All Eyes on Next Year: Five Simple Strategies to Elevate Your Business Plan

Do you dread your organization’s annual business planning sessions? You’re not alone. An activity meant to propel your business forward, develop strategy and tactics, analyze forecasts, and organize your team around a common mission often coalesces into a document that sits on a server, only to be referenced the following year to do it all over again.

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This sense of disappointment was captured in a McKinsey Quarterly survey of nearly 800 executives: only 45% of the respondents said they were satisfied with the strategic-planning process. Further, only 23% indicated that major strategic decisions were made within its confines.

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Many organizations — from startup orgs to small business owners and larger companies — simply go through the motions of annual business planning because they think they should. But, like most things in this world, you get out what you put in.

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So let’s look at some ways you can get more out of your business plan and elevate it to better prepare you and your company for next year. 

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How to Prepare to Elevate Your Business Plan

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You can just jump into strategic planning for the future year. That’s one way to approach it, especially if you just want to check a box that it’s done. 

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It’s not the best way, though. 

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If you take the time to lay the groundwork by evaluating last year’s work, you’ll set yourself further ahead when you do start your planning for next year. 

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Here are a few ways to lay the groundwork. These can be done by yourself or done with other leadership team members. The idea is to get concrete ideas started, problems identified, and frameworks built so your team can go into the strategic planning workshop with ideas and solutions already started. 

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Revisit your last business plan

Ask yourself:

• What goals did we reach?
• What do our financial forecasts tell us about our business?
• Is the management team working together?
• Where are we overspending? Underspending?
• Did our marketing reach our target audience?
• Are we pricing correctly?

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If you’re going to make changes moving forward, you need to look at where you’ve been. Just like getting into shape requires asking, “Should I eat Lucky Charms for breakfast, lunch, and dinner?”, it’s important to look at the last year to see what’s working and what needs to change.

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(And obviously, Lucky Charms should be reserved for breakfast and that late-night dinner right before bed.)

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Starting here also means you can take a look at your marketing plan and market research. Make sure these are firmly aligned with where your company currently is and where you might want to go with new business or new products and potential customers. Look at your current marketing spend and cash flow, are they aligned? Are you spending money on social media and not getting much of a return? Are you on the right platforms? Have you spent your time on LinkedIn when you should be on TikTok or Meta? Do you need to reprioritize spending? 

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Lots of questions lay the groundwork for future decision-making. 

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Be honest with yourself

It’s important to be realistic when goal setting. If your getting-in-shape goal is to run an ultra-marathon, learn how to dunk, write an instant best seller book, or squat 700 pounds, that’s probably not realistic (for most people at least). However, there are much more reasonable goals along those same lines, like running a 5K, joining a rec-league basketball team, committing to going to the gym consistently, or even deciding to finally write that book.

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When it comes to your business, it’s just as important to be honest about setting realistic goals. If your company generated $1 million in revenue last year, don’t set a goal for $20 million next year. If you raised $5million on your seed round, don’t expect $100 million from potential investors on a second round. Don’t set yourself up for failure.

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It’s also important to be honest about what needs to change. If cutting the aforementioned Lucky Charms will make a major difference in getting in shape, then (sadly) you should do it. If cutting your Friday catered lunch for the team will make a difference in improving your finances, it may need to go as well.

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Start planning with gratitude

Your team makes your goals happen.

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Examining business plans, developing mission statements, crunching numbers, and analyzing your industry markets are invaluable. But all the plans in the world will fall apart if your team isn’t on board, doesn’t feel seen, or feels unappreciated.

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Getting into shape means acknowledging all parts of yourself. If your goal is to run a marathon, but you keep wearing shoes that give you blisters, then you’re ignoring an important part of yourself. In the same vein, if you want to write a book but struggle to find time to get enough sleep at night, then you need to see what is taking up your time. 

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If your team doesn’t have the proper equipment, is overworked, or asked to do tasks not in line with their abilities, you’re ignoring a critical part of your business and your big goals won’t have the ability to get off the ground.

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Conduct your own SWOT analysis

You might have heard SWOT analysis thrown around as a business buzzword, but it’s a great tool to examine where you can make the most impactful change. In case you’re not familiar, SWOT stands for:

• Strengths
• Weaknesses
• Opportunities
• Threats

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If you’re trying to get into shape, but you know you love eating Lucky Charms right before bed, that’s a weakness where you can search for a solution. (Yogurt and granola, perhaps?) For your business, make it interactive and ask colleagues you trust, “What do we do well? What are our weaknesses? Are there clear opportunities we’re missing? Are there competitors we need to see as threats?” 

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These answers are a good way to gain insight and filter ideas for a successful business plan. 

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Implement SMART goal-setting

Those who fail to plan plan to fail...It’s a cliché for a reason. Without a plan, goals are just wishes.

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The SMART goal setting tool is a great way to streamline creating an actionable business plan to reach your goals. It stands for:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Achievable
• Relevant
• Time-based

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The best goal-reaching plans for your business are measurable with clear benchmarks and key business performance indicators to show your progress.

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Celebrate your wins

This is a simple one, but easily overlooked.

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When you run ten miles for the first time, get 10 chapters done in a book, or make it to the gym every day for a month, it’s important to celebrate in a way that’s unique to you.

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When your team reaches an important milestone, take a moment to celebrate. Whether that’s a financial bonus, catered lunch, a team outing, or whatever works for your team, celebrating your wins on the way to your goal builds unity and motivation to keep working together.

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Laying this foundation ensures you have something to build on. Just like you can’t go out and run a 5k tomorrow if you’ve never run before or you can’t sit down and write 50,000 words that tell a clear story in one sitting without some preparation first, doing this prep work ensures you can make your business goals achievable. 

