Services
Adrian Bray & associates offers a variety of interactive programs designed to increase the leadership capability of you and your executives. We always adapt our approach to reflect the diversity of the businesses that we serve, and therefore getting to know you and your business is paramount. Accordingly it is impractical to announce in advance how we will proceed if we work together. For an overview of how we like to work, Click Here. We have however found that every client we work with has one thing in common: the need for a coherent plan for their business. Accordingly we often find that the creation of a concise, disciplined and cogent business plan is a logical starting point for our involvement.
The One Page Business Plan
The purpose of the One Page Business Plan is to ensure that your business has a clearly and succinctly stated business plan that can be quickly read and understood by all relevant parties – executives, managers, employees, vendors, banks, investors and most important of all, YOU, the owner or Chief Executive. and that plan can then be used to monitor progress throughout the next year or years of operations.
Results
The One Page Business Plan creation process results in a meaningful plan for the business’s future and is literally written on one page of paper. Its benefits to you are:
Simplicity – Because it’s limited to one page and 5 topics, the One Page Business Plan is inherently simple. You will very quickly understand how to create a powerful management tool for your business.
Clarity – The process of creating your One Page Plan forces you to set out in writing what the business is about, where it is going, how you’re going to move it in the right direction and how you’ll measure progress. The One Page format allows no room for ambiguity or the waffle which is typical of a traditional business plan.
Discipline – The One Page Business Plan methodology requires you to use a precise form of words to answer very specific questions about your plans for the business – questions which will cause you to ask yourself sometimes difficult questions about what you are doing. This discipline is invaluable for getting you and your managers to take meaningful and timely action.
Alignment – The One Page Business Plan is as effective for large public companies as it is for small private companies just starting up. In fact, larger companies benefit from adopting a uniform, compact and easily understood business plan that can be understood by short-of-time managers throughout the organization. And, The One Page Planning System (TOPPS) web-based system allows plans to be created by divisional, regional or departmental managers throughout an organization, all in the same format – and allows each department’s plan to be seen by all other managers, encouraging a high degree of mutual understanding and cooperation.
Accountability – The One Page Business Plan holds you and your reporting managers to a high standard of accountability for results. Using the TOPPS’s Scorecards and Progress Reports functions, you can quickly track both financial/quantitative performance and qualitative changes against the One Page Business Plan. This permits deviations from the plan to be highlighted early and corrective action to be taken quickly.
How The One Page Business Plan Works
The One Page Business Plan process can be tailored for any size of business, but the process is essentially the same whatever the size. The One Page Business Plan consists of two elements: intuitive and easily understood software that guides you through developing a plan using templates, brief instructions and sample content; and the guidance of an experienced licensed consultant to guide you through the process and advise you on the implications and consequences for your business of the decisions you make.
The normal process is a follows: We will meet with you initially, either in person or virtually, to introduce you to the software, install it on your personal computer and give you an overview of the system. Then, you use intuitive templates and guidelines to make a first attempt at a One Page Plan. It’s your plan, so it’s essential that you do the heavy lifting! – Subsequently, we’ll meet again to review your plan and discuss improvements, after which you work on a second draft to refine your thinking. – The second draft will be good, but not perfect! We’ll meet again, in person or by phone, to perfect your plan. In fact, we can meet as often as necessary to get a One Page Business Plan that you are 100% satisfied with.
If yours is a larger company with multiple divisions and profit centers, the One Page Business Plan methodology has been adapted to allow the creation of plans by divisional, departmental or regional managers, in turn by their reporting managers down to three levels within your reporting hierarchy. For example, as Chief Executive you would complete a top-level One Page Business Plan for the whole business. Then you would request each executive who reports to you to complete a Plan for the department or division they manage, and you would sign off on each of their plans once you were satisfied that it represented their best thinking. In turn, the director of say the sales division would require his reporting managers to develop their own plans for the national sales, online sales and export sales departments etc. and approve those plans with the managers who report to him.
The end result of this process will be a hierarchy of One Page Plans, all completed in the same format, and dovetailing with each other. Because the One Page Business Plan process relies on open-book management, every manager is able to see every plan developed throughout the company. In due course, this results in a high level of co-ordination and teamwork within even a large organization.
How Long Does It Take?
A basic One Page Business Plan can be completed in as little as a day, but at the other extreme we prefer not to let the process become “stalled” by allowing it to extend beyond four weeks. Depending on the status of your business and how you like to work, we can work with you on a continuing basis as you implement your One Page Plan and monitor progress. For example, we can help you record financial outcomes using OPBP Scorecards and Progress Reports, and then analyze variances from the plan each quarter or monthly. Or, we can conduct an in-depth review of progress at agreed intervals. In any case, we prefer to work with you the client for at least three months following completion of your OPBP to insure that you are putting your decisions into practice. We want our clients to succeed!
Who uses the One Page Business Plan?
The One Page Business Plan methodology is rapidly becoming a management “Best Practice” around the world. Business that have used the OPBP include:
Ford Motor Company - Roto Rooter International – EDS – Morgan Stanley Dean Witter – KPMG Consulting – Equitable Life Insurance – Oracle Software
More than 100 public companies
More than 1,000 non-profit organizations
More than 10,000 private companies
Currently taught at 25 University Business Schools
Why not implement results based management that links planning, implementation and accountability?
To find out more and how the One Page Business Plan can transform your business, contact us today. Call (805) 215 4161 or email adrian@adrianbray.com
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"How To Write A Brilliant Business Plan On Only One Page"
