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The new business year is already in full swing and there is a lot to achieve before summer comes. We all know that it’s all too easy to rush into every activity with a determination to get it done and then move onto the next one. However, take a pause for a moment and…


Make Time for Planning

Organisational life can make us very busy achieving not enough. We can’t work much faster, and it’s not always clear what working smarter means. Here are some quick tips to make sure all of your efforts actually pay off this year.


Allocate 10-20 minutes of planning time every day

Planning is an everyday job, not a twice yearly binge. This means thinking about the big picture every day. Ask these questions:

What are you aiming for?
Where are you getting results?
What is going on around you that might have a major impact (positive or negative)? And finally,
What actions do you need to take and when?
Try not to spend more than 20 minutes on planning. If you do it every day this will be sufficient and you will continually move forward.

Every day do one thing to move you forward strategically
It might be a phone call or an e-mail. It may be a major conference or an important one to one meeting with one of your team. The point is not how long you spend on planning in any one day, but that every day you do something.

Plan your goals into your diary first

Part of your individual planning will produce action plans for how to deliver your goals, both personal and professional. Plan time as far ahead as possible in your diary to ensure that actions are completed.

Organisational planning can be done in this way too

Sometimes, you do have to get together with your team for marathon planning sessions. However, much organisational planning can be done in shorter daily, weekly or monthly bursts (perhaps via conference calls rather than through extended meetings). Keep most of your team and department planning processes as simple as possible. You will get better quality plans if they are put together transparently, so that everyone can see the big picture as early in the process as possible.

Keep plans in view

So many plans are made and then kept in a drawer or in an electronic file. If you want your team to follow the plan, have it on the wall and ask people to plot their progress. If you don’t want your personal plan on the wall for public view, set it to pop up on your screen every day.

Stick to your plans (mostly)

On the whole, a plan is a guide and not a strait jacket. The world changes. However, if you find yourself wanting to change the plan, ask some tough questions:

What is truly different now?
Would a different plan be better or are you just bored?
Are you looking for a silver bullet as an answer to a demanding piece of work rather than executing it in a more thorough way?

Take your next 20 minute planning session to reflect on your answers to these questions.

Management Voice Index
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