Effective Planning

Effective Planning

Planning is the (psychological) process of creating and refining a plan, or integrating it with other plans. The term is also used to describe the formal procedures used in the creation of documents, diagrams, or meetings to discuss the important issues to be addressed, the objectives to be met, and the strategy to be followed. Beyond this, planning has a different meaning depending on the political or economic context in which it is used [1].

Planning is also a management function, concerned with defining goals for future organizational performance and deciding on the tasks and resources to be used in order to attain those goals. To meet the goals, managers will invest significant resources for training and incentives to motivate employees. When approaching a business plan you should try to relate and compare your business as a product.

A plan, strategic or not, can backfire, and cause difficulties for those involved in it. That becomes a major problem when one gets into the higher levels, where a slip up can be very costly to the decision maker, as well as those around them. “Mature companies attempting to grow by entering new businesses fail more often than not, as numerous studies confirm” [2]. These solid businesses have a history of at least some success, but have made a mistake in their attempts to grow. So not all plans will prove to be beneficial, and therefore, a good planner would know to use that, and the knowledge of the failures of others to make better plans.