Failure to plan is planning to fail

Rutendo Gwatidzo

Changing Perspectives

This week, schools are opening, and it is usually at these institutions that flu spreads like wild fire.

There is need to prepare accordingly to minimise the effects of winter.

Some basic requirements for the season are warm clothes, heavy blankets, cough and flu medicines, and winter boots.

A mask also serves to minimise the spread of the virus.

Season of life

We should plan for other seasons of the year the same way we do for winter.

One author once said: “Life is lived on levels and arrived at in stages.”

It simply shows life is not constant or static; it brings different seasons that we need to plan for.

For example, what is required at primary school is different from what is needed at high school or in tertiary institutions.

The different cycles of life keep changing until death. Some seasons, however, come unexpectedly, so there is still need to plan for the unexpected.

Organisational status

Starting a business might be easy for some but growing it into a successful entity is difficult for many.

Inasmuch as there are many factors that limit the performance of a business, there is one that stands out the most — failure to plan. Many businesses, especially small and medium ones, often fly blind.

Many operate without budgets, management accounts or any reports on how the business is faring.

There are also companies that deal with operational issues on an ad hoc basis.

How is it even possible for top management to operate without a calendar of events and still expect to be effective?

I have come across sales teams that spend a month without reporting anything to the management, which, in turn, only gets to realise at the end of the month that there are no funds for salaries and other liabilities. The same applies with employees who go to work on a daily basis with no clue of what they are going to do.

Interestingly, such employees are usually at the forefront of demanding salary increments, rewards and benefits.

Every manager and employee should have a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and even yearly to-do list in order to be successful.

This helps with tracking progress.

You have to be deliberate to be successful. Many teams fail to meet targets because they operate without plans on how to achieve their goals.

Failure to plan brings frustration, unreasonable expectations and bad outcomes.

There is need to plan for work to be done. This is followed by work to achieve the plans.

General facts

To accomplish great things, there is need to plan, prepare, proceed and then pursue set targets.

Sometimes, you may need to change your plans along the way.

The most dangerous thing you can ever do is to live life without a plan.

Benjamin Franklin — one of America’s founding fathers, who was also an author — once said failure to plan is planning to fail. While almost everyone has goals, only a few lay down their own plans and follow through to achieve them.

Life is not a bed of roses or a stroll in the park. It has different seasons that we need to plan for.  Learners should plan on how they want to study.

Parents, too, should plan on how to raise their children. Likewise, businesses should plan on how to meet objectives and goals.

Everything in life and about life requires planning.

Be challenged, encouraged and inspired to plan and to keep planning for everything you need.

Failure to plan is actually planning to fail.

 

Rutendo Gwatidzo is managing consultant at The HUB HR Consultancy, a culture and change management organisation. She is a multi-award-winning consultant, speaker and mentor. She is also an author of “Born to Fight” and “Breaking the Silence”. Contact: +263 714 575 805, [email protected], Facebook: Rutendo Gwatidzo Official.