If your company has a management team, divide the work involved in putting together your written business plan. The size of the team you bring together to develop your business plan depends on the size and structure of your company and on the complexity of the business plan you're developing.
If your company is small, you don't need to worry about who's in charge of each piece of your written plan. Lucky you: You're in charge of it all! However, that doesn't mean you have to develop the plan alone. Your plan will be stronger if you bounce your thoughts around with someone who's willing to serve as a sounding board. Also, enlist someone you trust to read and critique your final draft before you print the final copy.
If your company is moderately sized to large, the process of creating your written plan requires a certain amount of organization. Delegating makes your job easier. In addition, different perspectives prove helpful as your team reads and reviews drafts, offers suggestions, and fine-tunes the document. Managed well, the group will arrive at a stronger plan, and you'll win group support and improve morale at the same time.
How many people you involve depends on the size of your company and how big and complicated your plan is. No matter how big you want your team to be, here are some tips to help you create a team that's both efficient and effective:
Keep your team lean. Involve only the number of people you think you really need to get the job done. Too many planners — like too many cooks in the kitchen — can spoil the recipe for successful planning. A bloated team can mean endless meetings and too many points of view.
Choose people who want the job. There's no point in assigning a planning task to someone who really doesn't want to do it. To help win team interest, take time at the beginning to explain why creating a written business plan is so important. Select managers who really want to help and who are willing and able to complete the tasks you assign.
Organize your team around the plan. By organizing your team around the major components of your business plan, you make sure that all team members know their tasks and how their work fits into the larger picture.
Some of the assignments are pretty straightforward: Your financial person should take charge of the financial review, and your marketing head should put together the business environment and marketing sections. If certain pieces of the plan are more complex than others, think about assigning a small group to work on them.
Put one person in charge. Every team needs a leader, and that's particularly true when putting together your business plan. Keeping track of the whole process can be a job in itself, especially if you have a larger team or a complicated plan. Name one person as project director and make sure everyone on the team understands that he has ultimate authority.
Appoint a wordsmith. If you're lucky, someone on your team is good at putting words down on paper. Name this person your senior plan editor. Among the tasks: writing key sections of your plan, such as the executive summary; checking grammar and spelling; and making sure that the writing style is clear and consistent throughout the plan.
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Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/tips-on-assembling-your-businessplanning-team.html
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