xii FOREWORD
Foreword
By Sir Paul Judge
Planning is at the heart of good management. We all know that change initiatives in our
non-business lives, such as redecorating an apartment, can easily ‘cost twice as much and
take three times as long’. However, in our business functions we normally have to work with
a smaller allowable margin of error and proper planning therefore becomes essential.
Planning is mainly common sense but, like riding a bicycle or painting a picture, it is usually
worthwhile to take some advice before starting, which is what this book sets out to provide.
In many countries management has not been seen in the same way as the traditional
professions. We do not allow a doctor to prescribe medicines or an architect to design a
building unless they have been properly qualified. And yet we have been too ready to allow
people to manage important organisations without any equivalent training, even though
the ramifications of the decisions made by such managers can have even more important
effects on the communities in which they operate. Every manager therefore has a responsi-
bility to become as knowledgeable as possible about the art and science of management.
As planning is such an important part of management, a thorough understanding
of planning approaches and documentation is vital. In my own career I have used three
simple questions to guide the planning process, whether for large or small organisations,
public or private:
Where are we now?
Where do we want to be?
How are we going to get there?
Based on a full understanding of the organisation’s situation, this is a goal-driven process
which aims to get people to commit to goals and objectives which can then determine
implementation and communication both internally and externally.
Planning and knowledge
‘When you are a Bear of Very Little Brain, and you Think of Things, you find sometimes
that a Thing which seemed very Thingish inside you is quite different when it gets out into
the open and has other people looking at it.’
A. A. MILNE, THE HOUSE AT POOH CORNER
FOREWORD xiii
‘Problems that remain persistently insoluble should always be suspected as questions
asked in the wrong way.’
ALAN WATTS
Leadership cannot operate in a vacuum. If a leader tries to lead without understanding
his or her situation, then he or she will usually be described as reckless or hopeless. The
‘Where are we now?’ question is the foundation for any plan.
In order to know where you want to go, it is vital to understand where you are coming
from, why you are where you are, and what assets you have in your armoury. This book
describes a wide range of techniques for doing this so that a proper strategy emerges.
The ‘Where are we now?’ stage of planning is one which often, in my experience, does
not get the proper level of support, and is where it is often quite difficult to get people
to be really open and honest. Each department or function will normally see itself as cur-
rently well organised and as making a productive contribution to the organisation. Those
involved often assume that they know their environment and markets and that they
understand the key trends, but in practice operating managers often find it difficult to
see the wood from the trees without a formal process. It needs careful questioning to
establish the truth and to determine the main strengths and weaknesses. However, it is
essential to be honest and to help that honesty by comparing your organisation frankly
with your competition and contemporaries.
Planning and leadership
‘The significant problems we face cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that
created them.’
ALBERT EINSTEIN
‘The plan was simple. Unfortunately, so was the chief executive.’
Most plans can be summarised by the answer to the second of the above questions –
Where do we want to be? – which is why planning is at the heart of leadership.
Most people in an organisation are mainly involved in their own daily tasks and lives but
they prefer to follow someone who has a clear vision which has been effectively communi-
cated. They want to believe that ‘someone up there’ knows what he or she is trying to achieve
for the organisation and that he or she is being broadly successful in getting there. In the
modern world, the plan is the description of and rationale for the vision, and the basis for the
communication.
The most effective objectives invoke competition (to win the sports cup, to win the
war, to increase market share of widgets, to be the most effective charity in the sector) as
xiv FOREWORD
these give a direct way of measuring achievement. After millions of years of evolution we
are all essentially tribal animals with deep instincts of rivalry towards other tribes (those
whose genes led them to go off as individuals tended to be eaten by the lions and not
survive!). Three very different leaders can be quoted as examples of people who success-
fully galvanised their ‘tribe’ by setting stretching objectives:
St Paul – to convert the world to Christianity;
Lenin – to improve the peasants’ lot through communism;
Kennedy – to put a man on the moon by 1970.
