Around the turn of the year, annual planning becomes a top priority in many companies—if not already. Unfortunately, it’s also a process that often drains energy without delivering the hoped-for benefits. Beyond establishing a solid foundation, planning sometimes extends down to the last detail—and in some cases, the process even drags on into the second quarter, or the plan is quickly overtaken by reality on all sides. The result is a graveyard of numbers that doesn’t help anyone and leaves many colleagues in a state of chronic paralysis.
If you take a dynamic approach to strategy, you need to turn the planning process on its head—radically, not just superficially. In our “Playbook Enterprise,” we’ve developed seven guiding principles to help you move from planning to action.
1. Let go of the previous process completely
The first step is the hardest: Break away from your current planning process. Completely. Why? Because any attempt to simply “optimize” it will only allow old patterns to resurface like weeds. An overly detailed focus on the budget, an excess of coordination loops, too many plans gathering dust in a drawer—all of this needs to be put to the test.
If a house's foundation is no longer stable, even new wallpaper won't help. So: tear it down and make room for something new.
- What would happen if, overnight, we no longer had any planning process at all?
- In which areas is this level of detail helpful, and in which is it counterproductive?
- Who would complain if we changed the planning process?
2. Minimalism: Focus on the Customer
How much planning does it really take? The answer: Less than you think. Start with the key question: What benefits the customer? That’s the guiding principle for everything else. Anything that doesn’t contribute to the customer relationship can safely be eliminated.
Imagine a journey. Instead of meticulously planning every step, focus on the key elements: destination, route, stages, and stops along the way. The same applies to business planning. Keep it lean and flexible, rather than getting lost in the details.
- How much planning does it really take?
- How does this benefit the customer or the customer relationship?
- Which steps, levels of detail, meetings, or reports do not provide any concrete benefit?
3. Strategy and Planning: Two Sides of the Same Coin
Planning only makes sense if it’s directly derived from the strategy. What is your company’s vision? Where do you want to go? And—most importantly—where don’t you want to go?
The trick is to set priorities. After all, your resources—time, budget, and attention—are limited. If, for example, internationalization is a central part of your strategy, that’s exactly where you should invest. If not, then don’t. It’s better to act with focus and impact than to spread yourself too thin in ten different directions at once.
- What really brings you closer to the company's vision?
- Have the priorities been identified and communicated in a way that everyone can understand?
- Do resource planning and the KPIs reflect the priorities?
4. Trust employees to take responsibility
Effective planning only works if the people implementing it are able—and willing—to take responsibility. This requires trust and an environment in which everyone feels safe making their own decisions. Psychological safety is the key. Employees need to know that planning mistakes are allowed, as long as they lead to a collective learning process.
Instead of giving your team specific instructions, focus on setting the framework and guidelines. Communicate the goal and get your employees on board to help find the right path. This isn’t a 100% guarantee of success, but it definitely boosts your collective ability to get things done!
- What targets have been set, and what guidelines have you defined for your department?
- How do you involve your team in travel planning?
- How can you tell when your employees are taking responsibility?
5. Cost Awareness Instead of Excel Jungles
Budget planning often puts the brakes on any discussion. Too detailed, too rigid, too time-consuming. But it’s not about absolute numbers—it’s about having the right sense of numbers. Ensure budget and cost transparency instead of relying on Excel experts to create jungles of numbers and formulas. To foster entrepreneurial thinking, simple rules often help: “The project can cost X—will it bring us at least Y? If so, go!”
Given the radical nature of this approach, implementing it in larger companies is certainly more challenging than in smaller, more manageable structures. But starting with a flexible 20% allocation could be a good first step. How about having a cross-functional group decide throughout the year which topics or specific business cases to invest in from a flexible budget pool?
- What rules or unwritten guidelines does your company have regarding how to manage the budget?
- How can you create more transparency regarding your budget and impact?
- How much flexibility does your budget planning allow for?
6. Ensure transparency and avoid flying blind
An efficient planning process thrives on open communication. Information that gets stuck in hierarchical structures slows down implementation. Make sure that everyone involved in the planning process has access to relevant data.
A central dashboard or document that displays the company’s key objectives and metrics at a glance provides direction and helps prevent misunderstandings.
- How satisfied are you with the presentation of your planning goals?
- How often do you refer to the KPIs in your day-to-day work?
- When and how often do you adjust your KPIs?
7. Clarity and Ambition Instead of False Precision
Strategic goals are your company’s compass. But be careful: Too much attention to detail can be counterproductive at the higher level. Formulate your expectations clearly and ambitiously, rather than getting lost in numbers that hardly anyone can understand—let alone achieve—anyway.
It starts with your choice of words. Instead of setting a broad goal like “increasing customer satisfaction by 2.5%,” phrase it as “We want to be the first choice for our customers.” You’ll see: It’s easier to break these goals down into specific actions—and for those actions, you can certainly link the goals back to concrete, measurable metrics.
- How did you define your company's goals?
- Is your team able to keep the overarching goals in mind?
- Can every employee summarize the current strategic ambition in three sentences? And describe their own contribution?
The fewer, the better the fare
Minimalism is the key—not as an end in itself, but as a mindset. After all, the bottom line is giving your company the freedom to focus on what’s essential and as concrete as possible. This is how you turn planning into concrete action in the here and now of your business, rather than operating with abstract numbers. And the successful implementation rate is the only metric that matters!
Photo by Christina Morillo: https://www.pexels.com/de-de/foto/mann-der-vor-der-weissen-tafel-steht-1181345/
