Planning works when targets, resources and performance management stay connected

Planning works when targets, resources and performance management stay connected

A plan fails when ambition, resources and management cadence are produced in separate processes. Strategic targets may assume growth while budgets remove the capacity required; forecasts may update numbers without revisiting choices. Planning works as a closed loop that translates priorities into assumptions, commitments and rules for correction.

Begin with a limited hierarchy of outcomes and the operating drivers behind them. Define base conditions, strategic interventions and the resources each requires�people, capital, technology, inventory and leadership attention. Expose dependencies and capacity constraints before targets are negotiated. A gap between ambition and baseline is not a plan until funded actions plausibly close it.

Create one integrated operating and financial model. Connect demand, price, capacity, productivity and working capital to profit, cash and balance-sheet headroom. Assign owners to material assumptions and use ranges where uncertainty matters. The 2026 Green Book�s emphasis on scenarios, sensitivity and switching values prevents the preferred plan from masquerading as a fact.

Allocate resources through explicit portfolio choices, including what will stop. Tie staged funding to evidence and preserve buffers for uncertainty. Performance reviews should compare actuals, forecast and drivers, then decide an intervention�not merely explain variance. Reforecasting should change expected outcomes; reprioritization should change resources and accountability.

Review the system at different cadences: near-term cash and execution frequently, strategic assumptions and portfolio less often but before commitments become irreversible. Track decision follow-through and realized benefits. Planning creates control when targets guide resources, performance evidence changes the forecast, and the forecast triggers timely choices.