Business Planning Training

Strategic Planning Training   

The Masters of Business Planning Program
New dates to be added soon.

Note:
If you would like to be notified about the NEXT Masters of Business Planning Program session, please send us your contact information using the form below.

Over the years, many people have asked me how they can learn everything I know about business planning and strategic planning. Is there a training environment that is not only interactive and intensive, but also offers the ultimate in coaching and follow up? My answer has always been "no". I have delivered a "Boot Camp" type version to hundreds of planners over the past 5 years, but those were all one or two day programs and the chief complaint is always the same: "we need more time to interact, practice, workshop, and fully immerse in business planning." And from my perspective, I was always concerned that the complexities of business and strategic planning training just wouldn't stick without a really comprehensive follow up.

Well, I am finally going to do it... and I have set aside a week next year to present The Planning Group's "Masters of Business Planning Program".

I want the knowledge transfer to be over the top, so the intensive week long session is complimented by every possible tool, book, CD, and other study material that I can think of. More importantly, every participant of this program receives one year of personal coaching from me to ensure they have the ongoing support required to be successful.

Who Should Attend

This is not just business planning theory…this is hands on training for hardcore business and strategic planners. Based on the depth and intensity, The Masters of Business Planning Program is designed for two very specific niches:

1. Corporate Planners working in medium to large private or public sector organizations. This may also include very large national or international non-profits. Regardless of the organization, participants of this program should have accountability for business planning in their organization or major division. Target participants of The Masters of Business Planning Program likely fit the following criteria:
   • You report to the CEO, CFO, or divisional EVP.
   • You own the planning process in your organization, and you have the accountability to make it better.
   • You work closely with your organization or division's most senior team of executives in a facilitative capacity.
   • You have the word "Planning" in your title.
   • Your boss has charged you to "Fix your planning process!"

2. Consultants that are either independent or working in a big firm, and are engaged by their clients to assist with strategic and business planning. Quite frankly, you are competitors of The Planning Group... but I would rather teach you this important skill set and process than have someone else do it! If your clients are like ours they are looking for an engagement that won't leave them hanging on a nice strategy, but no action.

The Masters of Business Planning Program is conducted in English, but the perspective and experience of participants from outside of North America is most welcome.

What you and your Organization will Gain from Participation in the Masters of Business Planning Program

• A full blown business planning model that links strategic planning, operational planning, action planning, project planning, and financial planning.
• A proven, leading edge process to move your organization beyond a static annual planning process to a dynamic, rolling business planning process.
• The system, process, training and tools to ensure a robust discussion and clear articulation of your Board's vision and strategy.
• A longer term strategic plan that is integrated with operational and action plans.
• A tighter planning process that is flexible enough to support a dynamic operating environment.
• A clear plan of attack for your organization with concrete priorities and actions.
• Confidence among your stakeholders that the strategy and plans are well thought-out, credible, executable, and aligned with regional objectives.
• A strategy that balances short term targets with a deliberate, longer-term plan.
• Clear and measurable staff understanding of the priorities and strategy of your organization.
• A stronger emphasis on daily decisions driven by mandate, strategic fit, and a reasonable cost benefit.
• A more strategic view of how to measure the validity of proposed initiatives.

Components of the Masters of Business Planning Program

1. Week long intensive Masters of Business Planning Workshop program held at a US location yet to be announced. Although we schedule lots of time for fun and networking, there are about 50 hours of hard work involved over the 5 days.
2. The Masters of Business Planning Program Manual, which is over 400 pages long and contains the main supporting written material upon which the program is based.
3. An additional 400+ PowerPoint slides of sample workshops and facilitated sessions you will need to apply the program in your work.
4. Eight audio CD's of the core program delivered by me.
5. Data CD of close to 100 tools, templates, diagrams, facilitated sessions, and presentations used in the workshop. As a participant in the program you have full rights to use these any way you want in your work.
6. Password protected on-line lifetime access to all materials in electronic format, and the verbatim recording of our entire week of discussions.
7. Individualized pre-session discussions, preparation, and pre-work to maximize the value you get from the Masters of Business Planning session.
8. A full year of The Masters of Business Planning Mentor Program: one-on-one coaching with me to hone your skills and implement a better planning program in your organization.
9. Lifetime access to the Masters of Business Planning Interactive Alumni program.

Week Long Intensive Masters of Business Planning Workshop

The US location workshop is like completing an Executive MBA in Business and Strategic Planning. We mix plenty of instruction from me, with hands on workshops, role plays, planning session facilitations, and a daily talk from some of the most important strategists in North America. Equally important is a unique opportunity to work, network, interact, and learn with a small group of your peers.

