Business | Back to the drawing board

'Plans do not insure that what is planned will actually come to pass; plans do not predict the future.' Michael E Gerber, E-Myth Mastery

Business planning is not for the faint hearted. In some cases, the process should come with a health warning. It's one of those processes that usually brings about ?a slew of predictable responses from partners such as: 'All talk and no action'; or 'Not that again'¦!'

But the biggest problem is that no one believes that what is written down will happen. In some cases, it is fatigue at the number of plans that stayed on the drawing board. In others, it is the poor success ratio '“ number of plans launched versus the number of brilliant successes.

Of course, much like the quotation above, business planning cannot guarantee anything, but no business became great ?by leaving things to chance. Even those early partnerships, where the partners' names made up the name of the practice are likely to have nurtured a dream or vision '“ doing good and making a tidy profit in ?the process.

Business planning is, in and of itself, meaningless. It is no different to giving a professional athlete a generic training plan and exalting the need to follow 'it' because everyone else has (or so it is believed). In fact, how many times have you found yourself using the last business plan model or template and then (simply) refreshing the content? How dull. Why don't firms rip up all their plans and start again, particularly where they have stumbled on from one business planning disaster to another?

This also raises a more fundamental problem '“ the dearth of firms who lack a vision for their practice. And let's be clear, your vision is not what you do '“ that's a mission statement (the 'how'). Take Amazon's vision statement: 'Our vision is to be earth's most customer centric company; to build a place where people can come to find and discover anything they might want to buy online.'

Could you articulate something so lucidly without resorting to prolix language such as 'Making law work for you.'

The vision doesn't just impact on business planning. It also builds on and reinforces the fact that your people are dying to feel connected to something bigger than life. This might sound ridiculous in a law firm setting; but it is no different to asking: 'why?'. Without a sense of attachment to your vision people will feel forever disconnected from the plan, and will always feel that when it comes to stretching '“ yes, doing more '“ that it is always someone else's responsibility.

Business plans vary widely in format. Some approach the task as if they are a legal opinion '“ immovable, rigid and replete with lots of unnecessary justifications. Others are scant on detail, and it is patently unclear who is responsible for what is to be delivered by when.

If the business planning exercise is to work then you cannot expect to market test every assumption. Like all planning exercises there will be a degree of guesswork '“ new client wins, sources of revenue and your team's capability. And even when you have signed off on the plan, accept that it is a living, breathing document that will need to be revisited at periodic intervals if it is going to work.

In the book Business Model Generation by Osterwalder and Pigneur they provide a stunning overview of the business modelling process, ensuring, if you follow their guide, that you look at every aspect of the process. They outline the five phases of business model design: (1) Mobilise; (2) Understand; (3) Design; (4) Implement; and (5) Manage. It would be as well before you start the process to make sure you have a timeline in place for when you want to launch or reengineer whatever it is that stands behind the sudden seeing of the ?need for a business plan. This processing, while not foolproof, does at least give you ?a framework to make sure you deliver things on time.

Of course, as well as assembling and delivering on the timetable it is necessary to look at the internal structure of the firm. Jay Galbraith's Star Model is a good place to start '“ strategy, structure, processes, rewards and people.

Ultimately, if the business planning process is going to deliver then everyone has to get behind the plan. This means that is has to take on greater importance inside the business. Strong (not strong arm) leadership is the order of the day. It is no accident that those businesses that have a strong track record also have strong-minded people who are so enthused by the joy of the enterprise that they carry everyone along with their vision for what could be. Of course, passion by itself is not enough. A great business '“ and that is what each law firm has to aspire to be '“ makes sure everyone is fully committed, and alive to the possibility for life that it offers. If all they their work is purely to assist the partners in a pursuit of greater and greater profit then they will never march in the same direction as the business plan dictates.