5 Steps to Writing a Strategic Plan on a Page
While a detailed strategic business plan is essential to the success of any business, articulating it as a plan on a page can also add enormous value.
A plan on a page is, quite literally, the core elements of your strategic business plan summarised into a few very succinct and clear points.
Ideally, your plan on a page should function like a ‘cheat sheet’: a fast and reliable way for anyone in the business to quickly determine why your business exists, where you’re heading, and how you’re going to get there.
The process of preparing a long and detailed strategic business plan is an essential step in helping your key stakeholders gain clarity and direction. Often, however, these weighty documents end up being shelved for later reference – or retained and used only by senior leadership teams due to their complexity.
This is where writing a plan on a page is so beneficial.
The actual process of writing a plan on a page is very helpful in providing stakeholders and employees with clarity and direction. Working out what matters most, and which goals require the greatest focus, is an important exercise in itself.
Also, once a strategic business plan has been distilled into a single page, it becomes far more digestible and approachable. A plan on a page is a great document to share with the broader business – so that everyone is aware of where things are headed and how they can contribute to overall success.
Despite all of this, writing a plan on a page isn’t always as simple as it sounds. Summarising a lengthy document can be quite a tricky exercise, and it can be hard to determine what to omit, and what to focus on.
So when it comes to writing a plan on a page, here are our recommended steps:
step 1: showcasing your purpose
Step one of your plan on a page is to take a quick snapshot of how the company is delivering for your customers.
This snapshot could be based on case studies of completed projects, or it could be a few sentences on the unique methodologies or ways of doing business way that apply to your company.
For example: Our meal plans have reduced the cost of the weekly grocery shop by $30 for a family of four, while increasing the amount of fruit and vegetables they consume.
Featuring punchy examples of how the company delivers will help you sharpen your view on the company’s purpose, which can be waffly when people first try to articulate it. It’s one thing to have a motivating purpose, but another to be genuinely doing things based on that purpose. It's all about walking the walk, not talking the talk.
Make sure that these examples are a short summary of the most important points. Be clear and specific.
step 2: summarise your purpose, culture and values
The next step of your plan on a page - as with your strategic business plan - is to outline your business’ overall reason for being.
Drawing from the examples mentioned above, write down a short, sharp summary of why your business exists and what you’re striving for. It should be concise, articulate, and written in language that’s easy for everyone to understand. The shorter the better.
For instance, your business may exist to ‘drive unfair market share for clients’ or ‘offer healthier options for families on a budget’.
It’s also important to distinguish your company’s purpose from your mission or vision statement. While a mission or vision statement may change over time depending on changes in direction or in the market, your business’ ‘why’, or reason for being, rarely will.
A purpose statement should, quite simply, answer the question: Why do you get out of bed every morning?
Examples of great statements of purpose include:
Nike: To bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete* in the world. (*If you have a body, you are an athlete.)
Chobani: To make better food for more people.
IKEA: To create a better everyday life for the many people.
LEGO: To inspire and develop the builders of tomorrow.
Underneath your company’s purpose, you may wish to include a brief summary of the culture you hope to create, to guide your team on how to live out your purpose and values.
It can help to define the behaviours, systems and processes, and symbolisms that will best help support bringing to life your company’s purpose and values.
It’s important to ensure that each of these items in your plan on a page are realistic – while you may wish for your business to be transparent, this is meaningless unless it’s a value that people see being carried out and actioned by your business leaders.
step 3: specify your vision
This is the section of your plan on a page where you detail your specific vision for the next three to five years. This target should be very clear and direct and include a tangible measurement. It’s also a great idea to include an emotional component in this vision.
Examples of some specific and fact-led visions include:
Grow our revenue by 15%
Expand into New Zealand and Japan
Grow our team by 40%
This is how to set out the vision to include an emotional component that your team can really get behind:
Be the first company to reach $1b of sales in our category (by growing revenue by 15% annually), by 2025.
Be the best independent agency in Australia, doing $25m of revenue by 2025.
When you clearly articulate and specify your vision, you then have something upon which to continually measure your performance. This helps keep everyone on track, and aware of the need to push forward rather than remaining happy with the status quo.
step 4: detail your strategies for growth
In this section of your plan on a page, you need to summarise the key things that you’re going to do – in broad terms – to achieve your revenue goals. Typically, there are five key ways that a business can achieve growth:
Increasing business as usual sales
Creating new services or products
Opening up in new geographies
Buying a new business or merging with one
Forming a strategic partnership with another firm
Specify, in high level terms, the goals that are most relevant to your business and any specific tactics that you are going to use to make them happen. For instance, if expansion is a goal, you may choose to write something like:
“Open in New Zealand by leveraging trade partnerships with XX business.”
step 5: summarise your action plan into goals and tactics
Your action plan is the meat of your plan on a page, and outlines ‘how’ you are going to successfully execute the longer-term strategic plan in the next 12 months:
How exactly are you going to achieve your aims?
What steps will you take – and by when?
You should have several detailed goals outlined in your wider strategic business plan, so this is the place to consolidate and summarise these. You may wish to combine some goals and tactics together into a succinct list. Aim to include no more than 10.
Once you’ve outlined your top ten goals, you’ll need to plot these on a timeline – again, something you will have done in your wider strategic plan. Pull out the high-level dates that you hope to achieve certain aims by.
Also, be sure to allocate roles and responsibilities next to each action item so that it’s clear who will be delivering on each aim.
bringing it all together: writing your plan on a page
Once you’ve drafted all of the components of your plan, you’ll need to bring it all together in a succinct, clear and well-designed summary. It’s worth engaging a professional designer who can make your plan look sharp and compelling.
Remember:
Be concise and punchy – the shorter the better
Ensure your plan covers the why, how, who and when
Be realistic – ensure what you say actually mirrors your business and culture
Use action-oriented, assertive language.
If you need help with your plan on a page, you can also call on the team here at 24 Hour Business Plan. Our method involves four short yet intensive workshops, relying on proven techniques and refined processes, to help you strip the process of preparing your annual plan down to the powerful essentials. We bring decades of experience in helping businesses achieve growth and success.
If you are interested in learning more about 24 Hour Business Plan and how we can help, please get in touch.
