Basics of planning
INDIVIDUALS, as well as organisations, like being rewarded. After all organisations are made up of people, and people feel happy when they achieve something they have desired. Goal setting is essentially the act of articulating that desire; something to aim for and work towards.
Now, it is quite possible that one may reach their goals purely by happenstance, but mostly that does not happen.
We need to work towards achieving our goals.
One common attribute between humans and organisations is that we want to get the best results for the least amount of effort.
This means that we want to minimise the work we want to put into achieving our goals.
In order to do this, some people buy a lottery ticket and call it luck, and others engage in an activity called planning.
The core definition of planning is essentially the same for individuals and organisations.
It is the process of deciding what you want to do, and how are you going to go about doing it, with the objective of achieving your desired outcomes.
We plan our day, we plan each activity during the day, we plan for a future event, we plan for our careers etc.
A daily plan, a project plan, an annual operational plan, or a strategic plan are all examples of plans, just with varying horizons.
Each type of plan has a starting point and a predetermined end-destination.
Everything in the middle is set by design to maintain best course, reduce risk, accommodate contingencies, engage efficiencies, and make timely progress.
A good planner has the ability to intrinsically link everything you do and how you do it, in ever expanding circles that build on the achievements from previous circles. So, what can you do to be a great planner?
■ Step one: Know where you want to be. Know your goals. It is prudent to continuously evaluate your path to the goal and to adjust it occasionally, but the goal itself should be etched in stone, so to say. If you really want to change the goal itself, then that is a different matter and process altogether.
The goal should be the constant in the equation. Goal setting in itself is a topic we will cover at a later date, however, keep in mind that the world is ever evolving. Take into consideration the time it will take for you to achieve your goal, and how time will affect the value and purpose of your achievement. Many people find it useful at the start of their planning process to aim for things in the future that may appear slightly out of reach.
■ Step two: Know where you are starting from. Look around, assess the surroundings, get external opinions, know as much as you possibly can to accurately pin point your starting point. It is a comprehensive scan of what you are doing and achieving, what your competition is doing and aiming for, and where the world is going. Know the resources you have available and ones you can tap into when you need them. Figure out how long you have at your current position to start on the plan, before the current starting point becomes irrelevant. Know your pain points and your tolerance levels. Be aware of the capacity and commitment levels of everyone in the team.
■ Step three: Set the path. Consult widely with relevant people; listen to what the nay-sayers have to say; register risks that you see now and into the future; entertain opinions, but rely on analyses; and, map out multiple pathways. It is important to know clearly the path you are going to take. However, it is equally important to also know the alternate options available to you, and the conditions under which you can take the diversions. Contingency plans are an essential part of every plan. Planned flexibility is much preferred over forced flexibility when setting the path.
■ Step four: Set markers. Every road has road signs and mile markers that let you know your location.
Similarly, every plan should have achievement markers that let you gauge your progress towards your goal at any given time. These markers can be outputs from activities and/or projects. They can be assessments against certain criteria. They can even be comparisons against certain benchmarks and allowable tolerances. These markers will help you maintain a predetermined rate of progress, as well as illuminate any need for course correction.
■ Step five: The next destination. A good planner is always worrying about the future. This means that the planner is already thinking beyond the destination, even before reaching the current destination. Every good plan builds into it the conduits and transitions into the next plan. This destination becomes the starting point for the next journey.
We start this series of articles with a very generic topic. As we progress, we will cover a wide variety of topics at various depths. We will talk about specific types of plans, leadership, productivity, business process improvement, and anything that our readers have particular interest in and request us to cover.
In conclusion: To make these articles useful to you in a practical sense, think of a personal situation and go through the steps mentioned above to actually create a plan.
Now contemplate how this plan can fit into a larger plan. You could take the same approach for your business, no matter what the size. Dr Dilawar Grewal leads Augeo Asia Pacific, a Fiji based company that partners with organisations to connect the dots between strategic planning, operational planning, business process optimisation, and performance management. Dr Grewal is a strategic thinker and planner, and is skilled at creating pathways to organisational successes for the public and private sectors in the Pacific. For more information or to discuss solutions in more depth, please contact Dr Grewal at AugeoAP@AugeoAP.com or visit AugeoAP.com