PLANNING

I read the other day that if you want to make God laugh, tell him about your future plans. I can just see him laughing at me and saying, “Sure you are…..no Cam, I know the plans I have for you.”

It is funny how some of my most productive days happen when I just clear my desk and plan. I spend time re-prioritizing and outlining the next day or the next week or the next month. That kind of organization is cleansing in some respect.

For the Y, we have had almost 17 years of what I would say has been successful. Not always have we been successful because of a carefully calculated plan. In fact I would say mostly we have been successful just because we have been good. In a sense we have often had good people, working hard and serving a mission that the community has embraced. Some may call that lucky or timely, but I just call it being good. In Jim Collins book, Good to Great, he discusses the fly wheel approach and how the momentum of success creates more success. I think that exemplifies the Y.

In saying all of that, I am sure that when we have been most organized, most efficient and most impactful, it has been the direct result of a carefully orchestrated plan. Not just creating a plan, but efficiently executing the plan. I am sure Louisville’s women’s basketball team had a great game plan to beat the Connecticut team, but executing is an entirely different deal.

This has taught me that if we are to become all that we are capable of being organizationally, it is important that we be good and work hard; but we also must realize that we be intentional about how we plan and execute the plan. Planning places effort where effort is most needed. Organizations that put hard work, planning and execution together have a firm foundation to execute their mission.

Good planning and hard work lead to prosperity, but hasty shortcuts lead to poverty. – Proverbs 21:5

Great organizations, great teams, and great employees stay committed to establishing and maintaining times for reflection. We must listen to God so that we can discern HIS plans. Our mission has to be at the forefront. The synergy of combing our hard work, our god given talents with careful planning not only furthers our mission but HIS Mission.