Leadership Development The usefulness of the planning methods used to meet the leadership requirements at strategic level

Planning is a very important process at every level of the organization, it is the process being used by the leaders to set the organizational goals, come up with the strategies and set the time limit for the tasks which are relevant to help achieve the set objectives. All the leaders need to have plans which can deliver the organization from its current position to meet its future goals. Various planning methods can be applied by the leaders which require various leadership skills and quality in order to accomplish the set goals and objectives. The type of leadership style being used in an organization determines the planning methods that the organization can adopt. The plans can be very effective and easy to implement if the organization work on the plan as a team. Leaders need to involve he employees at all levels so that they become part of the plan. Various aspects of planning require the collective performance of the employees and commitment which can only be achieved if the leader works with the employees and win their commitment to fully participate and execute the plan as a team. The plan needs to be communicated to the employees in order to internalize it so that there is full coordination of various teams which is crucial if the goals are to be achieved as per the schedule.

Leaders who come up with the plans without involving the employees in the formation process experience difficulty as there could be resistance from within and may waste a lot of time and resources in trying to explain the plan to the employees in order to implement. Participatory leadership has gained more recognition and leaders are widely encouraging their followers or employees to actively participate in all the leadership processes so that the vision and mission of the organization is achieved as a team. Leaders use various planning methods which are useful in helping them achieve their leadership requirements either at operational level or at strategic level.

There are three major types of...

A leader can use the operational plans which are the plans to measure the departmental inputs in executing the organization's main plan. There are various departments within an organization which are headed by several individuals who are answerable for the activities at those levels. In order to achieve their objectives or the targets which have been set at that level, the individuals leading such groups within the organization do come up with operational plans which are categorized based on the duration and the need for those particular plans. Some of the operational plans are referred to as single use plans because there is likely to be no repeat of such a plan in the future. They may be programs which are geared towards popularizing a product to drive sales or to create product awareness in order to penetrate the market.
The leaders may come up with promotional activities which are budgeted for at ones and work to meet a specific target within the department which is in line with the main objective of the organization. This is useful because it helps the leaders to determine by making use of different plans which can be reviewed to determine which of the used plans delivered the most results which can be implemented as one of the long-term plans upon review. Another category of the operation plan is the continuing plans which are the plans used and retained over a long period of time. These plans undergo periodic reviews and updates to determine their relevance and are always changed when need arises. Examples of these plans may be the rules and procedures that govern the operations of a department. These are meant to stay over some time if sanity is to be maintained and for the employees to conform to the rules and follow a certain order in carrying out certain tasks. These are useful for the leaders if they are to instill some disciplinary actions against the perpetrators and to maintain discipline at the work place. The procedures in carrying out tasks need to be repetitive so that the quality of services or the products are…