Leadership Viewpoint

Planning ahead is an absolute necessity when managing multiple projects and people. Leaders who plan poorly cause a massive ripple effect as their last minute issues creep into the lives of those around them. Ultimately relationships, projects and even entire businesses fail as a result. So what does it take to plan ahead?

First, make time for planning. For me, the first thing I do each business day is determine what I want to accomplish that day and I write it down. Writing it is critically important. It’s my reminder when people are barraging me with a million other issues, and it allows me that sense of accomplishment when I can check it off the list.

While the daily effort helps to get us out of our disorganization, it is insufficient to really keeping us focused. To do this, we must occasionally (for me – monthly) reflect on our long term projects, goals and objectives and determine:

1. Where we are today

2. Where we want to end up by ‘x’ date

3. How to get from here (1) to there (2)

Once we do that, we must incorporate the activities of point three into our daily to do list, and we must execute those tasks systematically. Once we’re doing this consistently, we’re ahead of 90% of businesspeople.

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