Posted by Eric Hubbs on Thu, Apr 30, 2009 @ 10:30 AM
By Michael Gunther, President of Collaboration, Business Growth
Specialists
Move over public speaking. Business planning, or lack thereof,
seems to be aggressively fighting for a spot on the coveted list of top fears. Referred to by some as planning phobia, its cause, like any fear, is overwhelmingly emotion-based. If not dealt with head-on by a business owner in denial, planning phobia
could prove fatal to any business. However, the good news is that the cure lies completely within the business owner's control and their chances of recovery are exponential.
Why not develop a plan for a business? Excuses from business owners everywhere range from lack of time to "we've been successful so far - why bother?" are given all the time.
Whatever the excuse, the underlying reason is fear - fear of failure, fear of the unknown and in some cases, fear of success.
So, what can be done to help business owners overcome planning phobia? Well,awareness is the first step. Then, the cure lies within the willingness of the business owner.
By choosing to create and implement a business plan, they have made the decision to potentially own a successful business. Think about it like a trip across the country. You
determine where you are starting from, where you are going, your timeline to reach your destination and the most efficient route(s) to get there. Then you multiply this effort for each
department in your business.
"As business owners, we wear ‘many hats,' comments Kim Conti, Broker-Principal of Kimberly's Global Real Estate Corporation. "As a result, you can easily and often lose your
business focus, both short- and long-term. I have disciplined myself to reference my business plan when I am feeling overwhelmed and it is amazing how this document can
pull it all back in perspective for me."
So what can you do to cure yourself of planning phobia? Try this...
Just do it! It is natural to fear doing something that you have never done before. By
planning however, you mitigate the fear. One has to begin somewhere so just discipline
oneself to sit down and create your roadmap.
Make an annual commitment to revisit your plan. Every business plan is a working
document. That means that at the end of each year, use it as a tool to measure where your
business has been over the past year and what changes need to be made going forward.
Your business plan will be your greatest ally when you need to make crucial decisions for
your business.
Share your plan with your internal team. Business plans are the roadmap for everyone
in your organization to follow so that you are all headed to the same destination. Include
them in the initial planning stages. The routes that each of you may take will be different
depending on the goals of each department therefore it is important to discuss the big
picture, 12-month plan and goals and then break the journey down into shorter goals along
the way so that each of your team reaches their destinations on time.
Give yourself permission to alter the plan when appropriate. As with any road trip,
unexpected circumstances arise that may cause reason to change direction. It is vital to
allow yourself and your business the flexibility to redirect your strategy when appropriate.
Use it. In order to keep on track, you should refer to your business plan often throughout
the year. By doing this, you will identify when you are traveling in the right direction and
when you need to take an alternate route.
When developing your business plan, make sure that a succession plan or an exit strategy
are also clarified. Although it is not always easy to confront the fact that one day you will be
passing your business on to someone else or that it no longer is a sustainable business,
the repercussions of not addressing such decisions will prove far more costly in both time
and money than if these decisions were not made.
Planning phobia does not have to ruin a business trip. The cure is as simple as a roadmap.