Plans or Planning? 5 Major Errors in the Process
Plan or fail.
What was first? Planning or plans?
Hmm. Tricky.
What is your plan? 2025. Everyone is motivated, ready, and full of “I can do better” wishes.
You can’t probably do better this year without a plan, but even the best plan needs some planning.
Or? Maybe not?
Discover the difference between planning and plans and the typical mistakes we make. Yep, you can make it better this year, if…
Plans vs. Planning
Why do some teams excel in making plans while others struggle with planning?
Plans are specific, time-bounded, and detailed roadmaps for achieving a goal. You have a plan. You have a direction. You know what your end game is.
Plans are tangible steps or concrete strategies (even decisions!) made ahead of time.
I have plans for this weekend. (sometimes a lie, sometimes not)
The engineer showed us the plans for the construction.
The next step is a promotion.
To get to the plan, you probably need to do some planning. Planning. Tady tady daaaa. Don’t get bored too fast, though.
Planning is the process of thinking about, organizing, and preparing for specific goals. The focus is on the activity and the process.
Project planning
Business launch planning
Wedding planning
Planning is creative and intentional. You come up with ideas, decisions, and next steps with planning.
So, why are some teams more successful with plans? Probably they do better planning. Meaning they discuss, create, and decide on ideas.
Start your 2025 well and avoid these mistakes that come with the plans and planning.
1. Don’t skip "Why"
You why makes planning and plans so much more fun, realistic, and relatable. If you don’t know why, then what is the point?
People work for “why”. They are hungry to understand what matters. Give it to them. Otherwise, you will burn yourself down on working on tasks that don’t add to the big picture.
Plus, without the purpose, people lose focus and prioritize the wrong activities. This is a way to frustration and wasted resources.
Solid why is the ground for solid plans.
2. Plan Overload
Do you want too much? Do you tend to try to do too many tasks? How about cramming every possible task into the timeline?
Sounds familiar?
Wanting too much guarantees missed deadlines, burnout, and low productivity. It is weird. The moment you want more, you sometimes get less.
Good planning is realistic. Don’t calculate everything by a minute. “Do you have a sec?” is never a sec!
Overloading your team now will make your team annoyed for the rest of the year. Your call.
3. Ignoring the risks
Planning without considering risks is hilarious. Why would you assume everything will go smoothly? Never.
You always need plan B options or scenarios. Decisions come with risks. Discuss them before you are surprised.
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4. No flexibility
Stiff plans. Timeline without a buffer. Stretching capacity to its ends.
Yet again, I have to stress priorities shift.
New day, a new challenge. There is no rigid environment. Every day, new unforeseen issues arise. Your plans must be flexible enough to accommodate them.
Recently, I have seen a beautifully written plan. The only issue was there wasn't any plan for flexibility. It assumed a positive outcome for every step. I had to laugh.
No. Plans work as long as they are flexible.
5. Involve people, always
Managers like doing planning alone. They love what we call strategic leadership.
However,…
When leaders plan in isolation, they welcome an unwanted guest: Miscommunication.
You can’t plan without involving others. They have a word and also they are usually closer to the tasks and activities. You cannot plan for them without them. Yes, you can sometimes, but you need data and also team buy-in.
If you are part of the plan, you are likely to be more diligent and invested in the plan. Use that to your advantage and involve relevant people.
Then your 2025 will be remarkable.
TL;DR
Long story short. Do planning with your team. The outcome will be plans for 2025. Sweet.
Have a good one, Ivona
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