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Ok, now what? 

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You’ve taken the time to evaluate what worked, where you’re in line with current expectations, been realistic about where you are and where you need to go, and you’ve established frameworks for how you and your stakeholders are going to set goals—it’s time to get started updating your business plan for the next year. 

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Read on for five simple strategies to elevate your business planning initiatives and workshops and get a higher return on your investment than ever before.

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Five Simple Strategies to Elevate Your Business Plan

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1. Create a safe space

Developing a plan is one thing. Developing the right plan for your organization is another. To do so, honesty and transparency are key. To foster candid conversations, work to create a safe space. This could include engaging a third-party facilitator to foster non-bias conversations. As we mentioned above, a lot of this work also needs to happen well ahead of the business planning workshop and can include other leadership team members. Brainstorm questions and topics that will promote healthy discussion. 

• Where did we succeed and where did we falter last year? 
• What are the biggest risks to our successful future? 
• How are we going to grow our business? 
• What new markets could it make sense to enter? 
• Where are we going to find the right employee candidates to help us get there? 
• What do we need to do with our marketing initiatives to better position us for new work? 

Also consider getting outside of the four walls of your office – there’s something about being in a new environment that fosters creativity and collaboration. And remember, if any member of your leadership team is remote, the entire meeting should be organized remotely. You want all perspectives, ideas, and opinions heard equally, regardless of location.

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2. Encourage longer-term planning

In many markets, planning just one year ahead won’t provide enough direction. While your financial business plan should still focus on the year ahead, it's essential to start early and encourage your leadership team to think long-term when developing your tactical plan. Begin with your five-year goal and work backward to today. Where do you want the organization to be in the future? What growth strategies and steps do you need to take next year, and in the years that follow, to get there?

Don’t let your team get caught up in only solving the challenges you’re facing today. Look ahead to where you want to be and see how solutions to today’s challenges will support these long-term goals. 

It’s equally important to break these long-term goals into clear short-term objectives. These smaller goals will help you measure progress and ensure your growth plan stays on track. To keep your business strategy flexible, consider implementing mitigation strategies in case things don't go as planned. Adjusting along the way allows you to stay focused while still being adaptable to changing circumstances.

Bonus! We recommend reading Traction by Gino Wickman and using the Vision Traction Organizer to map out your long-term vision and communicate it effectively across your team.

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3. Establish KPIs and focus on accountability

Where most organizations fail to realize the full benefits of annual business planning is actually acting on the plan. It’s easy to set ambitious targets, like $100M in sales for the next year, but the real question is HOW you’ll achieve that goal and WHO is responsible for each part of the plan. 

A business plan shouldn’t just be a document—it should be a tool that sparks action, driving your entire organization from your sales team to your HR recruiters with clear goals, expectations, action assignments, metrics, and calendar targets.

Just like setting a goal to run a 5k, you need milestones and progress measurements to see how far you’ve come. To ensure success with your business plans, you need to establish clear key performance indicators (KPIs) that are tied to every aspect of your strategy, from your marketing plan to the development of new products. These KPIs should serve as measurable metrics that track progress toward your long-term goals and should be revisited regularly. Your marketing strategy, for example, may involve launching targeted campaigns or entering new markets, so it’s essential to set specific metrics for customer acquisition, brand visibility, and lead generation.

Accountability is the really important piece here. Each department and member of your management team must have clear goals and action assignments. Assigning responsibility ensures that every element of your growth plan is actively managed and reviewed. Furthermore, implementing calendar targets helps track progress and maintain momentum throughout the year, allowing your organization to make timely adjustments if things aren’t going according to plan.

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4. Get creative!

A well-developed business plan is more than just numbers. Gone are the days of a 100-page plan, full of Excel spreadsheets that, truthfully, only resonate with your executives and finance department. Using your financial plan as the backbone, consider making the rest of your business plan visual and easy to digest for any internal audience. 

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Visual elements help make goals digestible and easily consumable. It’s like having a sticker chart tracking days you’ve worked out, or looking at your smartwatch graphs and rings to see how much progress you’ve made. These graphics show where you are and where you’ve come from, acting as powerful motivators to keep going. 

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It works for your business plan too. Simple infographics, charts, statistics, and calls to action that are easy to digest will go a long way to getting your entire organization bought into the plan and moving in unison to achieving the goals within it.

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5. Share the plan!

A business plan isn’t just for your leadership team—it should be a living, breathing document that everyone in your organization understands and can rally around. From the CEO to your summer intern, every team member needs to know the common mission and business goals your company is working toward. Plus, like sharing exercise or writing goals with other people, it helps add to the accountability. 

Sharing the plan effectively involves making it accessible and digestible for the entire organization. Consider posting the business plan template, complete with the mission, goals, and roadmap, on your internal intranet or shared platform. This way, employees can refer to it regularly and make sure the decisions they’re making within their work stay aligned with the company’s direction. 

To keep everyone accountable and on target, set a clear timeline for achieving key milestones. Establish quarterly goals, assign responsibilities to the relevant team members, and build partnerships across departments to support those goals. For example, your sales and marketing teams can work together to drive revenue targets, while product development and customer success teams collaborate on new product rollouts. Communicating this timeline and the roles of various departments in executing the business plan ensures that all team members are focused on the same growth plan.

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Ready to Get Started Elevating your Business Plan?

No matter the size of your organization, annual business planning is a chance to recalibrate and build a vision for the future. As you start planning for next year, consider implementing these five simple strategies to get the most out of your business planning investment. Looking for some support? From third-party facilitation to strategy development, Summit Strategy helps businesses create and implement actionable, growth-oriented plans. Get in touch with us to see how we can help you develop your own plans. 

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We’d love to hear from you! Let us know your thoughts on the topic below!

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