Tuesday 19 November 2013

Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance

Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance
           
                                                                        Failing to plan is planning to fail

Time spent in reconnaissance is never wasted

No battle plan ever survives first contact with the enemy

What can go wrong will go wrong

                                                                        Murphy was an optimist 

All the above are proverbs or sayings revolving around the delicate art of planning, whether it be an event, a sales campaign, a shareholder meeting, a new product launch or an employee satisfaction survey.

I use the word “art” when talking about planning, as it is as much of this as a science.  Many people have written about the steps needed for effective planning, and two of the quotes above are from them.  In the end, it boils down to a number of factors such as specialisation, technical knowledge, type of exercise and, most of all, experience.

As a guide though, you will need to consider:

·      What your target or end is (i.e. a university Open Day, a shareholder meeting, a new product launch, a charity fund raising-event, next year’s business or even a child’s birthday party).  The ultimate goal is different for each activity or event.  What do you see the event looking like?

·      What resources you will need (human, physical and financial).  You may need people to help or supervise, equipment such as vehicles (or even public transport) and every project needs a budget of some sort. 

·      For people, what skills will you need?  Are they readily available?

·      How much freedom to act can you give them?  The more control, the more you will need to make decisions yourself and the more bottlenecks could occur.

·      Will you need a particular venue or premises (and is it/are they available)?  Is there sufficient parking for cars?  What are rail/bus links like?

·      What legal or local regulatory obligations may affect the plan?  How will you overcome them?

·      What could go wrong?  Too many plans assume that things will go well.  However, the unforeseen can and does happen regularly.  How will you cope?  Will you need insurance?  What scenarios could  derail things, and how will you respond?
·      How much will it cost?  Where will the funding come from? 

·      How much time will you need to put everything together?  This is usually the main issue as you will often find that you have less time that you would ideally wish for.  You will need to prioritise what gets done first, what are the “need to have’s” versus the “nice to have’s”.

The only way to develop your skills is practice.  This may mean making mistakes, but you will learn from them and soon become a much-valued member of your team or group.

I usually use a “grid” to help me plan.  This isn’t perfect (and often gets altered depending what I’m doing), but it helps focus me.

Project Name
Name of the project or event
Objective
What will “success” look like?
Resources
Who/what will I need to succeed?  Who/what do I have?
Deliverables
What will need to be done to ensure success?
Deadline
How long do I have/how long will I need?
Legal/regulatory
What laws/rules/customs, etc will I need to observe?
Environmental
What environmental considerations (if any) will there be?
Training
Will I/my team need any training before we start/as we progress?
Stakeholders
Who could have an interest in this, e.g. staff, customers, unions, legal authorities, shareholders, local community?
Rules/Guidelines
How strict or general should we be to allow people to work independently?
Communication
Who needs to be kept informed?  How often?  What information will I need and when?  How will we communicate?
Risks
What might go wrong?  How will I put it right?
Early Warnings
How can I anticipate things going wrong (if at all)?
Resources
Who/what will I need to succeed?  Who/what do I have?
Cost
How much will it all cost assuming I get the time and resources I need?
Completion
How will I know that I’ve really finished the task?
Recognition/Rewards
How will I recognise success and how often?

One thing you’ll notice is that there’s a considerable amount of thought required before you get to allocating resources and budget.  That’s how it should be.

Once you’ve submitted the plan (and it’s been approved!) remember that you need to track things to make sure everything’s on time/on budget.  Nowadays, you need to have enough flexibility built in to be able to react to changing circumstances.  There’s no use following a plan that clearly no longer suits new conditions – that’s the road to disaster. 


I have spent more than half my life delivering change in different world markets from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With more than 20 years in the world financial services industry running different service, operations and lending businesses, I started my own Performance Management Consultancy to offer solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management.  I work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email . My website provides a full picture of my portfolio of services.  For strategic questions that you should be asking yourself, follow me at @wkm610.


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