You know the names of the most recent batch. We have all been impacted, in one way or another, by downsizing, re-engineering, restructuring, delayering and so on.

Re-engineering is a solid business management tool, but applied incorrectly it can cause more harm than good. Downsizing, when done improperly, is appropriately called dumbsizing.

The latest management buzzword isn’t really a trend. It is more a reaction to the last few trends. The new buzzword is brightsizing. While it provides more opportunity for comic relief, courtesy of Dilbert, it is no laughing matter. Brightsizing is downright dangerous and you need to protect your organization from it.

Brightsizing is defined, by Paul McFedries’ Word Spy, as “corporate downsizing in which the brightest workers are let go. This happens when a company lays off those workers with the least seniority, but its those young workers who are often the best trained and educated.”

Sometimes brightsizing is blamed on union contracts, which enforce seniority-based hiring/firing practices. It is, unfortunately, just as common in non-union companies.

Many companies have policy statements in their employee handbooks that state that in layoff decisions “among equally qualified candidates preference will be given to the employee with the greatest seniority.”

When faced with decisions that will result in a reduction in staff, make sure you first evaluate the value of the employee to the organization and THEN look at other mitigating factors, such as length of time with the company.

One company I worked with kept an individual with them because he was one of their first employees. They kept finding jobs he could do as the company grew rapidly and outgrew his capabilities. Eventually, the made him responsible for picking up dignitaries at the airport and bringing them to the office.

While I believe in company loyalty and retraining employees, you have to draw the line somewhere based on performance and value to the company. The driver had gotten old, was nearly blind, and could not even converse socially with the dignitaries he picked up. He did not make a good first impression for the company.

This individual, incidentally, became an even greater liability to the company because he never adjusted to the changing social rules on interpersonal conduct. His remarks and actions were usually dismissed because “he’s just a harmless old man”, but the potential for a harassment lawsuit was significant.

Remember, your first obligation is to the health of your company, not to any individual. While it is important that you respect your employees as a group, and always treat them fairly, you can not sacrifice the company for any individual. If the company suffers as a result of poor personnel decisions on your part, it may result in further downsizing and more employees would have to be released.

Don’t brightsize your company by keeping people with the greatest seniority. Don’t cripple it, either, by applying any other arbitrary measurement. Don’t just keep the tall people, for instance, or the blondes. Don’t keep people just because they are friendly or dependable. Make all your staffing decisions based on what is best for the company.

What factors are involved in creating a good business plan? Is it the length of the plan? The information it covers? How well it’s written, or the brilliance of its strategy. No.

The following illustration shows a business plan as part of a process. You can think about the good or bad of a plan as the plan itself, measuring its value by its contents. There are some qualities in a plan that make it more likely to create results, and these are important. However, it is even better to see the plan as part of the whole process of results, because even a great plan is wasted if nobody follows it.

Planning is a process, not just a plan

A business plan will be hard to implement unless it is simple, specific, realistic and complete. Even if it is all these things, a good plan will need someone to follow up and check on it. The plan depends on the human elements around it, particularly the process of commitment and involvement, and the tracking and follow-up that comes afterward.

Successful implementation starts with a good plan. There are elements that will make a plan more likely to be successfully implemented. Some of the clues to implementation include:

1. Is the plan simple? Is it easy to understand and to act on? Does it communicate its contents easily and practically?
2. Is the plan specific? Are its objectives concrete and measurable? Does it include specific actions and activities, each with specific dates of completion, specific persons responsible and specific budgets?
3. Is the plan realistic? Are the sales goals, expense budgets, and milestone dates realistic? Nothing stifles implementation like unrealistic goals.
4. Is the plan complete? Does it include all the necessary elements? Requirements of a business plan vary, depending on the context. There is no guarantee, however, that the plan will work if it doesn’t cover the main bases.

Uses of business plans
too many people think of business plans as something you do to start a company, apply for a loan, or find investors. Yes, they are vital for those purposes, but there’s a lot more to it.

Preparing a business plan is an organized, logical way to look at all of the important aspects of a business. First, decide what you will use the plan for, such as to:

• Define and fix objectives, and programs to achieve those objectives.
• Create regular business review and course correction.
• Define a new business.
• Support a loan application.
• Define agreements between partners.
• Set a value on a business for sale or legal purposes.
• Evaluate a new product line, promotion, or expansion.

No time to plan? A common misconception
“Not enough time for a plan,” business people say. “I can’t plan. I’m too busy getting things done.” A business plan now can save time and stress later.

Too many businesses make business plans only when they have to. Unless a bank or investors want to look at a business plan, there isn’t likely to be a plan written. The busier you are, the more you need to plan. If you are always putting out fires, you should build fire breaks or a sprinkler system. You can lose the whole forest for too much attention to the individual trees.

Keys to better business plans

• Use a business plan to set concrete goals, responsibilities, and deadlines to guide your business.
• A good business plan assigns tasks to people or departments and sets milestones and deadlines for tracking implementation.
• A practical business plan includes 10 parts implementation for every one part strategy.
• As part of the implementation of a business plan, it should provide a forum for regular review and course corrections.
• Good business plans are practical.

Business plan “don’ts”

• Don’t use a business plan to show how much you know about your business.
• Nobody reads a long-winded business plan: not bankers, bosses, nor venture capitalists. Years ago, people were favorably impressed by long plans. Today, nobody is interested in a business plan more than 50 pages long.

What can help me write a good business plan?

• Sample business plans – Over 100 free sample business plans from various industries
• Business plan template – This fill-in-the-blank business plan template is in the format preferred by the SBA and banks
• Start a business – An easy to follow six step process with plenty of information for helping to start a new business
• Business plan software – The #1 best selling business plan software helps you to write a professional business plan