Great vision without great people is irrelevant.Jim Collins - Good To Great

We firmly believe that a good business plan will be supported by a good people plan. This article sets out the business case for this approach and its core ingredients.

The checklist of A Good Business Plan

Having a good business plan is a fundamental part of doing business. Every business needs to have a clear strategy to:

• marshal the resources required,
• assure investors/stakeholders that their funds are in safe hands and
• that all the key ingredients required to build and grow a sustainable business are in place.

So a good business plan covers:

• details about your business structure, location, staff and product/services;
• your market, customer and competitor analysis;
• the plans to finance the business and costs and financial projections;
• and above all your vision, goals and milestones for the business.

The people in the business (e.g. leadership, employees and contractors) are clearly a critical part of any business strategy. Looking however at a wide range of business plan templates, they do not go deep enough in considering how the business will utilise this fundamental ingredient for a successful business.

A People Plan For High Performance

After all, people are the integrators of all the other business inputs. And they are the interface with the market and environment, particularly their customers, in which the business operates. At their best, they also embody what the business is in terms of the company culture and the foundation it lays for future success.Research and experience indicate that there are six drivers of an effective people strategy which need to form part of a people plan. These elements are:

• Understanding the external people environment and trends and their impact on your business
• Effective business leadership driving business direction, development and the internal dialogue which drives the business forward
• Fostering engagement, commitment and discretionary effort
• Building capability and effective execution
• Driving performance and reward
• Assuring effective people governance and people care in your business

All of these factors form part of the essential elements of a high performing organisation and culture.

The Key Drivers Of Business Success

What is involved in looking at each of these areas to form the basis of the people plan? Here is a quick overview of these key drivers of business success. We will expand on each one in future articles.

External environment

While the business plan usually includes a scan of the environment, it is worth having a further look through the people lens considering the potential impact of trends and issues in the regulatory environment in which you operate, the labour market, and the characteristics of your future workforce, amongst others.

Effective leadership

Effective leadership is clearly fundamental. So you must give consideration to having the right leaders doing the right thing. Your people plan needs to look at how leadership will provide three things to your business:

• direction – a shared vision and purpose, agreed objectives and guiding values
• development – a focus on continuous learning and improvement
• dialogue – an ongoing conversation about the business with the key stakeholders including employees, contractors and suppliers to achieve the business vision and purpose.

Fostering engagement

Building trust and identification with the business maximises discretionary effort and advocacy for your business.

Building capability

To successfully execute your business plan, you must have a clear understanding of what competencies, aptitudes and attitudes you need to drive the business forward.

Driving performance

So, you have a work program... Think through how you are going to manage the work program and engage people in a continuous dialogue about performance. A reward framework is then also needed to underpin the performance outcomes sought.

Corporate governance and people care

Do people want to work for your organisation? Behind all the other factors is good governance and people care. This is not just about regulatory compliance, which is of course important. It is about having a governance framework in place that ensures that people want to work for you; and that they encourage others to do so by keeping them safe and by caring about their basic welfare as part of your business. It is about having the right systems and processes in place to ensure all that happens will pay dividends. That way, you avoid having to fight fires down the track.

So, What Next?

Addressing these areas in some depth will flesh out your business plan with further thinking on how to ensure people in your business are making their optimum contribution; how they are laying the foundations for future growth.A trusted advisor, with experience in both business and people strategy and planning, can help you develop your people plan. If you would like your business to benefit from unbiased and trusted advice and effective practical support from a generalist or specialist business advisor, get in touch with us at The Network Of Consulting Professionals.