A road trip takes a plan, so does a business.

Plan.

If you plan 52 meetings a year.  You may need a map.

Knowing where you are going helps you choose a plan for getting there.  If you plan to visit San Francisco from New York City, use the map, find the roads and plan the trip.  The same is true if you plan to have a successful business or are president of NFP. Determine your destination and find the paths and plan the journey.

Figure out the whole year. It looks like a lot of time. The 52 weeks will go fast.

 A few hints

1. Don’t plan the year as a whole.
2. Segment each month into the four weeks plus a bonus week to plan.
   • Every week in a month has a job –  You have a plan for that week.
     • For example –The first week of each month is “ Tribe tips”. 12 “tribe tips” are planned around “Working together.”
     • Every second week plan on story telling . 12  plans to discuss the “new work, new clients, new supporters”.
     • Etc. Every third Week, every fourth week, every fifth week (four times a year) – celebrate, have fun!

3. Keep your plan simple.
4. Make your plan easy to follow so someone else can conduct the meeting, if you aren’t there.
5. Keep a notebook with every week’s agenda in it for the whole year. Plan with content empty pages and each page is dated with the meeting date and the format. Doing so allows you to schedule a speaker, a celebration, a birthday, and an anniversary months in advance. Stuff your pages with jokes, silly ideas and thoughts about how other people may be able to help you.
6. Use a theme – It keeps you focused.
7. Add a bit of humor, even laughter takes a plan. – Ice cream social.

Of course, the clinker…..

In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable. Dwight Eisenhower.

Plan  your work and work your plan!!