Business Plans

Recently on a Linkedin forum one of the correspondents asked the following question:


How important is a business plan?  So many seminars are geared to getting you flying out of the blocks, so how important is it to plan your future business?


I joined the discussion with the comment:


We would be well to remember Clausewitz's dictum that no battle plan survives contact with the enemy. So a business plan is for helping to get started but cannot last. We need Plans A-Z. It's no good when Plan B is "do Plan A better". Just ask Fabio.


This got me thinking.  It's all very well to say such things but making them happen is something far more difficult. To be able to respond to rapidly changing business contexts requires several attributes:  an agile mind (I am reminded of what Louis Pasteur said : "Fortune favours the prepared mind"); good analytical and planning skills; a willingness to let go of cherished ideas and plans and above all a supreme self confidence in one's ability to adapt to change.


Now few of these attributes are genetically fixed and therefore they can be developed.  Coaching is an excellent way of doing this because:

• coaching is individual;
• coaching deals with real issues as they arise;
• coaching generates confidence; and
• coaching responds to direct feedback and can be built on constant evaluation.

In the current times it is almost a dead certainty that business plans will go awry.  If you know this and have taken steps to develop the above attributes you will be significantly better placed than your opposition to respond; particularly when the inevitable upswing occurs.

Coaching to Fly: A new Concept?

The term "in the flow" is quite well-known and coaches strive to engender in people a sense of flow. We all understand what that means but the metaphor is somewhat unfortunate. It implies using a flow, where the subject or person is borne along in the direction of flow of fluid or whatever it is that is moving. It doesn't really give a clear sense of being in control or shaping or moving within the flow. Coaching to fly on the other hand focuses on being within a flow, of being able to generate control inputs so that the flow is used for getting from where you are to where you want to be. Coaching to fly is about helping clients to develop awareness of the control inputs that are required to navigate the flow. And what information and skills are needed to calibrate those control imputs. So it is a much more active process. It is much less reliant on the passivity of being borne along by a current and the metaphor is much more about a bird soaring, mastering the elements, flying above the turbulence by generating appropriate control inputs to alter its flight whilst taking advantage of the flow. So I think it's actually a much better metaphor.

Rising House Prices

The BBC is reporting a rise in average house prices month-on-month of 0.1% in June. see: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8172097.stm

This is the first rise since January 2008 -very good and welcome news. If the trend continues it may signify yet another green shoot of recovery. Firms who invest now in people development including executive coaching will be best placed capitalise on the recovery.

Coaching in the Dark Times

Good to see Lewis Hamilton back to his winning ways. It must have been hard for him to maintain his commitment and optimism when thigs were not going well.

Most of us will have at least some experience of this. Having a trusted coach during the dark times can help us prepare for when things get better.

Green Shoots and Peparedness

With the first green shoots of recovery possibly appearing it's time to ask if you are positioned properly for the recovery. Coaching can definitely help because it helps what you have already identified as your needs.