This chapter describes one of the most important elements of your business plan. It is the element that provides alignment between and among the functions of your business. | CHAPTER 6 The Six Driving Forces That Affect Your Business Plan And How to Focus on the Best One for Your Company s Needs This chapter describes one of the most important elements of your business plan. It is the element that provides alignment between and among the functions of your business. Without this element you cannot move toward coordinated goal accomplishment. 149 150 Seven Steps to a Successful Business Plan Typically planning teams spend time discussing the current state of their business situation. Equal time is spent discussing the future. Almost no time is spent discussing how to get from one state as is to the other state to be. Goals will not do the job. To get to the future requires more than letting the organization run unchecked toward goals. The management team must drive the organization. I m not using the term drive as in driving a reluctant mule toward the barn. It means instead taking an active rather than passive approach. It includes steering a course with all employees speaking the same business language aiming toward the same goals and moving with the same level of enthusiasm. Employees reach a level of alignment throughout the organization when you clarify this element. Goal alignment of individuals with the organization s needs has long been a target of management theorists. Usually the wants and needs of the individual are compared to the wants and needs of the organization. That takes you nowhere. Too often the wants and needs of the organization and the employee are not compatible. What I m suggesting is to align the business behaviors of all the people within the system. Alignment is achieved by using a single operational focus. To move from mission to vision you have a number of business drivers that provide energy power and force to your story and create this operational alignment. Over the years I identified and refined six specific fields of energy that drive your goal accomplishment. I ve also come to the conclusion that you .
