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"Success is the residue of planning",said Benjamin Franklin. However, many entrepreneurs get busy and bogged down by a lot of action in accomplishing their business goals, without really pausing to plan first. The big debate hovers - whether planning is at all important to business. You will be surprised to know that the answer is a loud and clear YES! The success of a business is measured by the extent of planning that goes into framing the objectives. Planning provides just the right kind of guidance for the business to arrive at its objectives. It is through the planning function that the manager focuses his attention on the formulation of objectives." (Peter F. Drucker). There is more to the importance of business planning as cited below :

1. The absence of proper planning often leads to a bunch of aimless activities. Running a business process without proper planning ultimately leads to a situation whereby actions either "hit" or "miss" the targets, leading to mere random decisions. This results in a lot of confusion and chaos.

2. Since the future is anyway uncertain and tough to predict, planning helps to reduce the risk and insecurity. In a business, planning aids in maintaining stringent control on future happenings.

3. Planning is crucial in the optimisation of the business and resources. Since planning ensures the various activities are in order and directed towards a purpose, the resources available at hand are utilized to the optimum and at maximum efficiency. This helps in eliminating all forms of wastages and makes the business processes economical by minimizing the operational cost.

4. Planning ensures that the business runs like a well-oiled machine and provides the basis of control. With the help of planning, businesses can achieve good clarity about the standards and targets to be achieved. An example of the control function that runs great with proper planning is that of the budgetary control technique.

5. Another aspect to a successful business strategy is the inclusion of technology and automation. Once again, it is through proper planning that an organization can foresee the possibilities of technological developments and take the necessary steps to implement the same.

6. Planning allows the workers to be more systematic in their approach to the work. This also allows them to openly voice their problems to their supervisors and thus allows a better communication pathway, better teamwork and thus better work output within the organization.

The business plan drawn up after meticulous planning, however, needs periodic reviews and necessary tweaks may be brought about along the way if needed. The year 2020 started on a positive note for a lot of business houses, only to be caught off-guard and thrown into a deep pit of uncertainty and despair, owing to the pandemic wave. Business strategies had to be altered overnight. Companies resorted to various means to stay afloat and survive in the harsh conditions, downsizing, complete shutdown, pay cuts, resource mobilization, operational shifts to cater to the demands of the market etc are only a few drastic changes to name a few.

As the world today slowly gets back to the new normal, businesses are resuming their operations and once again planning for the future. The pandemic has actually taught the importance of effective planning for businesses like never before. Organizations today refrain from planning based on random hypotheses or simply on "what if" analysis. Experts recommend frequent planning on a short term basis to enable businesses to respond better to various external and internal changes in the market. With the help of effective planning, businesses can have the critical data handy, which in times of crisis, such as a pandemic scenario can be extremely useful to arrive at important decisions. Gradually, there is a shift in the thought process of business leaders across the world whereby they are inculcating the planning process as an organic step in their business strategy rather than considering it as an exclusive event.

GrowthX, as the name suggests, helps to grow your business exponentially by a focussed approach and effective planning happens to be one such mantra. GrowthX is the dream that a renowned coach, Ameya nurtured over the years. Coach Ameya's mission is to help ambitious business houses to develop and implement strategies to create empowered organizations that are profitable. GrowthX adopts the methodology of systems and learnings to create success stories for organizations. Businesses need a coach to develop their short and long term strategies to improve specific areas that are otherwise likely to get ignored. GrowthX not only helps businesses to survive but it ensures that they sustain as well.

Ameya, at GrowthX, emphasizes the adoption of a systematic approach of planning, converting it to business excellence finally. The planning habit is driven across the organization through an interesting concept called "Growth Club". This concept strives to promote the essence of planning as a continuous practice. almost like a habit. GrowthX, based on its numerous past success chronicles, vouches for the importance of planning especially in volatile market conditions, enabling the businesses to adapt fast to changing market graphs.

What is a Growth Club?
A Growth Club is a session that is held at an interval of 90 days to arrive at actionable and relevant business plans. It follows the workshop model which helps the clients to design their plan and prepare their 90-day actionable. The purpose of Growth Club is to review at what stage is the business in terms of its long-term plan and what are the milestones that the organization has achieved in the last quarter (90 days). Apart from analyzing the factors that proved to be favourable for the business vis-a-vis the ones that needed improvement, the Growth Club concept also allows the business leaders to collaborate with their coaches to develop the "way forward" plans for the next 90 days. Growth Clubs are team activities that provide a platform to the stakeholders to voice their ideas with other business owners in a safe and non-competitive environment. This form of brainstorming and knowledge sharing enhances the learning and provides them with an avenue to plan their business as well as personal lives better!

Book your free business health check-up with Coach Ameya now and enjoy your GrowthX experience https://bit.ly/38q1i12