Everyone should know that planning is one of the most important characteristics of a good leader. Planning is also an important characteristic of a successful person. Without the regimentally of detail plans, objectives are seldom met and success wanes off into the distance, never to be really accomplished.
Planning for success, in my opinion, should be taught at the academic level as a required course, starting at the earliest ages.
If you ask 50 people on the street, if they plan for daily events they probably would all say they plan to some level. If however you were to ask these same 50 people to produce their plan so that you could see it, most would be hard pressed to show you, saying something like “its in my head”.
I have found that the further a person moves up in life and career, meaning the greater level of responsibility he or she assumes, that the very best leaders always plan in the most minute of details.
They always plan daily to plan. They make it a priority to do it everyday, usually around the same time of day, which is late afternoon or very early morning. They understand the value of detailed plans and that if you don’t plan a daily, weekly, monthly, yearly planning session, you can’t expect to provide the appropriate due diligence necessary for make things happen in a big way, and on time. And if you can’t do that successfully, day in and day out, it is next to impossible to achieve your goals, unless of course you happen to just get lucky which only occasionally happens, but not consistently, like it should be.
I have seen many, who understand this concept, can preach it till the cows come home, but often fail to be consistent planners, because they failed to set time aside, feeling the sense that they need to get a couple of more things done, and they can always find the time later, after work, or early morning. Yet when those alternative times come around, they have somehow found an excuse to not plan, and rather just want to get the heck out of the office and on to something they enjoy personally.
That is why planning must be a”must do” daily. It must be listed in your to do column and given the highest level of priority, just as important as the key work you have to do daily. It’s not just an important thing to do, but instead it has to be labeled an imperative, meaning a must!
Normally, added responsibility, such that a leader would be given, is usually coupled with more task that have to be met. An individual contribution may have 4 or 5 major task that they have to do on a routine basis, but a leader has many more task related issues he or she have to deal with. They may have as many as 25 things a day they need to touch and address. If they fail to plan on how and when these 25 things get accomplished in a detail manner, they will probably only get about a quarter of these things done. If this happens with any level of regularity, then they will be failing their organizations and themselves and results will dissipate from view.
Understanding the fundamentals of leadership is key to executive recruiting. Robert Dexter of SVR Network can help you find the right executive for your organization. Call Robert Dexter today at 408-954-7340 for a confidential discussion.