The Man with the Plan

'Elloooooo!

Okay, so I love being organized and having things planned out, that's just the kind of guy I am. If a group of friends and I don't have a plan for what we are going to do it bugs me to be frank. So, I like the Leadership Principle we talked about this week about what all goes into effective planning. Despite my love for having things set in order, I can be extremely indecisive. Therefore, one of my favorite comments our speaker made was the fact that a leader must be able to make a decision and once that decision is made  they must be able to stand behind it and support it. From there, you can build upon that first decision and plan around it. I enjoyed our group project in Lab because I really thought the R.A.C.E. model was really helpful and a wonderful descison making tool that allows for better planning. Some key parts that I liked about the model was defining your problem and objectives in the Research phase because I have to have direction to be an effective worker and leader. If I can't understand what I am working towards or what needs to be done I notice that I become frustrated and my leadership breaks down from there. Next, I like the concept of making an outline of specific steps in the Action Plan. Deadlines are also a personal necessity for me. I already have a hard enough time with procrastination that I have been trying to minimize this semester as one of my goals. However, I know that if I have a specific timeline to work with, I am a much more productive individual and can keep myself better accountable for my responsibilities in whatever project or task I am involved in. Lastly, I am a pretty competitive person deep down, not only in an outward manner while competing against others, but also in an inward fashion towards myself and my capabilities. I love stretching myself and if I'm not getting better at whatever I'm doing then I am wasting my time and not fulfilling the plan that has been set forth. This is why I think the Evaluation phase is so important. You must be able to measure your performance or else how can you know if you've done well or succeeded? Even if you didn't perform as expected, you need a measurement to let you know what you did do well at and what you dropped the ball on so you can improve next time. I think it's all about improvement. If you take a look at the best and most important Plan ever made it is easy to understand the importance of all these aspects of planning. Heavenly Father's Plan is incredibly perfect. We know the problem that we face and what we must overcome and do specifically to meet our objective to return to Him. His Plan is one of improvement. We should constantly be striving to reflect on our daily performance and trying a little harder to be a little better each day. Well, I plan to use this week's knowledge that I've gained in my leadership role by doing a better job of planning floor events. I think if I use the R.A.C.E. model I can improve the overall success of our events. Also, I think this model for planning can be applied to much more in my leadership arena. I can use the model to help guys on my hall with things they need to get done or overcome problems they are facing because ultimately the model is about addressing a problem and planning how to overcome it and meet objectives. It is not only a beautiful planning tool but also a wonderful problem solving model.

Catch ya laterrrrrrr,
Kellon