Planning is a monumental waste of time. Every year thousands of executives and managers spend millions of hours developing plans that are scuttled the minute a competitor offers a rebate, a new technology emerges, or the CEO reads a best-selling management book.
Rather than developing detailed plans, spend time defining your company's vision, mission, values, goals and objectives – those things aren't (or at least shouldn't be) subject to the vagaries of the daily business page – then communicate them with every member of your team to ensure they're in alignment.
If your team truly understands your mission, values and goals, they can act within their areas of expertise to do the right thing when new challenges and opportunities present themselves.
By not hamstringing people with a list of tasks and timelines, while holding them to specific measurable goals, you're allowing employees to initiate action and take a deeper level of ownership in their jobs and the company. You'll create more commitment, more satisfaction and a nimbler workplace that can rise to meet challenges in a moment's notice.
It all starts with knowing what you stand for. And making sure everyone else knows it, too.
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Great piece Harvey with good advice for any company or brand. It seems that this is a difficult thing for automotive companies/brands, knowing what you stand for and accepting that you don't stand for other things.
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