How to Improve Planning Skills | How to Develop Planning Skills

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How to improve planning skills in the workplace

Improve Your Planning Skills

Planning skills is written about and talked about more than it is done. Here are some ideas that will help you improve your planning skills.

Force yourself to plan.

If you fail to plan, you are by default planning to fail.

Schedule uninterrupted time every day to do your planning.

Anticipate possible problems you could encounter in your project because of people, material, or mechanical failures. Purposely provide preventive actions and contingency plans in important high risk situations.

When planning a project, plan in thinking time.

Plan for tomorrow, tonight. Your subconscious will help organize while you sleep.

Insightful Video: Top 30 Tips to Improve Your Planning Skills

Planning is important to managers, because the whole point of management is to allow a business to operate more efficiently, and to be more able to achieve its goals. If there is no planning, managers cannot do these things. In the following video you’ll discover 30 extremely powerful tips to improve your planning skills.

For more insightful videos visit our Small Business and Management Skills YouTube Chanel.

Each day anticipate the sequence of activities that you will do to attain the objectives you are after.

Think about your entire week. How will important projects be sequenced?

Do your planning in writing to capture all of your ideas and to be sure none of them get lost. We can only work mentally with about seven pieces of information without losing some-thing. Write your thoughts down and you will be able to utilize everything you think of during your planning process.

Organizing and planning skills for business managers

When developing a specific plan, list the activity steps individually on small pieces of paper and then sequence the pieces of paper. Then write the whole plan out in sequential order.

If you must, leave your office and get away to do your planning in a quiet place where you can think.

Don't hurry the process. Something will get overlooked.

When things go wrong, it can generally be traced back to a poor job of planning or failing to follow an existing plan.

List key words that relate to a project. They will fit into and help you in planning. Keep records of how long it takes to do an activity. You can use this information for future scheduling.

Take the first of any time block and dedicate it to planning that block.

Schedule one weekend away each quarter and make it a top priority. Mini-vacations are refreshing.

Encourage your staff to create their own plan and then to explain it in detail to you.

Sit quietly and mentally rehearse the steps in your plan. Use your imagination to visualize the steps being taken. You will sense where additional steps need to be added and will anticipate problems to prevent.

Consider settling for 90% completion of 90% of the projects. The final 10% may not be worth the cost to attain them.

Use the first 10 minutes of each day to plan or review your plan for the day.

When starting a new project or activity, take a moment to quietly review, mentally, the steps you will follow.

Set your own due dates for projects earlier than the actual deadline.

Management Skills Video: How to Become a Great Manager and Leader

Learn how to improve your leadership skills and become a better manager and leader. Here's how to be the boss people want to give 200 percent for. In the following video you'll discover 120 powerful tips and strategies to motivate and inspire your people to bring out the best in them.

For more insightful videos visit our Small Business and Management Skills YouTube Chanel.

If you cannot identify the objectives and steps to take to get to a goal, it is "unrealistic."

Put schedules in writing. Publish them and then follow up with them.

Mentally organize before proceeding.

Create and use Gantt charts.

Create and use PERT charts.

Stick Post-It-Notes on paperwork to indicate or highlight scheduling and due dates.

Remember the 6 P's of planning: Proper Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance.

Schedule formal planning meetings with your staff regularly.

Business planning and organizational skills examples

Other Topics in the 'Management Skills' Section

Leadership Strategies: Be a Leader that People Follow Goal Setting: Powerful Goal Setting Techniques Time Management: Get More Done In Less Time Planning Techniques: Improve Your Planning Skills Self Management: Be in Control of Your Work and Your Life Delegation: Effective Delegation Techniques Decision-Making: How to Make the Right Decisions Self Development: How to Constantly Improve Your Abilities The Entrepreneur Quiz: Are You Fit to Be a Manager? Being Profit Oriented Conducting Successful Meetings Non-Verbal Communication Handling Stress Problem Solving Writing Effectively Reading Efficiently Listening Efficiently Effective Presentation The Decision Making Process Communication Barriers Communicating Within The Organization Communicating Effectively Finding a New Job: Self Appraisal Preparing a Resume Job Interview

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