Correctly including your assumptions in your story and business plan is also a protection to you should the situation change. In subsequent years you can check your thinking. Another protection is when someone changes the plan on you. If upper management changes its requirements, then you have every right to revisit the goals of the plan. Remember that you will resource your plan based on a set of assumptions. If those basic assumptions change, your resources will be out of alignment with your plan.
To correctly integrate assumptions into your plan consider the following:
- Assumptions are the basis for plan change. If the assumption fails, the plan must be changed. Act accordingly if this happens.
- Assumptions must be limited to things that you cannot validate. That is why they are still assumptions. While writing assumptions is an art and requires careful team discussion, some outstanding examples can be found in real company business plans. Here are seven examples of assumptions that were valid for each of their owner companies:
1. Our proposed credit line will be approved.
2. No natural disaster occurs that affects the price of lumber within the next two years.
3. We have no loss of clients from our existing customer base over the next year.
4. Access to the healthcare marketplace will be maintained.
5. We can find and hire a qualified information technology person within our salary offering by third quarter of next year.
6. We have no unexpected turnover of key team members within the next twelve months.
7. The Canadian–U.S. dollar exchange rate will stay stable for the next year.