Sample Workshop Agenda

Time Monday 8:00 Breakfast and registration 9:00 Introductions and icebreaker 10:00 Participant experiences and expectations 11:00 Review of the content for the week 11:30 Introduction to the Integrated Planning Model 12:00 Review of a typical planning engagement 12:30 Lunch 1:30 Understanding your role in business planning 2:00 Introduction to facilitation in planning 3:00 Facilitation role play and workshop 5:00 First discussion on pitching planning internally 5:30 Wrap up day one, prep for Tuesday 6:00 Adjourn 7:30 Cocktails and dinner	Time Tuesday 8:00 Breakfast, welcomes, and questions from Monday 9:00 Morning guest speaker: on "Gaining Competitive Advantage through Better Business Planning" 10:00 The Practical Vision Statement 11:00 Anatomy of a planning session 12:00 Lunch 1:00 Practical Vision workshop 5:00 Wrap up day two, prep for Wednesday 5:30 Break 8:00 Evening session to review our practical vision statements 9:00 Adjourn
Time Wednesday 8:00 Breakfast, welcomes, and questions from Tuesday 9:00 Morning guest speaker: on "Aligning a Diverse Organization to a Common Strategy" 10:00 Understanding Strategic Imperatives 11:00 Strategic Imperative workshop 12:30 Assumptions discussion and workshop 1:00 Lunch 2:00 A dose of reality: understanding weaknesses, threats, obstacles... and their root cause 2:30 The obstacle workshop 3:30 A Vision of Failure 5:00 Writing strategic imperative statements 6:00 Wrap up day three, prep for Thursday 6:30 Adjourn	Time Thursday 8:00 Breakfast, welcomes, and questions from Wednesday 9:00 Morning guest speaker: on "Knowledge Management as a Component of the Business Plan" 10:00 Operational Planning: Linking strategy to actions 11:00 The Planning-Execution gap 12:00 Lunch 1:00 The 7 deadly mistakes of business planning 2:00 Dynamic planning: Breaking the static annual planning cycle 3:00 Dynamic planning workshop: designing your organization’s quarterly planning cycle 5:00 Understanding value proposition 6:00 Wrap up day four, prep for Friday 6:30 Adjourn 7:30 Pizza dinner and informal discussion on implementing quarterly planning and rolling 4 quarter planning cycles in your organization
Time Friday 8:00 Breakfast, welcomes, and questions from Thursday 9:00 Morning guest speaker: on "Rebalancing and Tightly Integrating the Balanced Score Card with your Organization's Strategy" 10:00 Where the rubber hits the road: project and action planning 11:00 The 90 day personal action plan 12:00 Financial business planning 12:30 Better, faster, stronger, and smaller budgeting 1:00 Working lunch 1:00 Creating an effective target setting process 2:00 Next Steps and Adjourn

Masters of Business Planning Mentor Program

I have no greater fear than having participants leave this session without the proper support to actually put their new knowledge into practice. The knowledge transfer isn't complete until participants have institutionalized their new skills to actually create better planning processes and better plans for their organization or clients.

In the mentor program, participants get unlimited access to me by phone and e-mail for a period of 12 months (you can start before or after the session). I will respond to your e-mails the same day, except where travel makes it impossible. The mentor program is focused on helping participants institutionalize their training. In particular, we will work together to:

• Review planning session design
• Discuss and problem solve how to overcome organizational barriers to planning process implementation
• Debrief planning sessions…discuss problem people and situations and create a plan for improvement
• Review, assess, and edit session output and written plans
• Go beyond the scope of the training to truly incorporate business planning into any organization
• Review, assess, and recommend changes to full-scale planning process redesign initiatives

Masters of Business Planning Alumni Program

Every six months I will conduct a conference call of all Alumni of the Masters of Business Planning program to reconnect, share best practices, and use the wisdom of the group to solve problems for individual members. The calls will be taped and posted to the secure members' only web-site.

Tuition

The Masters of Business Planning tuition includes all of the components described above plus five breakfasts, five lunches, two dinners, and all the breaks at our session.

Discounts

• When 2 people register together, the second person will receive a discount.

Payments

A deposit of at least $500 is due upon registration. Payments may be made in 3 additional installments and final payment must be made by ONE month prior to the conference date.

Cancellation Policy

No refund for cancellations. Substitutions are allowed. If we cancel the program for any reason you will receive a full refund.

Availability

This must be a very small group to work well, so I am going to restrict the number of participants to just enough to fit around a small table in our workshops and training sessions.