The Leadership Principle of Navigation: Planning & Structure

Take a census of all the congregation of the children of Israel, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of names, every male individually… Every one of the children of Israel shall camp by his own standard, beside the emblems of his father’s house; they shall camp some distance from the tabernacle of meeting. Numbers 1:2 & 2:2 Counting and organizing the wandering tribes of Israel was a mammoth job. That’s exactly what Aaron and Moses had to do. Israel’s leaders broke down the huge assignment into many smaller elements, using the tribes, clans, and families already in place in Hebrew culture. Next, Moses methodically arranged the tribal camps in the wilderness. He set the tabernacle in the center and arranged the priests around its four sides. Then he symmetrically distributed the Twelve Tribes around the priests and Levites, with three tribes on each of the four sides. Planning and structuring requires the following: 1. Plan to plan – Give time for planning and organizing. 2. Determine your primary purpose – What’s the big picture? What are you trying to do? 3. Assess the situation – Understand where you are before trying to develop a strategy. 4. Prioritize the needs – Make sure the team agrees on the most important goals. 5. Ask the right questions – Examples: Ask about market, leadership, revenue, reporting, and evaluation. 6. Set specific goals – Write goals that are realistic, measurable, convictional. 7. Clarify and communicate – Communication links planning and implementation. 8. Identify possible obstacles – Mentally work though all you are trying to pull off and all the possible roadblocks. 9. Have an open system approach to your planning – Be aware of, and responsive to, your environment. 10. Schedule everything you can – Get things on the calendar and set deadlines. 11. Budget everything you can – Determine both the costs and timing of expenses. 12. Monitor and correct – Measure progress and constantly adjust your course. 13. Study the results – Evaluation prevents stagnation and exaggeration. The Leadership Principle of Navigation states that good leaders create order out of chaos. Good leaders develop excellent plans. They try to plan for every detail. This is one of the few ways in which a good leader is like a good manager. Remember, anyone can steer the ship, but it takes a real leader to chart the course. Do your words, your plans, and your actions lead your people toward the vision? I’d love to talk to you personally. For more on help I can provide and how you can reach me, check out… http://truthatlife.com/ or email me directly at curtis.songer@gmail.com