The principle of planning is a concept which is most often violated by managers. Of course, every manager gives lip service to its practice. The benefits are patently clear.

When you plan ahead, you and your staff work best. You save time. You eliminate waste in resources and manpower. You have the assurance that your objective can be attained

And you know how you are going to achieve it.

There are two common excuses for failure to plan. One: "Everyone knows what needs to be done".

This is a fallacy! You never can be sure that everyone knows what to do and how to do it to achieve the goal. There are scores of ways of doing things. Different people will choose different ways. If you let them, in the absence of plan, their activities will overlap and often conflict with one another.

The second excuse is: "We don't have time to plan right now". This is nonsense. Your staff will waste more time, energy, and money in misdirected activities than it will ever

take to plan. If your objective is simple, keep the plan simple. But plan I

The scope of your plan, and the time you take to plan, should be in direct relation to the importance of your objective and the cost of the activities necessary to achieve it. The time you take to plan ahead, therefore, always pays for itself.