The Idea in Brief
The vice president of a crisis-ridden subsidiary went into his annual strategic plan meeting carrying nothing more than a spreadsheet—no lengthy plan document, no hour-long PowerPoint presentation. The result of this seemingly outrageous, unprofessional, unprepared meeting? Top management hotly debated his proposal, peppered him with pointed questions, and…approved his plans.
The lessons? Trash the bulging three-ring binders crammed with facts, figures, charts, and endless prose about markets and competitors. Throw away your assumption that executives accept or reject new plans based on extensive reading, study, and analysis.
Instead, focus on meetings—that’s where executives spend most of their time. It’s where plans become real—where they’re approved nor based on a rigorous and creative exchange of information and ideas. If you need to sell your superiors on a capital budget, a new piece of equipment, or an increase in your work force, focus them on the most important elements of your plan—elements that convincingly answer these four questions with simplicity and clarity:
1. What is the plan?
2. Why is the plan recommended?
3. What are the goals?
4. How much will it cost to implement the plan?
The Idea in Practice
Devote no more than one page to each of the following four points:
1. What is the plan? Begin with a positive, specific, and future-tense statement of strategy, followed by a list of concrete actions to support the strategy. Don’t avoid confrontations by making overly general statements. For example, “Margins will be increased by focusing on the high-growth segments of the market” is a meaningless, albeit universal goal. Instead, say, “The sales staff will be doubled so we can expand into the New York–New Jersey electronics market.” That’s a plan a CEO can discuss, accept, or reject.
2. Why is the plan recommended? Make the plan’s rationale clear. Your boss should not have to figure this out herself, wading through muddled details or unstated operational issues. Provide synthesized information about markets, competition, costs, and other variables. Leave plenty of time during the meeting to build consensus around your plan and its specific programs. Encourage questions when the decision makers have doubts. The meeting should end with clear decisions and support.
3. What are the goals? Identify specific, measurable goals to meet if the boss approves your plan. This will force you to be realistic. Focus the meeting conversation first on the unit of measure, not the numbers themselves. Is your goal increased earnings? Improved market share? Avoid excessive number crunching. Limit the financial detail to a few important numbers and keep the complete market picture in wide-angle focus.
4. How much will the plan cost? Request all the resources needed to carry out your plan, both for the short and long term. With clear agreement on resources—financial, human, and other—you heighten your programs’ chances of success.
Resolving these four points in one meeting with your boss may not guarantee approval of all your plans, but it will make all your meetings far more productive.
With his business under severe pressure, a group vice president went into his annual strategic-plan meeting with top management carrying nothing more than a large, pencil-draft spread sheet. He brought along no plan document, no overhead slides, and none of his operating staff. But using that simple spread sheet, he identified the difficult options facing his ailing subsidiary and presented his plan. The company’s top half-dozen executives hotly debated the proposal, peppering him with questions. Finally, the chairman overruled his aides and opted to continue to invest in the business.
