How to read beyond the numbers

Budget, Sales targets, Revenue enhancement, Cost compression, Profit & Loss, EBITDA, Stock value.... 

I have found that many companies juggle with numbers like if they were in a circus until no end. Numbers get to fall all over the place and become hardly trackable or reconcilable. Numbers are the common ground for communication in a business. Numbers take form of a language in a company, your staff need to be able to understand number and use them as a communication tool as well.

So how do we actually get numbers to make sense again?

If I do a genius plan, will I be able to transform those numbers into reality?

No, not necessarily. In the best intention, companies do assess their SWOT, they build a strategic plans in all aspects of their business (corporate, product or services, sales, marketing, operations, support, financial, HR, etc... All those strategies and plans part of the echo-system of a company are unfortunately NOT а garantее of success... even if all the numbers are aligned in all the plans of the company.

Like many of you, I have seen the strategies, plans and results of many companies from different industries. I have found many times that the best strategies and plans come up at the end to not drive at all with the results. There is often a big GAP between the strategy and plans end the bottom line actual numbers.

So if my plan is not as genius as I thought, what will a company usually do?

Execs typically make changes in the pyramid by appointing a new senior here and there or by calling up an external consultant to figure out what's wrong and why that strategies and plans failed. The new eyes comes in and say,

"let's redo the strategy and plans"

and the story just repeats itself... We hand out to have (again) numbers and measures everywhere!

What else can we do?

• Do we really take the time to develop the strategies and plans with the staff?
  Statistics show that strategies and plans are built most of the time without our most precious knowledge base~ our employees! Your staff is your diamond! A real treasure, your most precious asset. Too many companies develop the strategies and plans by externals resources or by people that do not have the content and reality of the business.


Are the numbers really understood by the staff and all?
Do we really use the collective knowledge we have as a company?Ensure that the collective knowledge is used and that your plans are built with your stakeholders and staff. The best realistic comprehensive plans are done when knowledge is coming from all stakeholders including your key employees - they are your gogethers, they are the ones really having the hands to make things happen.
• Are the strategies and plans developed in silot? Did we integrate the plans?
Are they integrated throughout the revenue cycle?

• Did we breakdown the numbers so that they make sense to our team?
  
• How much time do we set on developing the strategies and plans?
• Are they validated bottom-up and top-bottom?
• Do we have an engagement or comitment from all stakeholders? Do not think that your stakeholders are your exec committee.

In the essence, the objectives, the baseline numbers need to make sense for all parties and need to be REALISTIC. This is the only way that the numbers will actually drive and make sense to all.

The worst unrealistic plans are done by execs when working in stand alone.

So in the end. If you help your employees to read beyond the numbers and involve them in building the strategies and plans, it is a certainty that you will maximize your results and NUMBERS!

What are your thoughts?