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Any growth plan should be written down if you expect it to have a lasting impact. When it is written down, the plan takes on the sort of permanence that you need. It can be easily shared with others. Drafts redo, and improvements can be made over time. Remember, the growth plan is a never-ending process, not an event with a start and stop date.

As I suggested before, most small businesses do have some semblance of a plan. Too often, this means the plan is in the owner’s head, passed on to the next level of management by word-of-mouth on a need-to-know basis. Like the old children’s game of “telephone,” by the time the directive reaches someone who actually needs it to do his or her job, the message has often become hopelessly garbled.

Did you ever see the classic screwball movie Caddy shack? In it, the executive director of the golf club gives specific instructions to the head greens keeper to “kill all the gophers.” By the time the instructions reach Bill Murray’s character, he’s understood that he is to “kill all the golfers.” The situation is not only hilarious, but also should be familiar to any manager who relies on the spoken word to communicate important in-formation and directions.

The act of writing down notes from the meeting is also imperative. Always assign a nonparticipating scribe. I’ve seen some groups rotate the responsibility among the regular participants. More often than not, there is one person best suited to the role who should take on the task each time.