Turbo Leadership Systems^™

Prior planning builds pride and pleases everyone

Grant, Doctor of Veterinary Medicine, told our Leadership Development Lab (LDL):

“When I entered into hospital merger talks with three other veterinarians last Wednesday, I was ready. I had promised the others that I would have a merger activities timeline ready for their review. And I did. I produced a document, four pages in length, consisting of four columns per page. In the first column I detailed the many tasks necessary to be completed prior to our merger. The other three columns were left blank, their function to be determined by my discussion with my new partners to be. By consensus we decided that the second column would contain the name of the person assigned to and responsible for each task listed in the first column. The deadline for the task to be completed was put into the third column, and column four will have the actual completion date.

“I had also been asked to have some sketches ready of possible floor plans for our planned addition to the central hospital. My new partners were expecting me to show them penciled drawings. Instead I produced four alternative floor plans which I had created on my CAD computer program, and printed on our laser printer. Everyone at the meeting was astounded at the detail of these early plans. We spent more than an hour going over the plans, making changes and improvements, and dreaming of how our new hospital will operate. No one seemed to expect so much detail and obvious preparation on my part.

“My preparation allowed me to move the course of the meeting in the direction we needed it to go. That’s not to say I completely dominated the discussion. In fact, I encouraged others to sound out their ideas. However, when those ideas led away from productive discourse, I was able to bring us back around to the important issues.

“The lesson I learned is that my confidence grows immensely when I visualize ahead of time what is likely to take place in a meeting or discussion, and successfully anticipate the needs of my audience. When I plan all the alternatives and am well prepared, I have options available which I have already considered. By being prepared I am seldom unsettled by the unexpected. My preparation allows me to take charge of the situation, to lead because I better understand the issues at hand. I learned once again that preparation is the great secret to confidence and success in whatever I do.

“The action I call you is to take the extra time needed upfront to be fully prepared. Take charge of the agenda, prepare the agenda. Take all the time you need, all the time that is necessary for you to be prepared, for you to feel confident and in control of the situation.

“The benefit you will gain from your extra upfront effort is you will be in command, and you will consolidate the team for maximum results.”

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