Part 3 is about the delicate line between planning and over-planning:

“Winning is Accomplished Equally in the Preparation and Execution Phases” - Dr. Robert Anthony

In my experience, people who fail in our industry either spend all of their time in the preparation phase, developing an overly complex plan they become obsessed with – almost as if it’s a shield to keep them from DOING anything – or they fail to plan anything and produce a lot of scattered activity.

Let’s face it, spending too much time in either stage can often be a defense mechanism against the FEAR of failure. Creating incredibly detailed plans all the time provide a transparent excuse for doing nothing, while having no plan at all shields the recruiter from accountability. After all, any activity must be good activity – right? Wrong.

Although I often turn to sports for business analogies, I think this practice has become fairly cliché…. So I’ll use another example. If you’re going to drive to a friend’s house, you probably let the friend know what time you’ll be there. Let’s say 6pm. This might mean (if you live 20 minutes away) you need to leave your house by 5:40pm. It likely also means you are familiar with the route you will take when you do leave. Of course, if you’re supposed to bring something, you will leave slightly early, drive to the store (where you probably know the location of the section you want), make your purchase and arrive at your final destination on time.

The above case demonstrates the proper ratio of planning to execution (P:E). Now, you could just get into the car and drive around randomly until you MIGHT eventually reach your friends house (no plan), or you could take a big map of the city, plot 15 different routes and compare them all for gas consumption vs. travel time and not get out of the house on time (execution reluctance). Either way there are two great ways NOT to reach your destination, leaving your friend lonely and sad.

A plan, whether it’s sales or recruiting, is a roadmap to your success. It is also a tool for forecasting, and accountability. However, keep it in context. An effective plan needs to be nimble and easily modified if obstacles are encountered during the execution phase.

Sure, some successes can happen to those who over or under-plan… even a broken watch it right twice a day, but enduring success must be consistent and repeatable.

Try to spend “just enough” time on your plan to make it a good roadmap, and allow yourself enough latitude to experiment in the execution phase without straying too far from the guide you established. Remember, if you’re straying too far… you need to adjust your plan.

Happy Hunting!

-Art Pitcher

www.TheArtOfRecruiting.net