Do you and your organization
constantly find that you are scrambling in an attempt to complete projects on
schedule or meet other deadlines on time?
During my recent attendance at a
high profile training event, I had the opportunity to observe a wide variety of
people and organizations scrambling to get their act together at the very last
minute. In one instance, I watched as the person who was responsible for
arranging the catering for a three hour social event received a phone call 45
minutes into the event from the host facility informing him that all of the
food which had been contracted for had already been consumed by the attendees.
The first thought that popped into
my head was my old Boy Scout motto “Be
prepared.” Undoubtedly, some valuable lessons resulted from this unsettling
experience. It also serves to raise the question… How prepared are you, your
organization and your people to meet your responsibilities?
Sadly, most organizations and their
people simply don’t deal with tomorrow until tomorrow. The problems that occur,
the important details that fall through the cracks and the failures that they
experience, are invariably due to a lack of readiness.
There is a direct relationship
between readiness and responsibility. Dietrich Bonhoeffer stated it this way… “Actions
springs not from thought, but from a readiness for responsibility.”
Quite often, what you do (or
don’t do) speaks louder than any words that you could ever say. The same is
true of your organization and its people. In reality, while you can shoot from
the hip and hope to hit something, appropriate action requires advance planning
if you are truly going to hit your mark and ultimately obtain the desired
result outcome.
In the circumstance cited
earlier, the failure to properly fact find and plan resulted in a number of
undesirable outcomes. Following below are a few of the more obvious and costly
outcomes from this situation:
The attendees went from being
served the good food to having a lengthy break in service, only to eventually receive
mediocre substitutes in place of the originally announced menu.
Overall event satisfaction by the
attendees was diminished in the process, which could ultimately affect
registration signups for future events and potential revenue for same.
Clearly, the host organization had
to endure the embarrassment also resulted.
The catering chefs and staff were
greatly inconvenienced by having to unexpectedly perform addition work which
was not on their schedule for that workday.
The host organization lost its
ability to negotiate in a timely fashion for these additional services, which
resulted in having to pay top price for the extra food preparation and service.
As a result, the host
organization wound up being considerably over budget due to its short
sightedness in planning.
Post event organizational meetings
to assess “what went wrong and why” resulted in a significant usage of man
hours which further resulted in lost productivity.
The lesson to be garnered from
this circumstance is that there is simply no substitute for thorough planning.
Rest assured, that even with proper planning, unanticipated things may still
potentially occur. However, rock solid planning will not only better prepare
you for a successful outcome, it will help you in identifying potential
pitfalls and problems for which you can then develop a contingency plan (which
will further assure you a likely successful outcome).
In the words of one of my early
mentors, “Plan your work… then work your
plan.” When you heed this sound advice, you will find yourself, your
organization and your people adequately prepared and ready for the
responsibilities for which you are collectively and individually accountable.
Copyright © 2014 Developing Forward | Thomas H. Swank,
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