The document outlines 10 reasons why great business plans often fail to deliver results. These include: 1) the plan is not based on understanding customer needs or making tough strategic choices; 2) strategic initiatives are underfunded while current activities remain overfunded; 3) senior leadership has not fully bought into the new direction outlined in the plan. The other reasons include unclear roles and decision rights, lack of relevant metrics, an uncollaborative culture, conflicting objectives, misaligned incentives, failure to communicate, and treating the plan as static rather than living document.

1. 10 reasons why “great”
business plans fail to deliver:
Bill French, TMG International
Biz Plan

2. 1. The plan isn’t that great:
– It‟s all about understanding your customer „s
needs, not just executive intuition
– The Plan hasn‟t made the tough strategic
choices

3. 2. The strategic imperatives are underfunded:
– Continue to over invest in current activities while
under investing in the strategic initiatives
– It‟s uncomfortable, but realigning resources
(people, capital, budgets) is necessary for success
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4. 3. The senior leadership team has not
totally bought in:
– Egos & skill gaps can undermine the new
direction
– Structure follows strategy

5. 4. Role clarity and decision rights are
unclear:
– Lack of accountability & unclear decision
rights can be a serious drag on real progress
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6. 5. Lack of scorecards with leading
measures of success:
– Frequent reporting of relevant, actionable
metrics on strategic imperatives is a
prerequisite for success

7. 6. The corporate culture is not
collaborative:
– A truly collaborative (not collegial) culture
accelerates achievement of strategic
imperatives

8. 7. There are conflicting objectives:
– Lack of functionally integrated objectives
creates a culture of politics, conflict, inefficiency
Objectives

9. 8. Incentive compensation plans are
misaligned:
– People do what you pay them to do….this
can encourage behaviours and actions that
are counterproductive
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10. 9. Failure to communicate:
– Ongoing, transparent communication
provides feedback to the team and reinforces
that the changes are “for real”

11. 10. The plan is not a living document:
– Objectives are a given, strategies and tactics
evolve based on customer engagement and
competitive response
Biz Plan

12. http://smartblogs.com/leadership/2013/06/26/why-do-great-
business-plans-fail-to-deliver/
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