ACI Business Plan Driver

Need:

ACI Business Plan Driver changes traditional business planning into dynamic events and plans that engage staff and stakeholders and accelerates the development of Corporate Intelligence.

Corporate Intelligence can be defined as capacity to anticipate, understand, and create solutions to business challenges in an effective and efficient manner. The ACI methodology produces a business plan that develops strategic direction and continuously evolves with the development of corporate intelligence about the business and challenges. By involving staff and key stakeholders, essential knowledge inputs are acquired, intelligence is developed and commitment to success is assured. ACI business plans never make it onto the shelf - they reside in the minds of staff and key stakeholders. Business planning becomes a continuous event as corporate intelligence develops.

The ACI business plan methodology can be applied to existing planning frameworks, for re-invigorating frameworks or for new developing completely new frameworks.

Key considerations:

• What are the important but uncertain events that might determine your business future?
• What is your capacity to anticipate trends and events relevant to your business?
• How can you encourage staff and stakeholders to contribute to development and evolution of the plan?
• How can you systematically measure progress and performance?
• How can develop the speed and agility to respond to unanticipated change?
• How can you develop a knowledge base for collecting intelligence on developments affecting your business?

Methodology:

This methodology may vary depending on specific needs.

The business plan will have articulated responsibilities from executive through to individual operator level. These are developed through a series of facilitated group work sessions using the unique ACI Strength Insight and Strategy (S.I.S.) group work methodology. This will engage the input and commitment of staff and stakeholders. The plan is usually for a 12 month period, formally reviewed and detailed in quarterly cycles. Individual actions are developed and are detailed on weekly Gantt charts and reported upwards, for example, to team, branch, division and office executive level. A sophisticated software system is available to support documentation and reporting.

Activities include the following:

Strategic validation by ensuring that possibilities for future directions are

• Strategically created and identified; and
• Qualified.

Business plan formulation

• Developing business scenarios and identifying key business drivers, objectives and key performance indicators;
• Researching and investigating internal and external factors;
• Identifying certain/uncertain, important/unimportant factors;
• Generating action plans and initiatives with recommendations for their implementation, their risks and benefits, their cost and resource requirements;
• Contingency planning for uncertain factors;
• Linking and articulation of plan responsibilities from executive to individual operator level;
• Establish milestones and Gantt charts of operations.

Ensuring that reactions to possible changes are

• comprehensively researched and documented; and
• validated, including risk assessments.

Participants present

• valid personal action plans with links and dependencies;
• valid recommendations for new initiatives and change;
• valid possibilities for the implementation of recommendations;
• valid risks and benefits of the implementation of recommendations.

Planned actions are continuously reported and evaluated. Staff and stakeholders contribute emerging knowledge and intelligence and make continuous input to the progress of their action plan. They recommend researched and validated responses to actual or anticipated changes in the business environment. Recommendations are made to identified stakeholders and identified authorities and staff. Changes are implemented with the approval of the delegated officer/s. This results in continuous development of the business plan and accelerates corporate intelligence.

The plans can be documented on a sophisticated software package to record the articulation of individual action plans, links, sequences and progress. Snapshots of progress can be taken at any time, and milestones and critical events flagged for attention. A dynamic knowledge management library stores presentations, interviews, research documentation, articles of interest, links to key sources of information.

ACI supports the development of your Human capital capacity through Strength, Insight and Strategy (S.I.S.) group work

• idea-generation techniques;
• reflective skills and strategies;
• interpersonal skills and strategies;
• critical thinking skills and strategies;
• research skills and techniques.

A behavioural profiling and team development driver is available to supplement this business driver.

You have a business plan that builds your speed and agility to anticipate and respond to business challenges. Continuous inputs to this dynamic plan by staff and stakeholders = Accelerated Corporate Intelligence

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