Even the most experienced strategy teams fail at some point in developing effective planning strategies. But to save time and money, it’s key to have strong planning and organising skills to design actionable plans.
A new year has started, and you’re probably on your way to crafting a plan that helps your company achieve long-term goals.
If you’re wondering how to strategically lead a planning process, here we discuss how can planning be made effective to enhance your productivity and team growth.
Table of Contents
- Why Is Effective Planning Important?
- Benefits of Planning in Management
- 8 Tips on Strategic Planning
Why Is Effective Planning Important?
Planning is crucial to all organisations because ensures that all employees work toward the same goal. You can make sure your company is using its resources efficiently and effectively.
It helps to reduce uncertainty about the future and allows for better decision making. By using the right HR tools and processes, you can guarantee everyone is on the same page and understand their responsibilities.
Besides, by having a plan in place, you can reduce wasted time, resources, and money. If everyone knows what their role is in a project or initiative, they’ll be able to get started straight away without any delays.
The way you plan will depend on the scale of the project or initiatives that you need to run. It might just be for one person for one day, or it could be for a whole team for months at a time. But no matter what kind of project it is, you will need to build an effective plan to achieve the expected outcomes.
Benefits of Planning in Management
As an HR, it’s your job to make sure teams are working toward productivity and company culture. And to focus on what you want to achieve and make the most efficient use of time and resources, it’s essential to plan and stay accountable from the start.
Here are top reasons why you should consider effective planning to be an important part of your organisation:
It Saves You Time and Energy
Have you ever worked really hard but discovered your processes were not efficient as you tough?
Developing and implementing strategic plans is essential to leverage opportunities for change. And if you build the habit of tracking outcomes, your team will perform better at daily activities. Setting clear expectations and roadmaps to achieve them can lead your company to success and exponential growth.
Helps You Achieve Long-Term Goals
Planning for your goals includes creating a timeline for when you’ll complete each task needed along the way and determining which resources you need to get there. And when we plan on a long-term basis, it’s useful to remain consistent with your original goals.
Think of it as a roadmap that will take you from where you are today to where you want to be in the future. Even if your plan changes along the way — and it probably will — having a plan in place will ensure that you’re always moving forward toward your goals.
Guides Your Team to Stay Focused
If you have a solid plan, it’s easier to assign task-based responsibilities considering each employee’s skill level, experience and areas of expertise. Furthermore, if your team understand the company goals, it’s easier to prioritise work and centre efforts on what matters. Besides, deadlines and accountability sessions are excellent to guarantee high-quality standards.
8 Tips on Strategic Planning
Set Actionable Goals
You can’t complete a task if you don’t know how to do it. Thus, the first step in effective planning is setting concrete goals and objectives for yourself and your team.
Setting SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-based) is the beginning of turning your ideas into actionable projects.
Delegate Responsibilities
Planning and organisation are not just about long-term strategy — they can also help with day-to-day management. If you know exactly what needs to happen and when you can ensure that everything gets done on time. Thus, understanding your team member’s strengths and weaknesses is crucial to delegating tasks to the right people.
A good practice is to write it down what needs to be done and when it must be delivered. This will ensure everyone understands the role they play in achieving the organisation’s goals, as well as any steps they are required to take.
Specify Expected Outcomes
Set clear expectations about the results. What are you looking to gain? What daily tasks do you need to perform to meet your goals?
It will help you understand the microtasks involved in your plan, and help you stay alert to flaws in your flow of work.
Plan For the Day
You might have a roadmap for the whole year, semester, or month. But how can you adapt those big goals to your team daily agenda?
A great approach is to create the habit of starting the workday by writing down what needs to be done during upcoming working hours. And when it’s over, you can go back to your list and analyse your performance and results to ensure you’re on the right way.
Prioritise Your Work
You should always start with those tasks which need immediate attention first so that they do not get delayed. If you don’t know how to prioritise your work, then try making a list of all the tasks you need to complete and then put them in order. If there is an urgent task that needs immediate attention, then keep it on top of the list so that you can complete it first.
Stay Accountable
Accountability is a powerful resource for leading successful teams. You can create safe spaces for employees to talk about their struggles, challenges, and victories.
And as a leader, staying accountable with your team will help you identify obstacles and refine systems. You can host weekly, monthly and year sessions to discuss opportunities for change and strengthen the processes which already works well.
Besides, you can ask your employees to write a self-appraisal for a performance review.
Monitor Progress
Decide which KPIs are you going to use to measure success and keep a track of your outcomes. That’s how you can be sure that your efforts are centred in the right place, and that your project is working as expected.
Besides, staying close to metrics allows you to analyse if you need to change the approach and experiment with new strategies.
Work on Team Culture
Make sure everyone on the team understands roles and how their work relates to the overall results. If you immerse your team in company culture, they will easily understand what needs to be done and how.
An excellent way of working on team culture is by building in public. It’s a modern approach that includes employees in metrics, and help team members understand objectives, prioritise tasks, and gain independence in the workplace.
In conclusion, effective planning is essential for the success of your organisation. And if you want to bring better results in less time, it’s crucial to build a solid start from the beginning of every project.
Here, we discussed the benefits of planning strategically and including your employees in the process. And if you’re looking for assistance to track your progress, measure results, and communicate with employees, you should consider using software that suits your needs. At Factorial, we provide complete solutions to help you effectively plan and follow all your HR processes with ease.
