Companies spend a lot of money and effort writing, publishing, and distributing their annual report. You may make the report simple or detailed, depending on your desire and intent. In establishing the next operational plan, year two of the ten years, repeat the process of setting tasks as you did with the first operational plan and the related action plan list. Each year you rebuild your operational plan based on what you are trying to accomplish in the one-year period against the ten-year goals. This means your plan’s time span is getting shorter each year. The common trap is to also extend the life of the business plan by one year—always keeping a ten-year time frame. This is dangerous because you fall into the trap of strategic planning creep.
Allow your plan to perform or mature for a number of years before you move the ten-year goals. It seems that you will get three or four years completed on their ten-year business plan before they move the end goals. This allows them to check assumptions, qualify the accuracy of their numbers, and measure their sustained performance. The recommendation, therefore, is to let your plan run a few years before radically shifting goals. Minor adjustments are necessary and acceptable, but don’t abandon your goals and plans in the first year.
There are three levels of performance you must consider when formally tracking your business plan. The performance is tied specifically to the annual targets of the business plan. This standard keeps each level focused on doing mission-essential work, not extraneous, fun activities. These levels are:
- Level 1. Organizational performance (business plan track)
- Level 2. Team performance (business plan track)
- Level 3. Individual performance (performance review program)