Are you struggling with making planning a regular practice at your business? You are not alone. You will receive a range of reactions to the planning question. Some say they don’t have time to plan, others think plans are outdated once written, some say they don’t need to, or it’s too hard to plan as no one agrees on direction, and plans are just forgotten in the daily tasks at hand.
Is there a viable solution? I advocate for a boot-camp type planning approach: an action-oriented, simplified, and practical process – that is realistic and relatable to your agreed upon priorities. Engaging a plan that does what it is supposed to do by actually achieving objectives can reinforce its value to your team. How to conceptualize it?
- Distinguish your objectives into what you “Must do” and what you would “Like to do.
- Address the “must-do” objectives. These are the priorities and tasks that require immediate attention—often the issues that could keep you up at night
- Set a completion timeframe of six months to one year, with a maximum of two years.
- Keep “like to do” items on the radar, adjust/update priorities/timeframes as circumstances change. Assign items to a “dormant” list as appropriate.
- Anticipate the future. Two years out. Plan for industry changes and market trends
Final thoughts…keys are defining the must-do’s and staying focused…the like to do’s have their place but can distract from the core mission. Tackling your current priorities impacts the likely success of your longer term aspirations.