When designing a business plan, one effective method is the “What Needs Fixing” approach. This involves identifying and addressing any obstacles blocking progress towards your goals.
Let’s visualize this process through a simple illustration
Imagine your current business situation represented by a box labeled “A”. Your desired future state is the larger circle “B”. The goal of your plan is to get from A to B.
Nevertheless, the pathway from “A” to “B” is seldom straightforward. Your business’s journey is likely fraught with obstacles or barriers, hindering progress and potentially bringing it to a standstill.
This is depicted in the diagram below:
The purpose of the “What Needs Fixing” style of business plan is to find ways to overcome these roadblocks or discover alternative routes around them. The plan focuses on solving problems rather than just describing goals.
By analyzing challenges and devising solutions, you can map out an actionable strategy to navigate around barriers on your route to future success. The end result is a practical business plan grounded in addressing current realities and needs.
This obstacle-focused approach helps convert an abstract vision into achievable steps by confronting the things that require fixing for progress to occur. It leads to realistic planning that tackles the true work required to get from where you are now to where you aim to be.