Planning with Passion

Most phone calls I receive from clients have the same tone. They will say, "I need help with taking my business to the next level". As we continue the conversation I always hear them say, I know how to operate my business but it's tough trying to grow and maintain the current operation; there are only so many hours in the day. I have a friend that always says sometimes the hardest questions have the simplest answers.

Case in point:

I am passionate about helping businesses to succeed in their chosen area of expertise but my real personal passion is entertaining. I take pride in preparing for guests coming for dinner. Most of the time it is very casual but I do enjoy the formal sit down dinners with great conversation. These dinners take well orchestrated planning of the fine details from who to invited, where everyone should sit, what type of china to use, what type of food to serve (check on food allergies) and the list goes on and on.

Once I was in a conversation with a colleague attending one of my dinner parties who said to me, "when you plan dinner parties you put as much energy into them as you do a project for clients." I never really thought about it but when I put it in perspective my colleague was correct.

I use the same steps to develop a business plan as I do a well planned dinner party. Thinking of the steps in terms of my passion helped me with communicating to the client that was hitting a wall. I then changed my entire conversation with all of my clients from trying to address the problem to trying to find their passion. Once we find their true passion then we can parallel the problem solving steps to find the solution.

The Planning/Problem Solving steps are consistent but the activities change depending on the purpose or goal as seen here.  

Planning	Dinner Party	Project
Determine the goal (Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Realistic, Time sensitive)	The purpose of the dinner party is to have four (4) couples for a formal yet fun and exciting dinner with 4 star wine, surf and turf, current events conversation on Saturday night at 7pm.	The goal of the project is to improve productivity by 10% and revenue by 20% by the end of 2012.
Build the team	Select the guests that will “add value” to your party by their presence. The Smith’s – College friends The Carlisle’s – Neighbors The Tall’s – My Colleagues The Worth’s – Spouses Colleagues	Select the team members that will add value to the project to reach the goal. Bill – Finance Jack – Engineering Isabella – Legal Dana – Operations
Send meeting request	Invitations are hand written and mailed to the guests	Meeting request sent through email
Plan the meeting outcome	Preparation for the event Start time/sequence for food Guests arrival time Menu Sequence Music/Entertainment Conversation topics (potentially) Attire	Research subject before hand Find articles to share with team Plan the Agenda Prepare an overview of the Project Develop objectives Plan Brain Storming of Solutions Determine plan process
Utensils Necessary	Place settings with plate, glasses, silverware, stemware	Notepad, pencils, highlighters, calculators, iPads, Projectors, Chalk board
Determine a line item budget	Allocate cost associated with food, beverages, set up, clean up, invitations, etc.	Labor, materials, supplies, marketing, sales, legal, finance, operations, etc.
Determine roles and responsibilities	Greeter, Coat taker, Hostess, head of the table, seating assignments	Timekeeper, note taker, facilitator
Clear sequence of events *Critical	Cocktail hour First Course Second Course and so on	Step 1 with responsible person and deadline, Step 2 with responsible person and deadline, Step 3 and so on
Phase completion indicators	Hostess acknowledge or most plates complete	Milestones completed
Project complete	Last guest leave	All items are completed
Wrap-up/Evaluation/Feedback	Guest comments, budget variances, goal accomplished, results obtained	Survey, budget variances, goal accomplished, results obtained
Process Improvement	Make adjustments for next event based on noted feedback	Make adjustments for next project based on survey results

Planning a large scale project that is expected to yield phenomenal results or an amazing dinner party that people will talk about forever takes a well thought out plan, attention to details and commitment to make sure the results are obtained. Underestimating the time commitment can be your worst enemy. I realized that my colleague was saying the best project planner is committed to the outcome and passionate about delivering a quality product regardless of the time investment.

Now I spend more time helping my clients find their passion. It's a simple solution: in your passion is the solution to your problem because as Jerry Gillies author of Money Love says, "you will recognize your own path when you come upon it, because you will suddenly have all the energy and imagination you will ever need". 

When in doubt of your ability to navigate business solutions, solicit the help of a professional. For more information, contact susan@directionmanagementgroup.com.