Planning Matters
Gustavo Rocha,
July 6, 2010
Post by Gustavo Rocha, lawyer and consultant in management, IT and quality for law firms. He’s the author of Gestão.Adv.br (content in Portuguese only):
I’d like to share with you all a situation that I was in recently, not just because it is hilarious, as well as a good example of planning (or the lack of it):
Every time I have to visit a certain client of mine, I park my car in a parking lot near by and there it stays for the entire day, every week.
One of these weeks, after leaving the client, I got to the parking lot at 5.40 PM and found no one there. The reception booth was empty. I clapped (the parking lot is next to its owner’s home), honked a few times, waited for nearly 30 minutes and still nobody showed up. I drove away without paying for the parking.
The following week I arrived at that parking lot around 9 AM and nobody was there, again. Open but no one at the reception booth.
When I got back at 11.30 AM the parking owner was there. After having paid for the previous week worth of parking, I asked him how come no one was there.
His answer: ” You see, the reception worker is away on vacation and since there’s no replacement I myself open and close the parking, though during the day only the security cameras control the cars in and out. Many of those I don’t collect the parking fees ’cause I can’t control it.”
Moral of the story: not planning ahead can change the way a company is viewed overnight (I never had any complaint regarding the parking lot up until then).
How often does this happen in companies? Not planning ahead employees vacations, just ‘fixing things’ along with someone unfit for the job.
It is paramount that companies understand every employee’s function, so that substitutions can be adequate and companies do not loose identity.
A client that quits you service for it being a bad one, won’t be back and will bring along and spread that stain on your company’s image.
Make planning a part of your company’s DNA. Now and always.









