Having watched many clients waste time and resources on planning that goes nowhere, Crocker’s tips are (once again) simple:

1. start early – planning for 2009 in February is a little late!
2. make planning a priority – there will always be more important things to focus on for the company that isn’t really committed to planning
3. planning is lead by senior management – the CEO in particular should have a clear perspective on what needs to be accomplished in the upcoming year and the key strategies for getting there – engaging the rest of the organization in the process is important but simply tossing planning to others in the organization never works
4. planning and budgeting are inextricably linked – which sounds obvious but gets overlooked – budgets should reflect the allocation of resources necessary to execute the planning priorities – if they don’t, then the plan priorities are just imaginary ideas for making something happen
5. follow-up to make sure the plan is working – too many organizations spend resources on planning then NEVER revisit the plan to measure accomplishments or check direction – which makes planning pretty much a complete waste of time

For people and organizations used to organized, well run planning processes, Crocker’s tips must seem overly simplistic. Unfortunately, they reflect reality – based on Crocker’s experience more companies fail at effective planning than succeed – usually because the simple approach required to execute properly is overlooked.

The video is posted here.

The Boardroom Metrics blog is here.