Extension Education: The Management Task of Planning

Planning is one of the key tasks of any manager. 

Although planning requires intentionality, it is not a difficult process. Crafting a plan is simply the careful organization of a series of steps for reaching a desired outcome. 

Although plans look to the future, they can and often should be informed by present and past experiences. 

A plan might have a narrow focus, such as the establishment of a new hedgerow, or more broadly encompass many aspects of management simultaneously. A whole-farm operating plan would be one such example, where the output of one enterprise becomes the input of another and so on. 

The plan may have aspects happening on different time scales, such as days, months or years down the road.

It may be tempting to put off planning until circumstances are more certain, but it is only reasonable to assume perfect information will never be available. 

While well-informed decisions have a better chance of trumping ignorant blunders, many decisions must be made when “enough” information is known rather than knowing “everything.” 

Planning not only means accepting the uncertainty of a situation but also taking the opportunity to proactively manage the uncertainty towards desirable outcomes. 

It is important to avoid the mistake of creating conflicting plans, such as retaining calves when the foregone income would prevent the cash flow requirements from being met. 

There are several aspects of planning which should be recognized.

Create a vision

A vision is a vital component of the plan, but the two should not be confused. The vision identifies where we want to go but says nothing about how to get there. 

A well-crafted mission or purpose statement is highly effective for guiding decisions in response to an ever-changing operating environment. If the vision of the business or operation is at the forefront of the manager’s mind, each decision is given meaning and direction. 

The everyday grind quickly becomes dull when it is taken out of the context of contributing to the end game, so posting the vision in a prominent place can be a helpful reminder. 

After establishing a robust statement of purpose, a manager must develop goals to make the vision become a reality.

Set goals

For a plan to be effective, it is critical to identify what steps need to be completed to achieve the vision. Writing down goals with a date or time can be very useful for maintaining accountability and tracking progress. 

A lack of specifics in planning will proportionally correspond with a result which may be different than the desired outcome. This is the reason why setting specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time-bound (S.M.A.R.T.) goals have been emphasized so much. 

Placing goals in sequence along a timeline can be a tremendous help for prioritizing efforts and resources to be used moving forward. If certain goals are not time sensitive, some other criteria may be better suited for arranging the hierarchy of priorities. 

Dividing a daunting goal into smaller steps can be an effective motivation strategy for making progress. 

Small wins help boost self-confidence and provide encouragement to keep going. As goals are completed, they become a way to measure progress towards milestones and, ultimately, realization of the vision. 

Once the vision has been identified and goals have been set for how to reach the outcome, a plan is beginning to take shape.

Identify resources

To make progress in any direction, the beginning and ending points must be known first.

The completion of most goals will require the use of resources. The task of planning itself requires time and experience. In this context, resources might include equipment, financial capital, labor or other supplies. Performing a resource inventory is a way to find out if shortfalls exist in the system. 

Finding solutions for resource deficiencies can easily become an action step which leads toward the achievement of goals. 

The resources required to accomplish one goal should also be considered in relation to other goals. For example, if stockpiled hay is used during the summer months, will there be enough remaining for winter feeding? 

Improvisation may be needed if specific resources cannot be obtained or if it would be too costly to do so. 

A partial budget may be useful for determining which would be the most profitable use of a resource. 

Once an inventory of resources is completed, the manager can assess if the plan is reasonable or if adjustments may be needed given the constraints.

In the end, the combination of a clearly defined vision, specific goals and resource requirements are essential for a manager to craft a good plan. It is important to realize even the best-laid plans may need to be adjusted in response to a crisis or other factors that were unforeseen. 

A little forward thinking can make all the difference between having a good “plan B” and last-minute improvisations. 

The intent of the planning exercise is to outline tangible steps which can be taken in a positive direction. 

Though the plan may be influenced by many sources of information, perspectives and advice, it is ultimately up to the manager to organize and arrange the plan in a coherent fashion.

Once this is done, the entire plan should be communicated in a way everyone on the team can understand. 

When done well, planning helps unify the efforts of the workforce for a common purpose and helps make transitions from one effort to another easier and more efficient.

Jedidiah Hewlett is the University of Wyoming Extension agriculture and natural resources educator serving Converse County. He can be reached at jhewlett@uwyo.edu or 307-358-2417.