Over the years I’ve seen many business owners be very organised in some areas of their personal lives but far less so when it comes to certain business issues.
Events like holidays, golf outings, Cheltenham race meetings, GAA, rugby & major soccer matches, fishing trips, etc. are all planned and scheduled meticulously – as they should be! Properly planned events are obviously far more enjoyable than haphazard ones that could go way off track. And these events are just rewards for work done and results achieved – and contribute to a good work-life balance.
In some cases, however the business approach as regards planning is quite “different”. Instead of having a plan and an outline of all the issues that could affect it, there is a tendency to ‘deal with it as it happens.’ Rather than having clear business plans, forecasts and SWOT and scenario analyses for events that could throw a business way off course, the lack of planning necessitates reacting – dealing with problems as they arise and only when they are big enough to be of concern. The business drifts with the flow rather than implementing a well-designed plan.
The result? Business “progress” is fuzzy rather than clear, obscure rather than transparent, lacking in metrics rather than having hard data to measure. Unlike in the sports they follow where every score is measured and analysed, some business decisions are never fully evaluated and no metrics (or the wrong ones) are applied to many areas of the business.
Shouldn’t our business plans have the same level of planning as we would have for major sporting events and trips? Is that not a better way to help ensure the best possible outcome?
To quote former US president Dwight D. Eisenhower – “In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless but PLANNING IS INDISPENSABLE”.
Have you ever found planning to be an issue in your business?
Could you do with some help on identifying the right things to do and doing them right? If so, I would be interested to hear from you.