Where Is Your Road Map Taking You?

There is that nagging question that comes up every day, “What’s the PLAN?” It conjures up guilt and questions about -self-worth. Plans come by many -names—it could be called the strategy, it could be the plain old bud-get, or it could be called something exotic like “the Five Pillars to Success.” My favorite name is the ROAD MAP.

The world demands it. Your boss requires it. Your spouse wonders about it. You need a plan.

Those of you who take public transit to work are lucky. You are not clicking through the radio trying to understand where the traffic problems are every day. The rest of us probably spend too much time in the car, which raises the question, how do we use that time?

FM radio is okay but I am sick of most of the songs since I am stuck in my car listening to FM radio. Texting is never an option. Talk radio can be okay, but it seems too loud and shrill for the morning.Here is an idea: on the way to work, while in your car, plan your day. On the way home from work, reflect on the day. Each day, use that commute time a little more productively. It might help you be more effective and get a raise. And then, you can get a better car for commuting.

There will be lots of meetings in December where we plot out the plan for the new year. There will be flip charts and markers and yellow stickies and breakout groups and facilitators in conference rooms and hotels all over the country.

And the first topic of conversation over coffee and muffins will be, “Do we need a mission statement?”

The response will be, “No, I think we need a vision.”

And the third comment will be the question, “What is the difference between a vision and a mission?”

That discussion will go until lunchtime with no clear resolution.

Aaaargh.

The three things we all want to know at work are: what’s my job, how am I doing, and how does my effort make us more successful?

A little time on those questions might be more productive than a framed vision statement on the wall.

A roadmap should tell you how to get to where you want to go and the stops along the way. The corporate roadmap, of course, assumes you know where you are going, which is not always the case.

The problem with so many corporate roadmaps is that they are too complicated so no one pays any attention to them.

I think there is a lot to be learned from my favorite road -map—the kids’ game Chutes and Ladders. Just like work, the game is all about rewards and consequences. With good deeds, you climb, and for misbehavior, you go down chutes. Plus, in the game, you know where you are and you can see the end.

Need a good road map? Just look in the toy bin, then implement it.

[feel free to follow me or add me on LinkedIn]

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Richard is the author of the new book The Thing About Work: Showing Up and Other Important Matters [A Worker’s Manual]. You can follow his writing on Twitter, Facebook, or at his website at richardmoran.com.

Richard is a noted San Francisco based business leader, workplace pundit, bestselling author and venture capitalist.