Finance sets the envelope in October. Commercial builds the forecast. Operations finds out in December and absorbs the difference. A planning session puts the three in one room, with real numbers, and produces decisions that have owners and dates against them.
Tell us what you're planningChoose by the scope of the decision, not by the size of the budget. Most companies planning a full year use the one-day format.
One site or one function, used to settle a specific question — a network change, a peak season plan, a 3PL decision. Six to ten people.
Cross-functional. Operations, commercial and finance in the same room with twelve months of actual performance data. Eight to fifteen people.
Day one as above. Day two converts the decisions into what the team needs in order to deliver them — skills gaps, training scope, sequencing.
Sessions run on evidence, not opinion. Where the data is not already in one place, we assemble it first.
This is the Assess step. It usually takes one to two weeks and draws on data your systems already hold. It is what separates a session that changes something from one that produces a document.
Operations lead. Commercial or sales lead. Finance. Whoever owns the P&L for the region or business unit.
The session works when someone in the room can say yes. It does not work as a management briefing.
A short note is enough. We will come back with a recommended format and what the pre-work would involve for your business.