The importance of a plan

A fundamental but essential aspect of any short or long-term campaign or project is a plan. If you don’t have a plan, you may get chaos instead of results, stressed-out employees instead of a happy team, conflict instead of collaboration, lose money instead of adding to the organisation’s profit, and so on.

Whenever things go awry in my agency or with client work, it’s because we have gone off course with our plan usually, so we revisit it, clarify it, revise it if required and get everyone on board again.

Seven reasons why a plan is necessary:

1) Provides focus. A plan helps everyone focus on what’s essential rather than be distracted by unnecessary activities or input.

2) Increases effectiveness. When we have a plan, we tend to focus on the most effective approach and prioritise tasks, letting go of less important and ineffective tasks.

3) Forward-looking. A plan encourages us to look into the future and agree on the results we want to achieve.

4) Demonstrates value for money. A well-thought-out budgeted plan aligned with the organisation’s goals is more likely to get signed off by senior management.

5) Minimises mistakes. When producing your plan, consider different scenarios and issues that may challenge the plan and what you plan to do to overcome these, e.g., government restrictions around COVID-19.

6) Reconciles conflicts. A firm plan helps prevent conflicts of interest and different priorities interfering or stalling projects.

7) Encourages proactivity. A comprehensive and united plan helps employees manage their time and be more proactive.

As always, this is just a snapshot. Contact me if you would like some assistance to produce a communications plan for your organisation.