Jotting down a to-do list can be a part of planning, but is not really a plan in and of itself. Although we’d like to think time stands in the way of more robust planning, perhaps the real obstacle is that many of us never truly learned the building blocks of planning. Here’s a quick overview.
How To Plan
Most contractors can probably think of times when one or more of these “good” reasons to skip over planning ended up backfiring later in the form of conflicts, delays, employee retention challenges, and ultimately, financial hits:
- “Got to get to the next job…NOW!”
- “We have too many jobs to really plan out the execution for each project.”
- “I’ve got experienced guys…they’ll figure it out.”
- “100% of the projects are going to change 100% of the time anyway.”
- “We do small jobs; I’d spend more time planning than it would to just do the job.”
According to construction pro, Brad Humphrey of Pinnacle Development Group, learning the building blocks of planning, and integrating them into day to day work habits, can make a huge difference on the path to success. Humphrey suggests keying into these six building blocks of planning:
- Time
- Work Tasks
- People
- Resources
- Needs/Expectations
- Communication/Networking
While these aspects of planning may seem obvious and easy to make quick assumptions about, consider some of the nuances involved in digging a little deeper:
- TIME is the most important component to planning. Planning is a forward-projecting exercise, setting out time requirements and deadlines, which are the very crux of planning. Time can be represented as project time, the next week of activities, monthly scheduling, etc.
- WORK TASKS are the actual hands-on tasks that must be identified, prioritized, and set in order for the project to be completed right the first time.
- PEOPLE are the human resource that develops, executes, supports, and monitors the plan and project fulfillment. By planning, leaders can leverage their people with clarity and confidence, placing their people in the best position to be effective, productive, and safe! It may be as simple as adding one more finisher to a concrete project or as complicated as figuring out how to have your best equipment operator on two projects on the same day.
Another often overlooked aspect of planning is failure to really lay out the needs and expectations of everyone involved. While that likely begins with your business goals for taking on the project in the first place, don’t forget to consider the needs and expectations of team members and customers, as well as to plan for effective communication:
NEEDS/EXPECTATIONS are seldomly documented in a plan, yet they are crucial to planning…. Even your customer has needs or expectations that may be associated with the completion of the project, both quality and time requirements. What are your needs or expectations for your crew on completing work? What is expected or needed from your customers…for you as it relates to the project?
COMMUNICATION AND NETWORKING drives on-going communication between all participants and recipients of a project. Calling to confirm or to set-up a material delivery is obviously needed … .Networking is often needed when planning as it provides you faster access to a change that is suddenly confronting your schedule; “it’s who you know sometimes that is more critical than what you know.”
In addition to the planning considerations of time, work tasks, people, resources, expectations, and communication, a solid knowledge of where the business stands financially is critical for steering projects forward. Consistently reviewing the balance sheet, and the changes reflected on it as the year progresses, will arm you with decision making intel about assets, liabilities and equity to use in planning.
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