In the course of an ordinary day, most business people rush from meeting to meeting, call to call, and task to task at a frenetic pace. There simply are not enough hours in a day to do everything that needs to get done. The here-and-now is both emphatic and demanding. This relentless focus on the immediate makes it nearly impossible to plan for the future. Moreover, the future is so vaguely ambiguous. In the present, everything must get done now, but even when current needs have been met, the future remains distant and fuzzy. Notwithstanding, planning ahead is among a business owner’s most essential responsibilities, and this is the time of year when most companies should take time to look ahead and consider goals for the future.
Indeed, there is a tremendous value in planning. Planning helps provide guidelines and goals for future decisions. It also helps managers exercise more control in a situation, establish goals “proactively” and consider contingencies. Likewise, planning can help quantify goals and establish a means to measure success. It also ensures that a coherent set of actions are implemented that are consistent with the values and priorities of the leadership and organization. Planning also helps allocate limited resources like staff, materials, and time in an orderly and systematic manner. Last but not least, planning each year helps a company take advantage of changes within its industry. Given that planning is so helpful and necessary, how does one find the time to plan? And what exactly should annual planning entail? How complicated does this need to be? Continue reading