Somil Makhija, Engagement Manager at BOD Consulting
An annual plan provides a strategic framework that guides an organisation’s activities. It acts as a strategic compass, offering direction and clarity while also enabling the agility required to be nimble footed in response to emerging opportunities and challenges.
For pragmatic CEOs, annual planning is more than a tactical exercise that happens once a year, instead it is a strategic endeavour.
In this article we will delve into the steps a visionary leader can take in shaping up their organisation’s AOP.
Envisioning the future together
A leader cannot plan in isolation. It is imperative to build a planning team. This team should comprise executive leadership from key business verticals. Through candid conversations with the heads of different verticals regarding the previous year’s achievements, setbacks, and learnings, a path toward the unified vision for the future can be paved.
This collaborative approach ensures that the annual plan being worked on is not only reflective of the leader’s ambitions but also resonates with each vertical’s unique challenges and future objectives. This phase may include a comprehensive analysis of the previous year’s performance, scrutinising annual reports and looking at key metrics. Leveraging analytical tools and management dashboards can help in distilling key insights.
Prioritising key objectives
The synthesis of past year’s insights and upcoming year’s aspirations from different business verticals shall culminate in the articulation of sharply defined strategic objectives for the upcoming year. It is useful to make a note of resources needed for each of these objectives in terms of both human and capital resources, and then study potential impact.
Conducting this exercise along with the different department leaders is advisable as it helps in prioritisation of objectives and also helps in enrolment. Once the key objectives have been prioritised, the department leaders need to align their team members.This enrollment at the executive level followed by top-down alignment fosters a culture of accountability and collective ownership in the organisation.
Setting up a governance mechanism
Merely deciding on an annual plan which consists of key objectives, resources needed and suggested timelines is not enough. Setting up a robust governance mechanism to periodically track actions and results is the final cornerstone of the planning process.
The decided mechanism should not only monitor progress against the strategic plan but also offer the flexibility to course correct and adapt priorities in response to new information or changes that will come along during the year. This dynamic approach ensures that the organisation remains agile and prepared to capitalise on opportunities for growth.
In conclusion, the annual plan should provide a structured yet flexible framework that not only inspires the entire team towards a shared vision of success, but also prepares the organisation to navigate the uncertainties of the future.
Hence the annual plan should not be thought of as a static document saved in a folder somewhere, but instead a living document that helps a leader monitor the progress of their organisation’s overarching vision.
