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Experts are of the opinion that planning helps one organise his or her thinking, shape their future actions, and prepare you for the good, the bad, and the downright ugly that might go wrong.
ZIMBABWE has a well-documented history of good ideas and plans. Unfortunately, implementation has been glaringly deficient.
It is often noted that for every project it is very important to evaluate how much time is taken from when an idea is generated to the time it is implemented.
If the best laid plans often go awry, then why even bother planning?
Experts are of the opinion that planning helps one organise his or her thinking, shape their future actions, and prepare you for the good, the bad, and the downright ugly that might go wrong.
Usually, it is very difficult to do things properly especially if one is under pressure.
Therefore, proper prior planning prevents poor performance. Every good idea should be followed by adequate planning.
Proper planning has many benefits. It allows one to organise their thinking, plan actions carefully, identify potential flaws and potential weaknesses which may affect the project and design systems.
Furthermore, it also makes it possible to identify strength and opportunities to improve success in addition to saving time, money and energy by avoiding confusion and mistakes.
On the overall, it helps to focus on the objectives at hand.
Well, inasmuch as planning is important it can be affected by priorities and scarce resources.
One of the first steps to any planning process should be an evaluation of the resources necessary to complete the project, compared to the resources that are available.
It is sometimes alleged that the planning process in Zimbabwe is mainly affected by bureaucrats who push their individual interests over the collective good.
If individuals are inclined to champion their own interests, corruption often kicks in.
Corruption can indeed pollute adequate planning.
And this is one of the reasons why some good ideas die prematurely before reaching the implementation stage.
After planning a project, the next important stage inevitably becomes executing and implementing it.
One might ask what the difference between implementing and executing is.
According to Dave Mead, an international business consultant, “implementation is about people doing what you have listed in your plan and checking their actions off the ‘to do’ list.
True execution is about measuring the impact of those actions on the results you want for your company”.
This is where the greatest challenge is in our Zimbabwean companies.
If implementation isn’t done correctly, not only does the project not work the way it was intended, but other unintended consequences such as reduced staff morale and participation in the project, as well as increased costs can stop the project entirely.
For implementation to be successful, it is very important to ensure that adequate resources are available for the project.
The human resources element also plays a crucial role.
Management should be competent and the staff should be adequately trained to execute the project.
Other factors which may affect implementation are communication, logistics and budgeting.
With the few factors aforementioned, it is very important to have a project charter.
Achieving results is not as easy as coming up with an idea and just writing about it.
A lot of work needs to be done.
A simple project charter comprises the following: name of project, project goal, major deliverables, organisational scope, project risks, risk mitigation strategies, project communications plan, project change management plan, name of project champion, name of project sponsor, name of external resources working on the project (such as the consultant), project budget, estimate of organisational staffing assumed for the project, start date and end date.
Whenever one is expected to execute and achieve results, the above are the basic minimum requirements.
Short cuts will not give us any results.
The other weakness that usually plagues local businesses is a business environment that has too much red tape.
It takes so long to approve a simple proposal.
At times investors can get really annoyed by our approach as a people.
Business must always be approached with an open mind.
There is no need to be too excited whenever big projects are laid on the table.
Investors are humans too.
Business is business.
Only proper planning and implementation help businesses to achieve. The watchwords for 2016 should therefore be implementation and execution.
It must always be about results. If one fails to deliver the intended results, they must simply be relieved of their duties.
Zimbabwe’s economy should grow, and now is the time to talk less and act more.
Taurai Changwa is an articled accountant with vast experience in tax, accounting, auditing and corporate governance. He is MD of SAFIC Consultancy and writes in his personal capacity. Feeback: [email protected], Facebook page SAFIC Consultancy, and WhatsApp number 0772374784
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