Few companies with fewer than 100 employees implement written plans because too much time and resources are allocated to creating the script. Even if the wording is distributed throughout the business, executing the plan by taking the actions outlined should result in a wording review, the most important part of the planning process.
Why have anything in writing? Because someone must be responsible for implementing what is articulated in the writing. Also, if something is in writing, it is communicated to a variety of people with the same level of understanding. Finally, it is a record of the thought at a moment in time that allows us to investigate why things did not go as planned.
The more strategic (longer term) the writing is, the less frequently it will need revision. An operational (short-term) plan must be constantly revised to meet the goals of the strategic plan. If the short-term wording is properly documented, kept operational through review with experience, revision of the strategic plan will not be difficult. The strategic plan begets the operational plan, which through experience and review requires revision of the strategic plan. Strategy writing is action-broad goal-oriented and written by the company’s policy-making group. The implementation of that strategy requires operational action with a more specific focus.
Things will not go as planned. If it is not to be ignored, the writing that is the plan must be revised or corrected. Once a piece of writing is obsolete, it no longer serves its purpose. Some companies, after finally implementing a written plan, want to go back and start with strategic writing and not operational writing, rewriting the plan in a structured process. Most companies don’t have the resources or the time to do this.
Writing is not necessarily a narrative on paper. The script can be a software program, a spreadsheet, even a succession of email memos. The important thing is to document the thought and revise when the experience requires it, not as a structural ritual.
In general, the strategy can only be reviewed at the highest level by the company’s policy-making group. Once the plan is implemented, operations should be reviewed as specific experience dictates. This experience and adjustments to it can be documented and used to communicate the experience to the policymaking group that will ultimately revise the strategy. Implementation is from the policy making group through the strategic plan to operational plans with a specific focus on certain actions. As operational experience occurs, that experience needs to be documented and that information passed on to the policy making group. The most efficient way for this communication is the review and modification of the written operating plan.
If writing is perceived as the basis of communication, then review of the operational plan by those in charge of executing it is the most efficient way to review business planning. The wording of the plan must be the communication medium and the changes made must be kept in the plan. The plan must not be rewritten, the wheel reinvented, but the plan must be corrected as experience requires. The conversation, the identification of what needs to be changed, the plan change, and the publication of the modified plan must all occur efficiently and simultaneously.
Creating a written planning system is the same as creating effective communication in a company. The business culture and business experience requirements will dictate the approach and structure. The drafting of the strategic plan enables the operational plans. The experience will review the operational plans which will then trigger a review of the strategic plan. The cycle must continue for the company to effectively execute its business plan.
