Let me be the first to confess.  I have created many business plans that killed my business.  It brings me joy to take full responsibility to admit this.

In my days in corporate life, I worked very hard.  I wrote many “winning” business plans.  I hired the best teams, purchased the best technologies, brought in the greatest consultants, and stood behind a “top five” global brand.  Our business plans were strong. 

We captured a trivial share of the business.

What were we missing?  We were missing the truth.  We refused to take responsibility for who we were in the past year, and who we were going to be in the year to come.  We did not identify what we were going to change in the areas of mutual responsibility, commitment, or accountability.

For many of you in the corporate world or in professional services, you might say, wait, discovering my level of personal responsibility is not the “role” of the business plan.  It is not the role of the “Director of Strategic Planning.”  It is not even the role of the leader of my division.

Still, you hope that taking responsibility for your own change is someone else’s role.  You then blame them or the plan when they do not take the role of developing your competency in being committed.  Perhaps, the inquiry into how you take responsibility for your own change, is the foundation of what it will take to be successful in your business going forward?

It is the beginning of 2006.  I am again coaching multiple high-performance teams to create a business plan that will provide breakthroughs in the year to come. 

Breakthroughs, not more of the same. 

Business plans that lead to a profitable, successful, and fulfilling year capture what you were responsible for in the past year, and provoke you to take a higher level of accountability for extraordinary results in the year to come.

Results don’t lie.

In creating a breakthrough business plan, your first task is to get a good handle on how honest you have been in taking full responsibility for last year’s plan, examine what you were honestly committed to, and determine what you were accountable for in 2005. Once you have “come clean,” it is appropriate to set “goals” in the following areas moving forward:

Responsibility:

In the year ahead, where can you take greater responsibility for your success?  Will you take full responsibility for your advancement, your learning, your feelings, and your communication?

Commitment:

In the year ahead, what words will you use to illustrate your commitment to your business, your teammates, and your clients?  What fears and emotions will you recognize, but not let stop you in 2006?

Accountability:

In the year ahead, what actions and conversations must you take up as a team, and what systems will you create to hold yourself accountable?  What will you do as a leader and as a team when you are not accountable to yourselves or your clients? 

Breakthroughs are difficult.  They require discomfort.  They require honesty.  They require having a dialogue with yourself and your teammates in taking full responsibility for the results you say you are committed to.

If you are interested in a template that will take you through an exercise to propel you towards creating a breakthrough business plan, please send us an e-mail.  We would be delighted in furthering your commitment to financial success and personal fulfillment, in the year ahead.