Failing to Plan Is Planning to Fail
Planning involves choosing what objectives should be achieved. For example, deciding and preparing dinner is a project which involves proper planning. Failing to plan would result in disgusting food which nobody would want to eat. Planning is even more crucial in organizations because they are far more complicated and have higher stakes than cooking dinner.
Organizations often involve more people working together than can be found in a home kitchen. To get everyone working together, the organization should have a strong project plan that is accepted by all stakeholders.
Beyond Spoiled Dinner
When organizations fail to plan the consequences are much higher than an inedible meal. Failure to make proper plans can result in the following:
– Framing wrong or inappropriate objectives by which the whole idea of the project becomes flawed
– Organizations making bad decisions based on the set objectives
– The loss of time, money and other resources wasted on driving the business toward the wrong goal
– The liquidation or closing of the organization
From Organizational Goals to Project Management
Clearly, to manage any kind of endeavor, you should plan. While it is reasonably acceptable for lower-ranking employees to merely go with the flow, to lead them you must provide them with the goals to reach and the steps they need to take to reach those goals. If you do not provide these things, your people are never going to perform to the best of their ability. So managers have to plan ahead, for themselves and for their subordinate
The Right Level of Detail: Organizational Goals to Project Management
Planning is a fundamental responsibility of managers, and plans should be constructed with great detail. However, managers should provide the appropriate level of detail when they are presenting their plan to a particular audience. Providing too much detail to a general audience will confuse and distract listeners. Thus, leaders should talk about consolidated organization-wide goals when explaining their vision for the future. On the other hand, providing too little detail to an audience of specialists will cause them to question the manager’s credibility and leave them directionless. To avoid this, managers should mind details when they are engaged in project management.
Project management is a subject unto itself and will be covered in another chapter.
