Having a Plan is Essential to Where You are Going

This post originally appeared at petechristianbooks.com

Planning is used to help individuals and businesses to identify their future goals. Preparing for the future allows them to consider the impact they would like to have. And it establishes a way to get there. That is why having a plan is essential to where you are going.

Those who don’t develop plans are leaving their future to chance.

Many of us have seen what occurs when we allow that to happen. It is not an ideal situation for sure. There is an old saying

“Those who fail to plan, plan to fail”.

This is true in business. Managers at all levels plan for all sorts of things. In fact, planning is one of the four major functions of management.

There are three main types of plans that a manager should use. They are:

1. Strategic Plans — These are designed with the entire organization in mind. They begin with an organization’s mission. Top-level managers, such as CEOs or presidents, will design and execute these plans. They cover the desired future and long-term goals of the organization. Strategic plans look ahead to where the organization wants to be in three to five years. They serve as the framework for lower-level planning.