You have read many articles about business planning. You know what is in such a plan: Mission, vision, Values, Objectives, SWOT analysis, Action plan, Marketing plan, Financial plan. You know the steps how to write such a plan: hiring a consultant, or not. Preparation of the workshop. Draft the plan and discuss this with staff and personal. You that.
But do you realize that business planning is an important business ritual? A ritual is a set of actions, performed mainly for their symbolic value. It may be prescribed by the traditions of a community, including a religious community. The term usually refers to actions which are stylized, excluding actions which are arbitrarily chosen by the performers. Rituals have a more basic social function in expressing, fixing and reinforcing the shared values and beliefs of a society.
So during the business planning process the organization comes together as a tribe. Success is celebrated and the tribe plans the new season and prays for another good business year. Now you might conclude that the business planning process is non sense. But my message is the opposite. I advocate that organizations take this ritual much more seriously. Rituals always have been a very important human activity.
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