Planning

Imagine the benefits of spending a day reflecting on past performance and planning for the future. "Fail to plan - plan to fail".

Any time spent thinking collectively about what we want to achieve in the future, dramatically increases the chances of achieving our goals. If we don't have any performance goals, we are doomed to mediocity and reacting to daily pressures. The only pause is in between crises.

A typical planning day would include:

• Reflecting on our past performance
• Lessons from the past year
• Defining our purpose, values and vision for the future
• SWOT analysis to identify our strengths and weaknesses
• Clarifying our goals and measurable objectives for the future
• Improving our teamwork
• Identifying ways we could work more closely
• Identifying ways of working more closely with other teams
• Developing a team charter
• Keeping ourselves motivated

Teams need to do regular maintenance checks to ensure they are on track and aligned. A team is the most productive unit available to management, providing it is clear about its direction, purpose, values and goals.

All of this can be achieved in one day.