The best of the business planning tools: The Business Lifesystem®

This is the second in my series of blogs describing my approach to the strategic planning process including the best of the business planning tools, the Business Lifesystem®.

The Business Lifesystem® is an innovative strategic and operational planning model. It simplifies and streamlines the strategic planning process for complex organisations.

You can find our series of blogs on how to write a strategic plan that seriously improves your business performance here;

1. Strategic planning process: how to meet business challenges head on

2. The best of the business planning tools: The Business Lifesystem®

3. Your business management system: know your business drivers

4. Business planning: the important things you didn’t know

5. Your risk management process: is it the right one?

6. Strategic planning: how to ensure delivery of your planned strategy

Your organisation is a complicated mix of people and processes. The strategic planning cycle is often lengthy and changeable. The Business Lifesystem® is a model for strategic planning which streamlines the process and ensures consistency across your organisation.

Business planning tools: The Business Lifesystem® has three aspects to it:

1. Environment - the External Environment. An assessment of the opportunities for, and threats against the business.

2. Nurture - the Internal Environment. An assessment of the strengths and weaknesses within the business.

3. Nature - the Business DNA. The architecture of what the business is trying to achieve expressed as a cohesive set of Business Objectives and Business Outcomes.

These three aspects manifest themselves as six layers within the business model:

1. External Business Drivers - threats and opportunities external to the organisation that can have an impact on the scope, prioritisation and focus of the business.

2. Internal Value Drivers - strengths and weaknesses within the organisation that must be managed in order to maximise the opportunities and minimise the threats in the external environment.

3. Business Objectives - an articulation of what the organisation is trying to accomplish as a set of Business Objectives.

4. Business Outcomes - a quantification of the business value or benefits attributable to the Business Objectives that makes them quantifiable, measurable, timely and specific.

5. Enablers - the assets, processes, deliverables, capability and capacity in which the organisation invests in order to deliver the Business Outcomes.

6. Delivery Management Vehicles (DMV) - governance, structures, processes and methodologies that ensure effective and managed delivery of Enablers and Business Outcomes. DMVs include Portfolios, Programmes, Projects and Work-streams.

The Business Lifesystem® is the best of the business planning tools because it is a flexible and highly adaptable model for the strategic planning of complex organisations. It streamlines the planning process and ensures consistency across and through your organisation.

Business planning tools: next steps

Our next blog offers more detail on the Business Lifesystem®, which describes how this strategic planning model applies the concepts of external business drivers and internal value drivers.

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