Did you know, what is the biggest hurdle in way of small and medium enterprises which stalls their growth? All the business owners want to grow and want to take their business forward. But they miss one of the most important steps in the process of their growth. Can you imagine what this most important step is?
Yes you are guessing it right. It is the planning function which is frequently ignored in the organization.
As a consultant and business coach I have seen quite often that most of the business owners do not pay enough emphasis on the very fundamental function of management which is called PLANNING.
Planning includes thinking in advance what organization wants to achieve, what visions targets and goals it has and how and when they will be achieved. Planning helps you manage and organize your resources.
Planning is the first and most important function of business management. But unfortunately, most organizations fail to plan. They do not spend enough time planning. Some of the key reasons which led to failure of planning as I have seen time and again are as follows-
· Some managers can’t think through. They lack the knack of systemic thinking. They can’t see and think or envision future. They are habitual of working as things come to them. They just work on what is urgent and what needs to be done now. They feel good in managing the crisis. Because of this habitual behaviour they just go through the day-to-day routines and ignore the planning function totally.
“Without leaps of imagination or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities. Dreaming, after all is a form of planning.” – Gloria Steinem
· Most of managers lack the fundamental discipline required for planning. The managers have to set aside the time to plan through and they do not follow a small ritual of taking out the time to plan. Lots of managers do not even use the ‘things to do’ note pad. They don’t even plan for the day. Doing a proper planning for the business needs a commitment to process of planning. One has to set aside some thinking and brainstorming time for planning.
· Another important reason for failing to plan is that managers do not create a system for planning. They don’t know what is to be planned and how planning must be done. Who all must be involved in the planning process for the organization? In the absence of clarity to these questions, most of the managers just drop their planning efforts.
· Lots of managers blame the major lack of time for planning. They keep complaining that they do not have enough time for planning. Most managers live under a false notion that they don’t have time to plan. On contrary the reality is that if they plan, they will be able to find time from their daily routine.
All above reason may sound good at times but they do not justify your inability to plan. Therefore you as manager and leader can not skip the planning function of the business.
By Failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” – Benjamin Franklin.
Now let’s understand why planning is needed. I am sure as business leaders and managers you already understand the need of planning in your business. But I once again emphasize and clarify the need of planning in business-
1. There is always a wide time span in decision making for your future results. You plan your yearly goals in the beginning of the financial year. But results are achieved by the end of the year. Which means there is time span of 12 months from planning of business goals to results. During this period of 12 months lots of market conditions will change and internal environment of the organization will also change. Certain changes may be positive and favourable and while others may be negative and leading to obstacles in the way of results delivery. All the smart leaders must think through all these possibilities and must plan for all actions which will help you move through these changes. You need to plan what all you will do and how various activities shall be performed during this period.
2. Increasing complexity of the organization. Another important reason why planning is must for any business owner is that the complexity of the organization increases day by day. Lots of departments and people get involved in getting the work done. Any task passes through multiple people in the business. As the customer base increases the complexity further increases. To provide the satisfactory service to the customer, multiple departments must get involved for delivering the service. Unless the task is completely defined from end to end with timelines and resources, one can not expect that it will be delivered to meet its objective. Successful task delivery can only happen if it has been planned well in advance.
3. Continuously increasing external environmental changes. The business environment outside is very volatile and changing day by day. So it is important for business leaders to see through in future and anticipate the trends and changes which may be there around the corner. If you as business owner fails to visualize the upcoming macro and micro environmental changes then you may be inviting problems for your business.
“In a chronically leaking boat, energy devoted to changing vessels is more productive than energy devoted to patching leaks.” —Warren Buffett
Since the business environment keep changing day by due to national and global reasons, it is imperative to plan for all such issue which may emerge in the future. The decisions happening at the governmental level and certain changes happening at the global level will affect your business too. Unless you plan for all these meticulously you cannot safeguard your business against all that.
4. Impact of planning on other management functions. As you can understand very well that if you have planned your strategy very well then you can execute the strategy well. You can also have better control and monitoring. Planning is the beginning of the management functional chain. If you do a good job of planning then you can recruitment the best people, you can train them well, you can coordinate cross functionally very well and you can deliver better results by better execution and regulation.
I have a vision to support one million business owners to scale up their businesses and maximize their profits. With all my experience I advise you to try executing the above principles and you are welcome to contact me if you have any doubts. Also become part of our vision by circulating this article to all your business owner friends.
In my next blog I am going to share with you how you can do a proper planning for your business growth.
Happy planning and Happy Selling!
