Build more effective business plans three ways; top down, bottom up and sideways. Use traditional top leadership involvement. Provide opportunities for people at the bottom to bubble up their ideas. Bring different divisions together to hear each others’ ideas and foment creative synergy. Have everyone answer, “Where have we been?” and “Where are we going?” Broader engagement strengthens buy-in and powers implementation.

It takes time to build a business plan process that fits your organization. Experiment, try new methods and find the right fit. Employees are not used to being seriously involved in the business plan process, so it may take a few rounds for them to learn, gain confidence and actively participate.

Related Best Practices

Resources

Free online business planning resources:

Business websites that provide business planning tools are:

Books:

"How to write a great business plan", by William A. Sahlman, Harvard Business School Press, 2008

Author

The author of this page is Terry Gardiner

Terry Gardiner is the founder and President of Silver Lining Seafoods and NorQuest Seafoods - a medium-size Alaska seafood processing company; and currently a Board member of the Anvil Corporation, an employee-owned company specializing in oil and gas engineering.

His co-operative experiences include member director of the Commercial Fishermen Co-operative association; creation of legislation for the Alaska Commercial Fishing and Agriculture Bank; and advisor to the US Dept of Health and Social Services for the state Health CO-OPs.

Terry served ten years as a member of the Alaska House of Representatives -several legislative committee chairmanships, Speaker of the House, Chairman of the Alaska Criminal Code Commission and board member on various state and federal boards and commissions.

His non-profit experiences include National Policy Director for the Small Business Majority in Washington DC; working with the Herndon Alliance and ForTerra.

Terry authored the leadership book, "Six-Word Lessons to Build Effective Leaders: 100 Lessons to Equip Your People to Create Winning Organizations".

For more check: Terry Gardiner Long bio