Why plans fail

I was quite surprised to read Seth Godin, who I normally admire, saying that plans almost always fail.
I don’t agree with this. Bad plans fail. Plans that are not updated fail and plans that have no clear objective fail.

Plans that work

However, well thought out plans do work, very often. The trouble is that most people don’t bother to plan carefully and think that they will just be able to muddle through.
Then they get used to what it’s like to muddle through and so muddling through becomes the norm.
When you allow that to happen you have lowered your standards. So now, you don’t even think about planning effectively, you just accept the status quo.

"You will never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret of your success is found in your daily routine."

-- John C. Maxwell

What planning means

Planning effectively means taking time to think a task through, to identify what needs to be done when, and what could go wrong. It means you need to review your plan regularly and keep your eyes open for indications that you need to modify your plan.

It means, as John Maxwell says, changing something in your life daily. All you need to do is think about things before you start them. Just give yourself a few minutes. Ask:

• Why am I doing this?
• What do I need to achieve?
• What would be the most effective way to do it?

That will get you started. Then build the habit. As you start to see a return on your investment, you can build your skill, which in turn will give you more time.

The pay off`

Planning really pays off. It is the corner stone of time management.

A client of mine who is a project manager recently had a performance review. His manager said: “I don’t know how you get so much done.” 

This is a sad reflection on the manager. The individual is good at planning. He does not rush into any project or new situation; he gathers the information, organises it and works out his plan very carefully. Then he keeps monitoring it all.

When there are problems he usually has a contingency plan. He has many contingency plans. Most of them never need to be used.

The result you get from planning

The result is he is able to achieve twice what most of his colleagues do. He is not superhuman. He just puts his effort in where it gives the most benefit. It may not be as glamorous as charging in and saving the day, snatching victory from the jaws of defeat, but it is much cheaper and less stressful.
In fact most people are working far harder than they need to do just because they don’t plan. Make sure you’re not one of them.

Get more help here.

http://www.vinehouse.co.uk/TimeManagementTips.htm

How to promise what you can deliver

Do you know someone who is always late? Or do you take a train or plane that is always late?

I flew to Glasgow this week. The flight was delayed by 2 hours. The man behind me in the queue confided that this was usually the case on that day of the week.

I can accept the odd problem that causes a plane to be delayed, but when it happens every week, you wonder what is going on.

Change the schedule

If the plane is never on time, why don’t you just change the schedule? I asked one of the staff this question and was met with a blank stare. We didn’t even get an apology from her.

Telling people what they want to hear

So many times I have seen problems caused solely by people promising things they just can’t deliver.

Work out when you can deliver and then promise people that date or time. Don’t pretend you can give a faster service than possible just to make a person happy at that moment – you are storing up problems for the future. People really don’t like being let down.

Don’t annoy people more than necessary

Even worse, our helpful member of staff told us that we still had to turn up at the published time next week (even if we could see the flight was delayed), in case they somehow manage to bring the flight forward (so that it was only 1 hour 30 minutes late).

This kind of behaviour shows a complete lack of consideration for others. It’s just the same in hospitals where people are often kept in the waiting room much longer than necessary.

Sometimes there is a real emergency

I have been going to the same dentist for 25 years. One of the reasons I stay with them is that they are so reliable. Last time I went was the first time I have ever been kept waiting. It turned out that two of the dentists were off and two emergency patients had come in that morning.

My dentist had had to deal with both of them. However, she apologised profusely and I felt that, given the previous track record, I was happy to cope with this one-time delay.

Most of the time you can schedule things properly, even appointments in hospitals.

You just need to put a bit of effort in working out how long things really take, rather than how long you would like them to take. This is the vital time management skill of estimating. Without it planning is useless.

Learning how to estimate

This is very quick to learn. All you do is estimate how long you think a task will take. Then measure how long it really does take. Work out the percentage difference and change your estimate next time accordingly.
Keep doing this, and very soon your skills will improve.

For more help with time management go here.

To see our teleseminar on time management go here

5 Big Change Mistakes - 3 No Clear Priorities

When you are making changes, often there are many things that need to be done, and it seems like they all need to be done at once.

People have to carry on with their everyday jobs, but they also have to make the changes.

Make a plan. This may seem like extra work when you are already busy, but it will save you a great deal of time and money in the long term.

Get the objective clear

Once you have clearly identified what needs to be achieved it’s vital to work out a plan. This can take some time and is more difficult when you are panicking.

The first step in working out a plan is to be really clear about what you need to achieve. Spend some time working out your objective and get it really clear.

Then work out your deadline.

I always like to leave a little leeway here, but it’s not always possible.

Make a list of your tasks

Once you have done this, one option is to work backwards from the deadline. This should help you to identify all the tasks that need to be completed in order for you to implement your change.

Don’t make it hard – check with the others who are involved and ask for their input and advice.

Estimate how long each task will take

Once you have a list of all the tasks, it’s useful to estimate how long each will take. Most people tend to be rather optimistic when they do this. So make sure you allow some slack for problems you haven’t anticipated.

If it’s something you haven’t done before ask others who have, how long it really takes and what their suggestions are for completing the task easily and efficiently.

Identify your critical path

You may also want to work out your ‘critical path’. These are the tasks that are linked and have to be done in a certain order and can’t be made shorter. For example, if you are cooking your Christmas dinner, the turkey is often the critical path.

You have to buy it, prepare it (with stuffing and so on), cook it and carve it. You can’t carve it while you’re cooking it, or prepare it while you are buying it. All the tasks have to happen in that sequence. And there is a minimum time for the whole thing that you can’t reduce.

If you buy it on Christmas Eve and prepare it then put it in the oven at midnight (depending on the size) it won’t be ready before midday on Christmas day. If you put it in the oven late or if the oven breaks down (as happened to a friend of mine) then the whole dinner is going to be late and you can’t catch up.

So this is part of your plan that you need to focus on and get right.

Finalise your plan

Put your tasks in order. What needs to be done when and who needs to do it. Be very clear about when tasks must be completed.

Let everyone know

Make sure people know what needs to be done first and why. This will make it much easier for them to prioritise all their other tasks around the changes you are implementing.

Keep people up to date with progress and any modifications to the plan. Give them reasons.

Be clear about other ongoing work and how it fits in and what needs to be done first. Make sure people get some help if their workload is going to be drastically increased.

For a summary of five big mistakes when implementing change see this article

5 Big mistakes to avoid when making change