Planning up for 'GRABS'

https://youtu.be/w5RSm0sjzi0

This weekend on an obscure countryside travel with my mom, she lost her balance while walking on an uneven surface and fell down. Thankfully, the injury was not much, at her age, she has been very scared of uneven, slippery surface, footwear etc and all rightly so. As luck would have it, she was not in her usual sneakers when the incident happened.?

But isn't?that the case with most of us, we fall almost when we are out of balance and little careless. And hence sitting?on the hillside, I was thinking how much of planning and adhering to the plan is required in all aspects of life. I have?friends, who take pride and solace in planning everything to the nth level but also have?few friends who are more impulsive in nature and have limited or minimal planning yet things fall in place for them. I am somehow of a school of thought that we need to plan to have a broad framework in both broader life as well as business's canvas, put some colors in the framework on critical areas?but leave few portions uncolored or unplanned as that allows us to be open to new opportunities and avenues .?

I was discussing this with friend who runs a successful startup and she was struggling with her gettign?her BU heads agree on an Annual operating plan (AOP) and hold them accountable...her problem was she felt it was difficult to hold her team accountable on the AOP as it was stifling for them in a growing business environment. There is an old saying whatever gets measured, gets done and hence all of us tend to plan.?

I have coined a five pointer approach to planning which has helped me to gain the most of the planning processes and enjoy the same as well - GRABS

1) Goal setting or planning is good as it helps us keep the focus on : This is true for any business situation where we are aiming to acheive a particular plans, it helps the entire organisation stay tuned to one common goal and helps drive energies towards it. I had put in similar goal setting in place when I was doing my professional course or when my daughter was studying for engineering?

2) Relax on missing a milestone : Dont get restless on loosing?few milestones, but make it as an opportunity for course correction : I once worked with a boss, who used to loose patience on every small or big milestone being missed and worst was, I used to react to his behaviour, this made the entire atmosphere in the team very negative. Plans will have deviations but one needs to be prepared for the same and be open to making course corrections. This is similar to going on a trek on a defined path but due to a landslide, alternate path needs to be taken. Now you can either get anxious about landslide and change in plan or start trekking in an opposite direction. More often than not, we will all do the latter as we have to complete the trek and return back to base, if that is the case, we should implement the same in our professional lives as well.?

3) Accountability for the plans - Divide a business plan in a manner that different people are responsible for execution of separate aspects of a project. This makes people accountable to each other and also ensures even if something?goes wrong, there are portions of plan which will still be executed. Similar would be in personal life, hold different friends, family members accountable across your plan be it financial or otherwise, it takes the burden away from one person. As the age old?saying goes, 'Dont put all your eggs in one basket.?

4)?Breaking a big plan in small portions always helps - This is my biggest learning that I had while working with General Electric...this was written in large font near the elevator which all the employees would take many a times, possibly an outcome of Six Sigma initiative they ran organisationally. Personally, I have implemented small goals in every aspect of my life including doing monthly and quarterly reviews of an annual plan or even my own weight control regime, where I broke the weight loss journey in many phases, worked hard for each phase and enjoyed each and celebrated each ounce of weight loss.?

5) Spots to be kept open in your plan's canvas : Do keep some open spots in your plan. It will be too mechanical if everything is so tightly packed and exactly as per plan. Don't we all always love few surprise?gifts in our lives? Similarly, I always?believe in keeping an open area in my plan which for simplicity sake I put the heading as 'To be explored'?and it has always?resulted in differential?results. Imagine if the business plans are too stringent, we will not be able to explore new opportunities and take any necessary risks.?

At the end of it, this all comes down to maintaining a fine balance anywhere between a stringent plan and no planning at all. For business, life and of course, walking is nothing but maintaining a fine balance to be maintained.?