Such leaders who successfully pursue a clear vision, and who show they believe in
themselves, can achieve a huge amount. They are able to create a team with a common
purpose. This provides a way of rising above current difficulties and parochial concerns. A
new approach is taken to old problems and different questions are asked.
Planning and implementation
‘Great ideas need landing gear as well as wings.’
C. D. JACKSON
‘Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time
will pass anyway.’
‘No plan survives contact with the enemy.’
When you have produced the analysis about where you are and where you want to be,
you can move on to the detailed task of deciding all of the things that you have to do to
achieve your vision. You will find that these are often in layers, with each strand of the
implementation having sub-strands of increasing detail.
Ideally, your organisation also follows this same pattern and you can organise the
implementation in line with the strategy. At the least the vision will provide the reason for
your organisation structure. You should not just organise the organisation in convenient
structures: you should organise it ‘to do something’, most preferably what you have set
out in the plan. If marketing is key then the marketing department must be prominent
whereas if technical development is the main competitive advantage then this must be
properly staffed. Always remember that if the plan calls for something to be done then it
should also identify someone in the organisation who is charged with doing it.
FOREWORD xv
Submitting the plan
‘It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker, that we expect our
dinner, but from their regard to their own self-interest. We address ourselves, not to their
humanity but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our own necessities but of their
advantages.’
ADAM SMITH
‘Never appeal to man’s “better nature”. He may not have one.’
A plan does not exist in isolation. It should not be written and then just filed. It will of
course be used downwards to communicate the direction of the organisation and the
actions required of its members. However, nearly all plans also identify the need for more
resources, and these have to be provided from outside the particular organisation prepar-
ing the plan. These resources may either come from your parent, if you are part of a larger
organisation, or from external sources if you are at the top of your particular tree.
In each case the plan must convince those providers that it is in their self-interest to
back it. If you are part of a larger entity then you must show that your strategy will help to
meet the objectives of the parent organisation. It must adopt similar ethics and methods
and must provide proper returns. It is unlikely that there will be an endorsement of a plan
which sets out a development, however worthy, which exposes the parent organisation
to new risks or provides a lower return than other potential investments.
When seeking resources externally, it is even more important to understand the
parameters of the person to whom the plan is addressed. Some plans will be written in
order to identify and correct resource constraints of personnel and will be used to iden-
tify people requirements and to enthuse potential recruits. However, most plans going
to external audiences are asking for money, whether from a bank or a venture capitalist.
These must be carefully prepared with a full understanding of the questions likely to be
asked by the recipient. Indeed there may need to be different versions of the same plan as
the need of a banker for security is very different from the wish of a venture capitalist for
capital growth.
As this book points out, the seeking of venture capital is particularly difficult, with there
being many famous successful ideas which have been repeatedly turned down before
reaching their potential. As you go outside your own organisation you need strength and
stamina to keep to your chosen path and to convince people that you are right. If you have
a well-constructed plan which deals with all of the issues then this can give you real support
as you deal with the many unbelievers.
xvi FOREWORD
People make the difference
‘It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled
or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man
who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who
strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great
enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best,
knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who, at worst, if he fails, at least
fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls
who know neither victory nor defeat.’
THEODORE ROOSEVELT (1858–1919)
‘You are the most powerful person in your universe.’
All major human endeavours involve change and this is only achieved by the actions of
people. If you want to improve your organisation and lead it to making a greater contri-
bution, then you must be able to produce a plan about why and how it is going to do so.
You are obviously wise because you have bought this book, or at least have got as far
as picking it up to browse through it. Please be convinced that good planning is essential
to orderly improvement which requires that everyone you need to have on your side can
understand exactly what you want to do and why.
May I wish you all the best in your particular project. The techniques in this book will
give you all of the technical help you could require. If you can add a dash of your own
human inspiration and perspiration then you should be able to produce a comprehensive
and visionary plan.
Good luck. Sir Paul Judge
Former Group Planning Director, Cadbury Schwepps plc
President, Association of MBAs,
President, Chartered Institute of Marketing
Benefactor of the Judge Business School, University of Cambridge
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