Task planning is a vital part of any business project yet very often it is not completed for maximum gain, making managers less personally effective than they should be. It is estimated that over 70 per cent of projects that are undertaken to improve an aspect of the business fail to deliver in some area due to incomplete planning.
This shortfall can be attributed to many things but there are some recurring themes, such as being focused on making savings rather than understanding the long term benefits of some investments; putting too much emphasis on an actual outcome, which as a stand alone plan has little effect overall; and having no actual structure to make sure that a plan can be realised.
Very often, a project is thought to be complete when the initial objective has been achieved, but more often than not, it is only possible to realise how a plan benefits a business over time. This means that planning should account for this and have a long term strategy. This isn’t something that should be done when it becomes obvious that the original objective has developed in ways that were not anticipated; instead, any potential developments should be considered and accounted for in the early stages of the planning.
If this is done, then there will be few surprises and a manager can realise a more personal effectiveness than the manager who starts off by being successful and then flounders when the original objective takes on a life of its own. It isn’t just a case then, of task planning, but comprehensive task planning so that a manager can be personally effective. Structure and clarity have to be present from the beginning so that the benefits of any project can be identified and maximised.
This shortfall can be attributed to many things but there are some recurring themes, such as being focused on making savings rather than understanding the long term benefits of some investments; putting too much emphasis on an actual outcome, which as a stand alone plan has little effect overall; and having no actual structure to make sure that a plan can be realised.
Very often, a project is thought to be complete when the initial objective has been achieved, but more often than not, it is only possible to realise how a plan benefits a business over time. This means that planning should account for this and have a long term strategy. This isn’t something that should be done when it becomes obvious that the original objective has developed in ways that were not anticipated; instead, any potential developments should be considered and accounted for in the early stages of the planning.
If this is done, then there will be few surprises and a manager can realise a more personal effectiveness than the manager who starts off by being successful and then flounders when the original objective takes on a life of its own. It isn’t just a case then, of task planning, but comprehensive task planning so that a manager can be personally effective. Structure and clarity have to be present from the beginning so that the benefits of any project can be identified and maximised.
