Planning…Why it’s Critical for Success in Business

You’ve tried planning ahead before only to be upended because of external factors and unexpected situations. If you can’t rely on a plan to help you chart a course for success, why should you bother doing it at all? Why is planning is critical for success?

If you follow the definition of planning as your guide you will see why the planning process is so critical to the success of your business.

“Planning is the fundamental management function, which involves deciding beforehand, what is to be done, when is it to be done, how it is to be done and who is going to do it. It is an intellectual process which lays down an organisation’s objectives and develops various courses of action, by which the organisation can achieve those objectives. It chalks out exactly, how to attain a specific goal. “

~ source www.businessjargons.com ~

Making plans means you have a purpose in mind. You have set out tactics and strategies to achieve your goals and while they might need to change, the PLAN itself, the foundation of what you want to accomplish shouldn’t.

The pandemic was a great illustration of this; yes, the tactics and the way you operated may have had to change but not necessarily the goals you wanted to achieve. And those businesses who already had a plan in place were able to pivot and reassign resources more quickly in response to the fast paced changes that were happening in the marketplace.

Business planning has many characteristics which include;

• Intellectual and mental exercise
• Managerial function
• Goal focus
• Based on continuous improvement
• Positive and persuasive
• Future facing
• Decision oriented

At ActionCOACH, planning is at the centre of everything we teach business owners to do. Whether at a 1:1 session, group coaching session or quarterly meetings, business owners are challenged to set down actionable, attainable, realistic, and measurable goals that they can use to chart their progress.

You would never take a trip without at least knowing where you were going, would you? Planning for a business is much the same. If you have ideas of where your business should be or where you want your business to be, then planning is a must. Remember, tactics and strategies can change. You can deploy resources differently or allocate them in a new way to meet market conditions, but you should never abandon your plans of being bigger, better and stronger. Only with a road map, a chart, a course can you stay on track and achieve the business goals you want.

If you’d like some support or guidance setting your goals and creating a plan book a call with me for a complimentary 20 mins strategy session.