Planning for your Team

Planning is an odd discipline. We love it and hate it. We love planning for vacations, and birthday parties, and nights out with friends. We love it because we know that these plans will be fun, with little risk. We also dread planning, planning the meeting where different opinions and point of views converge, planning next year’s budget, planning the number of hours needed to complete the project. Planning on getting that root canal work done.

With the exception of the last item listed I think that the dread, fear, or trepidations about planning is not the planning itself, but actually the confrontation with the unknown. A you plan a budget or a meeting you will need to make decisions based on incomplete information. You are forced to assume. Assumptions are never fun, but they are part of life. And waiting until you have all the info will almost guarantee that you are too late and the decision is already made or the option has passed you by.

Teams need planning and preparation as well. Planning for your team can fall into either the love or hate category. You might love planning for your team to go to the annual conference, but worried that the cost benefit to you will not be there.

At Starboard 3 we have developed a short-range planning form for your team. A simple one page form that assist you in planning for what your team needs for the near term. It will not replace something as large as long term strategic planning, or even as optimistic as team or corporate annual sales goals. This is a quick way to think through what can help your team prepare for success.

Planning for your team is as important as planning with your team