It’s time to ensure your strategic plan will support a future euphoric exit
For many businesses operating on a calendar year, it’s this time of year that ownership/leadership should be thinking about their strategic plan. And not just their plan document but more importantly the process (or campaign as we refer to it) that goes in to developing the plan. The right strategic planning campaign involves the right degree of strategic thinking first…then proceeds to developing the strategic plan.
At our guest speaking events we often reference General/President Dwight D. Eisenhower and his famous quote, “Plans are nothing; planning is everything”.
We agree wholeheartedly with him. The strategic plan could be nothing if two key elements are not in place:
- A plan that lacks meaningful “thinking” is nothing. Too often executives look to check a box and rush to get a document in place that they call their strategic plan. But if ahead of documenting a plan there was an absence of asking the right strategic questions to facilitate strategic thinking, then the plan itself maybe nothing.
- A plan that is lacking continuous monitoring to ensure performance progress and that allows for updating based on new learnings, such as market/customer changes, is nothing. Plans of this type are stale as soon as the ink dries.
When the day arrives that you want to excite a third party to acquire your company, you’ll want to be effectively prepared for an early due diligence question they will have – do you have a documented strategic plan for them to review? They are asking to see your strategic plan for two simple reasons. The first is they are checking to see what discipline you have internally for conducting effective planning and second, they want to see your team’s ideas that you’re pursuing to keep the business growth robust for the period ahead under their potential ownership. For these two reasons, you not only want a plan document in place but you want the planning muscle also in place to impress them and give them the confidence that paying a premium for your company may be warranted.
As you think about 2024, don’t just check a box. Think about how to strengthen your teams strategic planning muscle. Starting to strengthen this part of your business today will pay you great dividends in the future.
