A Good Leader Has Three Plans

Good leaders don’t need just one plan – they need three!

1. An organizational strategic plan
2. A professional strategic plan
3. A personal strategic plan

The organizational strategic plan is the core to any successful organization.  Any student of business would not argue with this.  In fact, the organizational strategic plan is a base tool most good leaders will insist on. 

Leaders should also have a professional strategic plan – one that outlines our professional development path.  This plan becomes an annual evaluation of where we are today, where we want to be tomorrow and how we might get there.  This is an opportunity to review skills and knowledge missing in our tool kit and to create a plan on how to fill the gaps. It is also an opportunity to think about goals and objectives that may change from year to year.  

And leaders should have a personal strategic plan – or what my wife and I call our ‘LIFE Plan’. This one is just as important as the others.  As with the other two plans, this one looks at where are we today, where we want to be at some stage in the future and how will we get there?

The Personal strategic plan can cover any or all of:

• Your physical health
• Your spiritual life
• Your relationship with family and friends
• Your recreational life
• It could also cover your financial health, your personal non-career development and other non-career areas of your life.

All three of these strategic plans will help all of us plot a course for our future – at work, with our career and with our lives.

How many plans do you have in front of you?