Time Management: The Importance Of Planning For Managers

Planning can help managers to use the limited time on their hands more effectively. As a manager, the resources at their disposal is not inexhaustible and it is at the stage of planning that they decide on how to deploy such resources that will best meet the stated objectives within the stipulated time.

Planning Gives You A Battle Plan To Tackle Time Wasting Processes

The planning stage is an opportunity to look at the best strategies to adopt that will limit the wasting of time in the process of executing of a task or project. Time wastage drains money. It also means that the resources are not being used as they should be whether it is human or non-human resources. You get to have the chance of dealing with this before starting the project.

Planning Is An Avenue To Develop Solutions To Problems Before The Problems Become A Major Issue

There are problems that you can get to foresee at the planning stage. This is one of the benefits of meticulous planning as it will give you a sort of map of the project through which you may be able to accurately decipher areas where issues may arise.

The ability to foresee problems at that stage i.e. before the project is executed will give you the options of taking strategic decisions over the problem.

• The organization might decide to scuttle the whole project at this stage of planning especially if they believe or come to agree that the problem does not have any cost effective solution or may just be too much to handle .
• A credible and acceptable solution may be provided before the project has already started. That is, the planning stage can provide solutions for foreseen problems before the problems come to reality, making it very easy for the company to bypass delays and stick to schedule.

Planning Helps You To Project Into The Future

It gives you a clear vision of the terrain, a clarity that might not be available without proper planning. This will in turn help you to find time saving measures in accomplishing set goals. Having the ability to project into the future gives you several advantages.

You Can Proffer Solutions That Will Put Your Company Ahead Of The Curve

Planning gives you an opportunity to leap ahead into the future to start initiating things presently that will place them ahead of the curve. Planning a project may open doors to other strategic projects that should be looked into if the company still wants to remain relevant. It is a way of providing solutions for your company that will make them relevant in the future. You get to know the possible issues that will unfold in the future as you already know possible dangers and setup a strategy that will bypass them.

Planning and time management work together because it is at the planning stage that you get to know how long it could take you to accomplish certain tasks. This is also the stage you get develop the best ways of sorting this issue out. you can look at the area of prioritization, using a team to handle the project as you apply the principle of delegating such responsibilities or just changing the whole process of execution.

You Can Avoid Pitfalls That You Not Have Seen If You Limit Your Actions To Present Events

Staying ahead of the curve in a competitive industry could be a strategic advantage. There might be a course of action that will seem to serve a present and pressing issue. It might look like the ideal solution for that issue but when you look 3 or 4 steps ahead, it might turn out to be a grave mistake because it will cause other issues to come up in the future that will be more damaging than what it solved. Planning helps you to see far ahead, accept, and reject present options based on what they will cause in the future.

Planning Ensures A Smooth Career Path That Can Result Through Accelerated Promotions

A manager that can do the things above because he or she has imbibed this attribute of planning will not remain in one position long. Organizations are looking for such people to stay strategic positions that would help them steer the organization in a direction that will profit them without encumbrance. This means they will most likely experience accelerated promotions and hold such strategic positions.

Being able to plan in a strategic manner can set you up as a manager for only good things. Every manager should consider adding this to his or her skill set.