-2. The vision and the vision statement together provide
the direction of the plan.
Figure 4-3. A company’s vision is inclusive of the direction for all
subunits such as staff functions and strategic business units.
Figure 4-4. Corporations with diverse businesses may have multiple
visions as long as they converge at the higher level.
Figure 4-5. The mission must have a higher-order purpose, and it
must help employees understand why they come to work each day.
CHAPTER 5

exists in your philosophy because your story loses operational
alignment.
Figure 7-3. Principles are the cross-check you filter the business plan
through to ensure nothing is missing.
CHAPTER 8
Figure 8-1. The operational plan sets the direction into motion. It is
how you plan to work the next year.
Figure 8-2. The operational plan is cut out of the total ten years.
Figure 8-3. The hockey stick model allows an organization to get by
for several years with less than satisfactory performance. As the flat
spot is extended year after year with only small growth, the real tar-
get is identified.
List of Figures