I’m a planner. Professionally, I work with dozens of corporations, universities and non-profit organizations on outlining their strategic plans. Together, we document their strategic imperatives, objectives, measurable goals, and tactics. On a personal note, my vacation itineraries are legendary! If you need a good plan for Portugal, Italy, Spain or Napa Valley, I’m your gal! You can count on me to have mapped out my plans.
Now, here’s the deal: I really do try to not over plan. It’s important to have some flexibility in the schedule, to be able to roll with changes – required or desired – as they come. But, from my perspective, it is useful to chart a course so that I am able to meet my goals.
This is true not just in strategic or travel planning. It is true with everything – and, not surprisingly, that includes networking, entrepreneurship, negotiations, and maybe even less heady stuff like cooking a meal.
To think through how to map out plans, I turned to creative genius, Roger von Oech, who encourages us to ask ourselves seven key questions in order get from “here” to “there,” namely:
- What is your objective?
- What are you trying to accomplish?
- Can you state it in a single sentence or two?
- Can you draw a picture of it?
- Can you make a map of where you need to go and the things you’ll need to do?
- What planning do you need to do?
- Can you visualize yourself reaching your objective?
What’s your plan? Happy Networking!