QUOTE
“If you don’t learn from your mistakes, there’s no sense in making them” Anon
Often we find ourselves in positions of leadership, either formally appointed or informally recognized by a group of followers or peers. Either way it presents us with some key obligations and must do’s if we are to discharge that role successfully.
This week we look at one of these core activities of a leader i.e PLANNING. Planning is regarded as one of the 4 key management activities: Plan – Organize – Implement – Evaluate found in most management and leadership textbooks. To us planning itself is about building a structured ‘start to finish’ outline of an intended activity, breaking it down into smaller sections and then challenging each section for possible “what if….happens?” to test for things that may not work or could go wrong. It should list the actions needed between now and completion, WHO will be responsible for each action, and BY WHEN should the action be completed. Steps to build a plan include:
- Agree the task or activity to be completed
- Determine the time frame and budget requirements
- List the people and resources available to help you
- Identify any permissions, bookings, or formal agreements needed
- Put all the action steps in sequence and highlight any showstopper times and dates and priorities
- Hold a short planning meeting with your helping team to get alignment and critical feedback on the plans.
Planning is often done very hastily, but experience shows that an investment of time upfront can certainly save many hours of anguish later.
Key take-outs
- Even simple planning up front will ease things later on.
- Planning need not be to extreme details, but should cover all key items
- All of us can plan – all it takes is a pencil & paper (or iPad/PC) and a few moments