Planning
Harvey
Mackay said, "A goal is just a dream with
a deadline." And that goal will remain a dream
unless you create and execute a plan of action
to accomplish it. Every goal that gets accomplished
has a plan behind of it.
Good
plans start with a brainstorming session of all the people involved
with the project. This allows everyone to
be part of the solution and gathers the best
ideas.
Next,
two key questions must be asked:
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What
are all the ingredients necessary for
its successful execution? |
|
What
are all the possible forces or events
that could hinder or destroy it? |
As
much as possible, get all the answers to these
questions. Listen carefully to the judgment
of your people. Then plan the positive forces
and events, and take action to prevent any
obstructions that might hinder the project
in any way.
A
detailed plan must include the who, what,
when, where, how, and why. Who will do what?
Who does it involve? What are we going to
do? When does it start? When does it end?
Where will it take place? How will it take
place? Why must we do it...what will happen
if we do not do it?
Also,
it must be organized. Organizing is the
process of creating and maintaining the
conditions for effectively executing plans.
It involves systematically defining and
arranging each task with respect to the
achievement of the objective. It includes
three major steps:
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Determine
all tasks. |
|
Set
up a structure to accomplish all task. |
|
Allocate
resources. |
Determine
all tasks
In
this phase you and your people brainstorm
to determine all the tasks and conditions
necessary to carry out the plan. All essential
information must be brought out. It is also
important to consider timing - when each task
must be started and completed. A helpful approach
is to use "backward planning." Look at each
goal and decide what must be done to reach
it. In this way you plan from the moment of
the project start point and work your way
back to the present in order to determine
what must be done. Backward planning simply
means looking at the big picture first, and
then planning all tasks, conditions, and details
in a logical sequence to make the big picture
happen. Include all the details of support,
time schedule, equipment, coordination, and
required checks. You and your people must
think of every possible situation that will
help or hinder the project. Once the process
of mentally building the project has begun,
the activities will come easily to mind.
Now,
organize all these details into categories,
such as needs, supplies, support, equipment,
coordination, major tasks, etc. List all the
details under the categories. Create a to-do
list for each category. This list will become
the checklist to ensure everything is progressing
as planned.
Set
up a structure to accomplish all tasks
You
and your people cannot do everything at
once, some things are more important than
others. Others have to be accomplished before
another can start. Set priorities for each
checkpoint and assign someone to perform
each task on the list. Develop a system
for checking each other and ensuring that
each task is accomplished on time.
Allocate
resources
Plan
for obtaining all the required resources and
allocate them out. Not having the required
resources can stop a project dead in its tracks.
For this reason you must closely track and
monitor costly or hard to get resources.
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