ORGANIZING AND PLANNING

The ablity to identify and organize work into tasks to be completed by specific people, by set dates in order to accomplish an objective.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

It is easier to get things done when work is planned and organized. It begins with a vision and purpose, and then cascades down from there into BROAD goals, strategies, capabilities and programs, SMART Goals, plans, and tasks. A good leader not only makes a clear plan that is connected to the overall vision, but he/she continuously updates the plan and communicates those updates to staff as the situation changes.

But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way.1 Corinthians 14:40

Skilled Characteristics

  • Resourceful

    Can utilize resources (people, money, material, support) to get things done

  • Organizer

    Can organize multiple activities at once to accomplish a goal

  • Efficient

    Uses resources effectively and efficiently

  • Groups

    Organizes work into logical groupings

  • Timeframes

    Defines the timeframe of getting things done

  • Clarifies Roles

    Defines WHO will take on various tasks or responsibilities

  • Documents

    Documents comprehensive plans for getting things done

“For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?”

Luke 14:28-30

Unskilled Characteristics

  • Disorganized

    Doesn’t pull resources together effectively

  • Not an Arranger

    May not know how to find and arrange people, materials, budget, etc.

  • Poor Delegation

    May be a poor delegator and planner and not very motivating to work with

  • Performance

    Performance decreases as the number of simultaneous activities increase

  • Self Reliant

    May rely too much on oneself to get things done

  • Scrambles

    May scramble at the last minute and have to work long hours to finish a project

  • Not Future Thinking

    May not anticipate or be able to see how multiple activities come together

“A goal without a plan is just a wish.”

-Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.”

-Benjamin Franklin

Causes of Weakness

  • Procrastinator

    Waits until the last minute to do things

  • Self-Discipline

    Lacks self-discipline to sit down and plan

  • Impatient

    Too impatient to take the time to write down a detailed plan

  • Action Bias

    Too action focused rather than taking time to think and plan

  • Skills

    Poor planning skills

  • Naive

    Believes that he/she can do it without planning ahead

“Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.”

– Abraham Lincoln

Advice

Review the simple application steps below and choose 1 or 2 things you can do to spur yourself on to further growth.

  • Start with End in Mind

    START WITH THE END IN MIND: Make sure you have defined your team’s vision, mission, and values before organizing and planning your work. Otherwise, you may just be keeping busy without ever accomplishing your true objectives.

  • Think Team

    THINK TEAM: As much as possible, work with your leadership team and allow all of your staff to give input into the overall strategy and plan for accomplishing the vision and purpose of the team. The more brains involved in planning, the more likely you will consider all the work activities that need to be done. In addition, including your team in the planning process generates excitement, enthusiasm and buy-in from your staff, motivating them to be better team players. You don’t have to include everything people say into the final plan, and you don’t have to literally all sit down and write the plan together, but asking for people’s input and ideas can be invaluable.

  • BROAD Goals

    BROAD GOALS: Identify your top 3 to 5 high-level goals and/or purposes that you hope for your team to accomplish approximately 10 or more years from now. You could even consider setting BHAG goals – that stands for Big, Hairy, Audiacious Goals – or in other words, really, really challenging goals. Base the rest of your plans on how to achieve these BROAD goals.

  • Set Strategies

    SET STRATEGIES: As you consider the main goals you want the team to achieve, determine the key methods/approaches you believe your team will need to take to be successful in achieving each goal. Each BROAD goal may end up having 1 to 3 key strategies you identify in order to achieve the goal.

  • Define

    DEFINE PROGRAMS AND CAPABILITIES: What programs or services will your team offer in order to execute each strategy? What capabilities does your team need to have in order to provide those programs or services? What team member will be overall responsible for overseeing each main program or service?

  • Plan Work

    PLAN WORK: For each program and/or capability, identify what work tasks need to happen on a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, or yearly basis in order to set up programs and services and to maintain and grow them. Estimate timeframes of when you realistically think each work task should be done, and identify a person to be responsible for ensuring that each work tasks gets completed.

  • Re-Evaluate

    RE-EVALUATE: Each week, re-assess the work plan. What progress has been made? What issues or obstables are in the way? What needs to be adjusted in the work plan? Each quarter re-assess the overall plan for each of your programs and services and determine what you need to adjust. Make sure to get input from your team and from your target audience.