Planning Tools

On this page you will find tools that we feel are helpful throughout the planning process.

Strategic Alignment Tools

The test for Excellence

YES	#	Question
	1.	Are you, yourself, in awe of the employees who work for you?
	2.	Does your CEO show admiration for his or her staff?
	3.	Is your company effective - consistently delivering the goods that someone needs and getting feedback that you have met the requirements satisfactorily? And, does this manifest itself by increasing number of repeat orders and growing sales? (You must answer "YES" to both.)
	4.	Is your company efficient - finding ways to be economical without compromising quality or service or slowing down reaction times? Does it manifest itself by growing profits? (You must answer "YES" to both.)
	5.	Are your company's long-term activities (planning, training, listening, financing, R & D) balanced with short-term activities (responding quickly to problems, reacting right away to customer requests and demands, dealing with employee issues in a timely fashion)? That is, do the long-term and short-term issues work in conjunction with one another without one destroying the effort of the other? Does this manifest itself by a pervasive, company-wide, positive attitude? (You must answer "YES" to both.)
	6.	Does your company have a mechanism to monitor bureaucracy, to make sure it does not grow to interfere with the ability of the company to dance lightly on its feet?
	7.	Can you articulate your company's measures for bureaucracy monitoring?
	8.	Does every group and subgroup meet once a week at an agreed time to discuss issues and exchange ideas? Does an action list for follow-up evolve from each such meeting? (You must answer "YES" to both.)
	9.	Is innovation and constant questioning ported down and throughout the organization? Is it allowed to thrive at every level?
	10.	Are you, yourself, having fun manifested by your being, anxious to go to work each day?

10 out of 10 indicates a proximity to Excellence

To the description for Excellence.