Setting goals is just the first step of the planning process. Once they're set, effective plans will detail how goals will be achieved. Plans will be most effective when these six steps are followed. Start with a master plan that focuses on your main objective. If redesigning a product is your greatest need, you should give this the top priority. Throw up supporting plans that map out how each activity can contribute to your master plan. This is a good time to plan for contingencies that may require some changes. Be as specific as possible. This comes directly from setting smart goals. Plans work best when employees know exactly what is required of them. Make specific assignments. Assign each part of a plan to a specific person or team so everyone knows what they should be doing and when. Explain the plan to everyone involved. Explain plans and justify their goals. Employees who know why something needs to be done are more cooperative. Review your plans regularly. Circumstances can and will change. So examine your plans regularly to see whether they need to be revised. Plans should be stated firmly and clearly so everyone concerned can understand them and see why they are important. But they also need some flexibility. Plans that are too rigid can stop you from addressing unexpected circumstances that threaten success. Rigid plans require supervisors to use resources in a preset invariable manner. The overall purpose is goal achievement with maximum efficiency. But adhering too close to your plans can be counterproductive in the long run. A good plan should be flexible enough to anticipate and allow you to change course when problems pop-up. Now, suppose you planned to start an outdoor project today, but it rained. To avoid wasting time, your plans should permit pushing the outdoor project to another day and working indoors today instead. Here's a good way to think about flexible planning. The destination goal is known and everyone has access to the same resources, yet there's no prescribed mandatory way of doing things. Whatever gets you from A to B is good. In fact, let's hope you find a way from A to B when everything else fails. That's what flexible planning is. The spontaneous re-application of skill and ability when confronted with adversity. Not all managers and supervisors are involved in devising all types of plans. Having said that, there are four basic types of plans, which are usually classified according to their duration and usage. Long-range planning clearly states the company's objectives over two to five years. These plans are set by high-level management. The nature of the markets in which a company operates will ultimately determine the planning time horizon. Short-term plans are the main concern of supervisors and account for about 78 percent of their planning time. They may have a duration of up to one full year or as little as a day. Short-term plans cover the specifics of day-to-day operations. They normally include a deliverable, such as improving employee skills, your condition of production equipment, or product quality problems. Standing plans cover activities that change very little from year to year. They are policies, procedures, and programs that keep a business operating smoothly. They are developed just once and modified as needed. Examples are policies for employee interaction, and procedures for reporting production defects. Single-use plans are used just once and are often tied to a specific project, and they last a year or less. Exact duration of the plan will depend on the project in question. Some examples are an annual budget or a marketing campaign. These plans mainly cover the expected, not the unexpected. But as we all know, crises and emergencies can impact organizations at any time, including destructive weather, fires, outbreaks of infectious disease like COVID-19, and political tensions. These circumstances call for contingency plans. Contingency plans are often called back-up plans. Their purpose is to anticipate future negative situations, prevent them when possible, and layout appropriate responses when you can. They are a sort of if-then situation. If event A happens, then we'll take it to action B. A good example of a contingency plan everyone should have is a fire prevention and evacuation plan. The supervisor's most important task in the strategic planning process is to align their own unit with the master plan. Supervisors make the day-to-day assignments and adjustments that make a master plan effective. Without conscious awareness of what is going on above you, your planning efforts will be wasted. The supervisor's basic role is planning the daily work schedule of the workers and dividing the work amongst them according to their interests, aptitudes, skills, and interests. Unless supervisor's accept their share of the managerial responsibility and adhere to the master plan, it will waste organizational resources and inhibit progress.
