MANAGEMENT FUCTION - PLANNING 💂

PLANNING

What is planning is all about? Why planning is important? What is the steps of planning? All these question always hunt us when we talk about planning. However we do realise that "planning" will not guarrantee the success but will also have the failure part of it. So the challenging part is to plan while minimising the risk of failure in it.

1. Planning helps identify goals

One of the most beneficial aspect of planning is in creating goals to accomplish. When you sit down and write out what you want to accomplish you will be surprised how this goal structure lends itself to creating a plan for accomplishing them. There are a couple of different strategies when working on goals. Some of the more popular include creating three goal types, short-term, mid-term, and long-term.

Short-term goals are those items you would like to see done in the next 2-3 days. These goals are quick, easy to accomplish and relatively simple goals. The mid-term goals are things you’d like to accomplish in the next few weeks or months. This is the broadest time scope and can vary in degree of difficulty. Ultimately each of these mid-term goals are concrete, well-defined goals which can be directly actioned. The last goal type is the long-term goal. These goals are much more abstract and contain more figurative type of language. These are the big picture goals and long-term aspirations you hold for your project.

2. Planning offers directions

If you start creating your goals in the first step and organize them accordingly what you’ll find is you’ve begun to take the first step towards creating a roadmap. Planning a direction for your project or business involves creating a roadmap. Planning takes many different shapes and sizes and as you create this roadmap for accomplishing your goals you will find your planning is offering you great direction.

Business direction allows you to plan for a course of action you will take to accomplish your goals. Planning how you accomplish them is a valuable exercise for your business growth and development. As you plan you will put together a course of action. This course of action will help you to be prepared for what comes next. You’ll be ready to answer questions and you’ll have an advantage over others which have not prepared for their future.

3. Planning uncovers problems

You create your goals and identify your direction and you become prepared for what is coming next. The more prepared you are the better you are able to handle problems as they arise. Even more than handling problems as they arise the art of careful planning will help you to uncover potential problems before they even occur. When you work to carefully plan out a direction you’ll undoubtedly uncover possible bumps in the road along the way. If you aren’t careful in your planning you may never discover them until its too late.

Uncovering problems means finding solutions and implementing fixes before they become a reality. There are few things as exciting as fixing problems before they are even found. Being able to resolve conflicts and work around issues is an invaluable business advantage. Careful planning helps uncover problems.

4. Planning adds professionalism

Professionalism doesn’t mean stiff and stodgy. Just because you are professional it doesn’t mean you can’t have fun. Professionalism means you are prepared. Preparation is another word for planning. Planning adds a sense of professionalism to your business. When you plan your course of action, when you outline your goals, and when you uncover problems you give yourself the opportunity to be prepared for things that arise.

Being prepared keeps you from getting caught off-guard if things don’t go as planned. This is an important point. Planning does not mean everything always works as you intend. Errors, problems, and failures will still happen. Planning helps you stay professional as you handle those times. Planning keeps you prepared for when things don’t go as you hoped.

5. Planning gives perspective

Lastly, planning your goals and your direction helps to give you a clear perspective of what matters and what is possible to accomplish. As you create your goals you will focus on what you want to accomplish. Planning how to accomplish those goals will force you to organize them and also to prioritize them and put them in perspective. No one wants to waste time working on something that is not important. However, the day to day life of a startup or small business too easily gets overwhelmed and those goals and objectives get lost in the daily grind.

Planning helps to stay focused and to keep your perspective. Keep your perspective on your purpose and your future. Then and only then will you see success and you will be rewarded for your planning.