📘New Approaches to Planning

Big business is trying to evolve their planning into the new accelerated world.

🧭 The approach matters more than the plan itself.

Over the last two years, nearly every major consulting house, including McKinsey, has published some version of the same conclusion: planning cycles are shortening, assumptions are updated more often, and teams are steering with lighter, faster frameworks instead of once-a-year plans.

This simply makes sense. Markets move faster. Information moves faster. Plans age quickly. Leaders need signals early enough to adjust, not reports that tidy up what already happened.

And the logic applies even more directly to SMEs:

⚡ signals show up sooner
🎯 priority shifts matter more
🧩 capacity constraints surface earlier
💸 misalignment is more expensive

Many small companies already operate this way by default - adjusting quickly, revisiting priorities often, and steering from conversations rather than formal documents.

Modern planning gives structure and language to what SMEs already do instinctively and makes outcomes more predictable. Unlike large corporates, SMEs do not need layers of buy-in to shift how planning works. You can adopt the newer planning approach immediately because the business is small enough to respond and tight enough to benefit.

2) The new planning mindset SMEs benefit from

🔹 Shift 1 - From static plans to directional frameworks

Big organisations are reducing planning weight and increasing planning frequency. SMEs benefit even more because lighter frameworks give faster clarity and fewer bottlenecks.

💡 A lighter plan creates faster clarity.

🔹 Shift 2 - From leadership-only to shared planning

Planning only works if perspectives align. Large organisations have formalised this; SMEs feel the impact instantly when assumptions diverge between founder, leadership, and delivery teams.

🧭 Alignment comes from shared perspective, not shared documents.

🔹 Shift 3 - From forecasting certainty to early signals

Certainty is gone. Modern planning focuses on seeing movement early enough to steer.

🔁 Planning is no longer about prediction - it is about response.

3) What new approaches to planning look like in practice

🔸 A) Shorter planning cycles

Think in 3 to 4 month blocks, not 12. You do not need a perfect annual plan. You need direction and a rhythm that lets you correct early rather than making a large reset when the year is already half gone.

🔸 B) Planning linked directly to capacity

Direction only matters if your team has the time and skills to deliver it. This is where budgeting and planning join: direction to timing to capacity to money. If the hours and skills do not exist, the plan is just paperwork.

👉 This is exactly the gap that Build a Budget You Can Steer By is designed to close.

🔸 C) Priorities expressed as actions, not statements

Not: Improve customer experience.

Instead:
Reduce onboarding time by 20 percent
Handle support within one working day
Get 80 percent of new customers using a feature in month one

When priorities are actions, planning becomes executable rather than conceptual.

🔸 D) Budgets used as steering signals

Budgets become practical indicators of movement rather than static annual spreadsheets. They show shifts in timing, pressure points, and demand patterns.

👉 Read Build a Budget You Can Steer By alongside this post — they are two sides of the same steering problem.

⭐ Talk to Advancement Quest about your planning approach. https://www.advancementquest.com/contactus 

4) How this connects in practice

Modern planning mirrors the same pattern used across the stages of the Business Direction Flywheel:

👀 Scan what is changing inside and outside the business
🎯 Set focus and KPIs for the next 3 to 12 months
🛠️ Plan the key projects and actions the team can deliver
🤝 Sign off together so ownership is clear
📅 Execute with a monthly and quarterly rhythm that keeps direction aligned with delivery

You do not need to run the whole Flywheel every time. But using these steps as reference points creates the same advantages the big companies are chasing, with less overhead and more practicality for SMEs.

5) A simple planning checklist to start with

☑️ Write your 3 to 12 month focus in one sentence.
☑️ List 3 to 5 outcomes that prove progress.
☑️ Define 1 to 2 actions for each outcome for the next 90 days.
☑️ Check capacity and adjust scope if hours do not match.
☑️ Use budget ranges rather than fixed numbers to show movement.
☑️ Assign ownership by name, not role.
☑️ Schedule a monthly check-in and a quarterly reset.

This sequence fits into a single working session and makes the next 90 days steerable.

6) What to stop doing

❌ over-detailed annual plans
❌ static numbers that never change
❌ planning without team visibility
❌ tracking activity instead of movement
❌ keeping assumptions outside the plan

The fewer of these you keep, the easier planning becomes.

7) What a modern plan should give you

⭐ clear quarterly priorities
⭐ visibility on capacity, not just targets
⭐ early signals when assumptions shift
⭐ earlier decisions with less rework
⭐ a planning rhythm that stays alive all year

If you want a planning approach built for the new pace of business — and you like the principles behind the Business Direction Flywheel - we can help you apply it to your own context and constraints.

👉 Talk to Advancement Quest about your planning and direction:
https://www.advancementquest.com/contactus