Planning is the most crucial part in setting up a business, even if it is an online one. A person can’t just jump directly into a business and work day and night without knowing that he is heading nowhere. All t efforts and decisions should be directed, or you won’t find yourself anywhere. Planning is not specific with the multinational companies only. However, you as an individual should have a plan for yourself. This self-management article is a minor attempt to help organize your life and focusing towards planning your career.
How to create a plan?
Think and thinking strategically, involves the collection of data, processing it into information, analyze the data, research and predict the future. All well-known organizations follow a proper methodology to forethought and develop work strategies.
Strategic management makes you think. Are we doing the right things?
Now, there will be many possible questions in your mind, like what are the right things? How to analyze the data? What research is essential and what is the use of predicting future? What choices would be beneficial for us? We need to keep a number of things in our mind that would let us design the clear plans easily. These things are best summarized by the Dr. Chris Peterson Professor of Michigan State University, in his Six P’s of Strategic Management.
- Plan: Your strategy to out-do your competitors
- Ploy: Why should people come to your company?
- Pattern: Success should be a routine thing eventually
- Position: What will be your market value and position?
- Purpose: What is the aim of your organization?
- Push: Take a step ahead and test your skills if you can perform even better
What is a Strategic Plan?
A strategic plan serves as a central point where all your aims and efforts are focused. It is a path or can act as a map that takes you towards your target. One significant consideration, to be taken care of, is the independence of your plan from the presence or absence of any particular human being. For example, if a person is running an organization then there should be clear management policy. Your company should operate well with the help of management policies even if, the experienced manager Mr. Jack gets retired and a new comer replaces him.
You and your employees should know what are they doing and why are they doing any task. Those tasks should be aligned with your goal. In short, a strategic plan is a ‘To do List’ with explicit information and explanation for every action.
What should be my Goal?
Dr. Locke and Dr. Latham jointly published "A Theory of Goal Setting and Task Performance" in 1990 based on five modest principles:
1. Clarity:
Your goals should be clear enough containing facts and figures. For example,
Unclear Goals | Clear Goals |
Increase company progress rate | Increase company progress rate by 25% in six months |
Increase my income | My income should be in six figures before the next year by taking the web development course of 3 months |
2. Challenge:
Challenging tasks are always exciting, and they appeal as more. They invite us saying, ‘Come, Conquer Us’. So, set a bit challenging goal for yourself but it should be achievable, as well.
3. Commitment:
No goal can be achieved without commitment and dedication. When you know what you are doing and what will be your reward, you will feel motivated. Stay committed with it else every effort will go in vain.
4. Feedback:
When you are working in a team, it is recommended to receive feedback from your co-workers to help clarify misunderstandings and remove confusions or questions. You can also ask for feedback from your friends and ask for their suggestions. Feedbacks help improve performance and services, and this is the reason why every well-known organization cares about customer feedback.
5. Complexity:
Yes, challenges are thrilling but if you are given a task to accomplish in limited time frame that would screw you up. We like discovering our skill but, if we fear that we could not achieve any target in the given time period, it affects our productivity badly and results in demotivation.
Setting up S.M.A.R.T Goals:
If we sum the above argument, then we can say that you should come up with S.M.A.R.T Goals. A smart goal is.
- Specific: Select a proper type.
- Measurable: Analyze your hard-work.
- Achievable: Set the goals.
- Realistic: Accept the reality and work honestly.
- Timely: Work on proper timing.
A specific goal is a clear goal (as we have explained above). Make sure that your target is achievable within the resources available. This leads to determine a timely and realistic goal. What is meant by timely goal? If you are launching a new product, it should be available in the market before your competitors think of it.
An example explains better than any description. Allow me to share an overview of my success plan as a writer.
- Practice writing skill
- Maintain a work balance
- Increase productivity
- Create space for fun activities in life
- Increase worth of my written material ( By taking new courses that can add up to my knowledge)
- Step into the market confidently.
- Along with:
- Build credibility
- Deliver quality
- Maintain my identity
Your Turn:
I hope these modest examples will urge you to develop your plan today. These ethical tips would surly help to build your career. Moreover, if a person continues to work honestly then that day is not far when he would be ranked among the top.Rahmeen Ahmad Khan is a student of computer and information system engineering. She is a MBL Top Contributor and blogs @ Technize.net
The Recipe To Become a Successful Businessman
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