Does your team get planning paralysis during the budget process? How do you snap out of it?

Planning paralysis is common, especially after multiple iterations. I like to start with some board metrics. Do a bottom-up approach in the finance team with the business then check the consolidation against the board metrics and have the finance team re-engage the business with some opportunities to reach those metrics before it goes to the board. It is important to manage the senior stakeholders effectively by asking big picture questions on what we want from the budget and let the finance team and business manage through the details.

After the 1st budget iteration, I have seen senior management continue to "sharpen the pencil" to the point of ad nauseam pushing the final budget into Q1 or even Q2.  This is often the result of pushback or negotiation around the expectations of the Board or PE investors.