FIRESTARTER ACADEMY COURSE
Practical Business Planning
If you are running or building a business, you can learn how to grip your strategic thinking and turn it into a meaningful, executable business plan with tried and tested techniques and tools on our 'Practical Business Planning' course from the Firestarter Academy.
About This Course
Ideal for business owners and senior leaders, Practical Business Planning includes 5 core modules that will take you through the full process of business planning, from setting your strategic intent at the beginning right through to developing your product strategy, building a financial plan and ultimately ensuring that you can execute and deliver your plan.
Practical Business Planning is delivered over five informative modules:
MODULE 1
Gripping your strategy in 3 easy steps
Articulating strategy can be overwhelming and a job that either never gets done or is done in such a way that once complete, the sense is you have reached the end, not the beginning of your strategic journey. We focus on 3 simple exercises which between them articulate your strategic intent, link this to all the functions of your business and translate complex action streams into a manageable “vital few” set of priorities.
MODULE 2
A product strategy on a page (PSOAP)
Being able to articulate a clear product strategy will drive not only your commercial (financial) thinking but also the whole basis of your operational business. We’ll help you deliver a speedy, but far-reaching methodology for gripping the entire reach of your product strategy on a single page – a game-changing tool for really working out where to focus.
MODULE 3
Building the right organisational shape for your business
Based on your commercial and operational goals, you need a very focused organisational development plan – this can be overwhelming with challenges relating to both existing and new staff. Stripping your organisation strategy right down and rebuilding it so that it is fit for purpose – linking people to strategy and finding out how to build the best team from existing and new employees.
MODULE 4
Building a 3 year financial plan efficiently
Financial planning can be overwhelming, but the exercise needs to be efficient, not over-engineered. Linking your plan carefully to your Product Strategy will take you a logical speedy journey to build a clear and robust strategy. In this module, we’ll bring all of your planning together into a practical (and flexible) financial plan – starting from today and articulating the path to your aspirational targets – a real basis to run your business.
MODULE 5
Embedding ‘Rhythm & Rigour’ – being a more efficient manager
The classic issue in businesses is that even if they “nail” their strategy documents, they “fail” to make the time or stick to the discipline of pushing the strategy through – the day job gets in the way. We’ll focus on developing effective rhythm around the execution of your strategic priorities; linking long term goals to short term activity and engaging your whole team in this process.
Our next course starts 10th January 2022:
How the Academy courses work
Each Firestarter Academy course features 5 modules consisting of group sessions with between 6-10 participants, and an hour-long 1:1 session for each delegate (1 hour for each session). We provide all course materials and you will have direct and ongoing access to your course tutor throughout the programme to support with exercises and questions.
The courses are specifically designed with small cohorts so that we can focus on practical and implementable learning, with NDAs established with all parties at the outset to encourage open conversation and sharing of real and relevant examples, not just theoretical and forgettable classroom content.
Each module consists of a structured 90-minute online session, with core content delivered to set an ethos and best practice for each subject. With a 50:50 ratio of lecture and practical activity, we encourage breakouts in each module, with small group sessions to drive learning, experimentation and confidence.
All modules are designed to focus on ‘real life’ scenarios, with exercises that delegates can take away to implement in their day-to-day business lives. We also ensure that the module content is connected to individual 1:1 requirements, and provide in-module mentoring to assist with personal development.
