Planning for the New Year

"Here is Edward Bear, coming downstairs now, bump, bump,  bump on the back of his head, behind Christopher Robin.  It is, as far as he knows, the only way of coming downstairs, but sometimes he feels that there really is another way, if only he could stop bumping for a moment and think of it, and then he feels that perhaps there isn’t."

A. A. Milne

As we start a new year invariably our thoughts turn to New Year resolutions and how we are going to make this year better than the last.  In management if you have not already started working on your 2010 plan (most large organizations will have started this process in September of the previous year) then it is not something you should put off for much longer as the window of influence for the year is rapidly shrinking.

Taking the time to plan is one of the most important disciplines any manager should maintain.  Setting annual goals and re-defining your strategic objectives should receive a significant portion of your time at least once a year.  It is important to take time aside to do this in part to reassure yourself that you are on the right path, but also so you do not repeatedly keep revisiting this every time you have an important decision to make.  In today's hectic world where we get 200 emails a day, customers increasingly expect instant results, and we are competing with ever more nimble competitors both at home and abroad, it is easy to get sucked into a daily mode of firefighting -  "As long as I am being productive surely I am making progress?"

But the reality is we can always do things smarter and we must always ensure that we have at least a directional sense of where we are heading.  It is not just about doing things right; it is also about ensuring you are doing the right things.  The importance of setting and maintaining a core focus was underlined by David Plouffe in his recent book the Audacity to Win.  In it he says “In any organization, you have to determine your pathway to success and commit to it.  There will inevitably be highs and lows.  But you have to give your theory and strategy time to work.  Maybe it won’t.  Many endeavors fail.  But without a clear sense of where you are headed, you will almost certainly fail."

So as you start this new year be sure you take enough time to stop and think about what you want to achieve over the next 12 months.  Then commit to it relentlessly.  You will surprise yourself at how far you get.