Ah, planning.
It’s the end of the year, and hopefully you’ve already started your assessment of 2019 and how you’re going to set and execute goals for 2020.
Some of us love planning, but many of us find it annoying at best and daunting at worst. Others find it a total waste of time, because nothing ever goes as planned! I would like to make the case to you that not only is planning critical to success, it also can help you get through the unpredictability of business.
What’s the difference between a very bad plan and no plan? The former actually exists. You can’t improve something that doesn’t exist. Once something exists, even if it’s terrible, you can improve on the idea, the execution, and even the need it’s intended to fill. You can’t improve a void. Like black holes, voids can only consume your efforts and ideas.
When you have no plan, you essentially have a void. You are disorganized in your thinking around the goal, which means your execution cannot be streamlined. Whatever effort you throw at your goal will only be sort of effective, and you will never really know how effective you were because there was nothing to benchmark to.
Plans – even bad ones – give you a reference point to refer back to. From there, you can make changes as you go. Making a plan doesn’t mean you are married to it or even to the outcome you identified – it just means you have a framework for your thought. So when the unpredictable happens, you can go back, assess your goals and reframe your approach without losing sight of your focus and your identity. Sometimes when we are faced with the improbable, we freak out and forget why we’re doing what we’re doing, which results in getting off track. Plans help us stay focused, even though they are always going to be woefully uniformed to some degree.
We all understand the value of knowing where you are and where you are trying to go. I find in the planning process, the first mistake we make is to get a full understanding of where we are. We know where we want to be, but sometimes we fail to understand the reality of where we are – which makes any plan we come up with difficult to actually execute.
You may be thinking, The issue is never setting the goals or doing the planning. It’s the execution. I agree with you. But a plan is the first step to effective execution – so don’t give up. If this is you, consider where you usually go awry. Do you make the plan and then fail to look at it again? Do you feel like your objectives change from day to day? These are examples of sabotaging your plan. If you make a plan, commit to using it as a reference point as the year progresses.
Some resources to help you in your planning for the new year:
- If you’re local to the Boulder/Denver area, and you need some help or would like to explore goal-setting in your business, I am holding a 2-part workshop. We’ll examine where we are, identify where we want to be, and establish a plan to get there.
- The 12 Week Year – This is a great book on using planning to become more efficient in your execution.
- Lean Production Simplified – A fantastic resource for lean concepts, this book also has a section explaining Hoshin Planning. Hoshin Planning takes your top level goals and translates them throughout the organization via iterative thought and discussion so everyone is on board with the top-level goals. If you have no exposure, this is a great place to start.
- I also like this guide to goal-setting if you’re looking for an informal, low-pressure avenue to dip your toe in the concept. James Clear does a great job discussing the science behind goal-setting.
Activity:
- Consider 2019. What did you accomplish this year? How do these accomplishments line up with the goals (if any) you identified at the outset of the year?
- What is your current state today? What seeds have you planted this year? What are you set up to do next?
- What do you want to accomplish in 2020? How does this align with your values/identity as a business?