From Episode 89 of The Complete Leader Podcast
Planning and organizing is a crucial skill for any individual, but how can it help your team?
I actually discovered this myself the hard way. Some years ago, I developed a performance management system and established a set of key results that would reflect my performance throughout the year. I had five key results, had considered the metrics and measurements and listed what I would need to do to achieve the results I wanted. However, after two years I realized I had continuously underperformed on one of my goals.
Each year, I tried to complete this particular project on my own. Leaders too often believe that leadership is a solitary job, but, in reality, utilizing planning and organizing will only improve your and your team’s performance. Once I brought my team in, we were able to accomplish the goal together in one year what I had failed to do alone in two.
Take your individual planning and organizing skills to the next level by including your team. You’ll more than likely see increased focus, commitment, support and accountability from your team and, soon enough, you’ll have improved your team’s performance as a whole. Here are three practical ways to instill a mindset of planning and organizing in every member of your team.
Uncover shared interests. One mistake leaders often make is assuming their employees’ commitment to a project or goal. Just because you are interested in something, does not mean everyone else is. Check in with your people to ensure they see the value of the project for themselves and uncover shared interests to increase the potential for success.
Create a goal together. Find out what your team wants to accomplish together and answer a few crucial questions: What are the benefits of accomplishing the goal? What are the obstacles to success? What is at risk if you fail to accomplish the goal? What skills do you need to see success—and do you have those among your team already, or will you need to learn them? Which team members would be ideal to get the job done? Should you involve others outside of the team? Once you have answered those questions together, you can begin to plan exactly how you will tackle your goal.
Use project management skills. Project management is essentially planning and organizing but for teams. As a leader, you won’t be able to accomplish your tasks without first delegating so you must know what is needed to manage a project whether or not you will actually do the managing. For simple projects, you may just need a to-do list. But as your projects get more and more complicated, you will need more sophisticated tools such as a Gantt chart or even a software program.
With these three steps, your team will soon master planning and organizing together. Be sure to consider your relationship to this crucial skill and determine the payoff for developing your abilities further—even if it’s just a 10 to 20% improvement. Otherwise, if you fail to plan, you are only planning to fail.
Photo by Ono Kosuki via Pexels.
Competency