The document discusses business planning for coaches. It covers understanding the benefits of creating an effective business plan and using a tool to develop plans including assessing the current state, creating vision and mission statements, defining objectives, and developing strategies and action plans. The tool is then applied to creating a draft mission statement for participants' organizations. Key aspects of business planning like annual planning, research and development, and performance management are reviewed. Alternative approaches like one-page plans are also presented. The document emphasizes measuring objectives, reviewing plans regularly, and recognizing that the best plans may not survive contact with real-world challenges.

1. Business Planning
for Coaches

2. • Understand the benefits of
creating an effective business
plan
• Become familiar with an efficient
tool for creating a business
plan, including: assessing current
state, creating vision and mission
statements, defining measurable
business objectives, creating
strategies and action plans to
deliver the envisioned results
• Apply the approach to creating a
first draft mission statement for
the participants’ own
organization
Business planning…

3. • What’s in it for
me?
• How do I do it?
• Let’s get started…
Business planning…

4. Planning is an unnatural
process; it is much more fun
to do something. The nicest
thing about not planning is
that failure comes as a
complete surprise, rather
than being preceded by a
period of worry and
depression.
Sir John Harvey-Jones

5. What gets in
the way of
planning?

6. Ways to Use a Business Plan
Annual Planning
• Organization
• Project, Plan
• Support functions
• Leadership development
• Budgeting
External Presentations
• External presentations
• Volunteer recruitment
• Alliance development
• Strategic hires
• Executive summary
Research and Development
• Conceptual draft for new programs
• Framework for expansion
• Proforma for M&A
• “What-if” for reorganizing
Process, Performance Management
• Clear framework for measurement
• Benchmark to measure progress against
priorities
• Improve cross-functional communication
• Create, reinforce culture of accountability

7. Alternative approaches
174 million!!!!

10. One Page Business Plan

11. The coaching exchange
Indentify
Discover
Strategize
Clear the
Way
Recap
Hendren, 2010

12. One Page Business Planning Process

13. Your business as a
series of threads…

14. Planning is a
team sport…

15. Assessment of key functions
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
FTI ½ People Process Time $$ External
New Client Acquisition Service Delivery Professional Development
Marketing Public speaking Administrative Functions
Sales Productization of IP Profitability, Cash Flow
Strategic Alliances
Level of success: 1= disaster 10 = brilliantly successful

16. Assessment

17. Assessment of key functions
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
FTI ½ People Process Time $$ External
New Client Acquisition Service Delivery Professional Development
Marketing Public speaking Administrative Functions
Sales Productization of IP Profitability, Cash Flow
Strategic Alliances
Level of success: 1= disaster 10 = brilliantly successful

18. Vision Mission

19. Vision
• What type of company is
this?
• What markets does it
serve?
• What is the geographic
scope?
• Who are the target
customers?
• What are the key
products and services?
• How big will the company
be?
• What will revenues be?
• How many employees will
there be?
What are you building?

20. Creating your vision statement…
Within the next ____ years grow __(company)__
Into a $ ( est sales )
(local/regional/national/global ) (type of business)
company providing
_________(2 or 3 of your key products) _____ to
______(2-3 of your key client/customer types) __.

21. North Texas Coaches 2013
Within the next three years, grow North Texas
Coaches into a successfully run professional
association with an annual budget of $80,000
that provides a rich offering of resources to
develop and credential internal and external
coaches serving organizations and individuals.

22. Vision

23. Mission
• Why does this business
exist?
• What is our unique
selling proposition?
• What are we committed
to providing to our
clients?
• What promise are we
making to our clients?
• What
wants, needs, desires, p
ain or problems do our
products/services
solve?
Why does this business exist?

24. Creating your mission statement…
We help ____(recipient of your services)_______
_______(goal or benefit of your services) _______

25. North Texas Coaches 2013
Grow and develop a competent
coaching community that drives results
for individual coaches and those they
serve

26. Objectives
• Include a numerical value in
each objective
• Can be graphed
• Have clear timelines and
personal ownership
“Until you can measure
something and express it
in numbers, you have only
the beginning of
understanding.”
Lord Kelvin
What will be measured?

27. Objectives
• Provide a quantitative
pulse of the business
• Focus resources towards
specific results
• To find success in a
measurable manner
• Give people/organizations
specific targets
• Establish a framework for
accountability and
incentives pay
• Minimize subjectivity and
emotionalism
• Measure the end results
of work effort
Well conceived Objectives:

28. North Texas Coaches 2013
• Increase total membership to 188
• Increase average meeting attendance to 58
• Increase the number of credentialed members by 10%
• Increase corporate/internal coaches to 20% of
membership
• Implement 1 major outreach event with Alliance
Partner
• Submit quarterly human interest stories to PR wire
• Attain an average program value survey of 4.5 out of 5

29. Objectives

30. Strategies
• Set the direction,
philosophy, values
• Define the business
model
• Establish guidelines for
evaluating important
decisions
• Set limits on what a
company will do or will not
do
How will this business be built?
Strategies are broad statements, covering multiple years that:
What will move the objectives?

31. Strategy
Strengths Weaknesses
Opportunities Threats
Internal
External

32. Competitive Strategy
Porter, 1980

33. North Texas Coaches 2013
• Strengthen the chapter membership experience to best-in-class levels
• Base programming on a comprehensive survey of member needs and
preferences
• Broaden the content, venue, and timing of chapter programming to meet
member needs
• Strike an effective balance of program objectives between core
competencies and resource development
• Develop a powerful communications toolkit to enable telling the story of
coaching and our chapter program
• Make Coaching Week a showcase of coaching and its power
• Develop and strengthen our alliances with the North Texas HR
community
• Create a best-in-class Prism program to increase awareness of the value
of coaching
• Deepen our alignment with ICF global and regional initiatives

34. Strategy

35. Action Plans
• Major business – building
projects
• Significant infrastructure
projects
• Programs or projects that
bend the curves and or
trend lines
Defining the work to be done
Work may be defined in three ways:
Description of Work + Owner +
Completion Date

36. Planning Wheel

37. North Texas Coaches 2013
• By Feb, survey members who attended ≤ 2 meetings/events in CY
2012
• By Jan, survey members on types of programs, workshops they
would like to experience.
• By Feb, launch the redesigned website with easier navigation and
updated visual appeal while offering analytic insights for future
changes.
• By Mar, publish one coaching related press release, photograph on
PR Wire
• By Mar, form nucleus of aligned organizations seeking opportunities
to collaborate
• By Mar, obtain commitments for 4 PRISM nominees and 3 medal
(gold/silver/bronze) sponsors
• By Mar, drive the creation of purpose, goals and actions for the ICF
Southeast Region

38. Action Plans

39. No plan survives…
“No plan survives first
contact with the
enemy”
Baron von Moltke
Prussian Field Marshall

40. Review and Cadence
Set a review cadence that
suits your business that is
appropriate to how fast
things are changing…

41. Actual Results to Plan

42. “Plans are useless…”
“In preparing for battle, I
have always found that
plans are useless but
planning is indispensable.”
Dwight Eisenhower

43. Questions?
Jim Cooper
Principal, Ascendent Leadership
Jim.cooper@ascendentleadership.com
972-578-7035

44. Business Planning
for Coaches