Anticipate, Predict and Foretell the Future

That tomorrow will not be like today is what prompts the babalawo to consult Ifa every four days. Continuous improvement requires constant investigation and research because the environment is always changing. As a rule then, your ability to anticipate change - which is very different from reacting to it - and adapting your strategy is absolutely necessary in order to progress consistently. This is why kings, politicians and captains of industry all have a personal babalawo. 

As a leader - of a temple, a family or a business - your strategy must be reviewed regularly. This can be as simple as making a weekly calendar and daily To Do lists, then reviewing the list every evening. It can be as complex as a PMI-certified GANTT chart and spread sheet. Either way, when you review your plans, it doesn't take much time to notice how the environment and the people in it are in constant flux. Something that worked last week might not work next week. People change their minds. Resources get consumed. Having a plan as a point of reference enables you to set priorities, which makes it easier to make decisions. If you don't make decisions, the decisions will make you. 

Teams (e.g., families, spiritual communities and organizations) that operate WITHOUT a strategic plan spend most of their time scrambling around, trying to put out fires. They are always playing catch up; trying to catch up on lost time, missed appointments and mismanaged money. Collective success requires that you invest time into PREDICTING what will happen next, based upon many factors, the most important of which is PEOPLE. Peter Drucker once said that No matter what business you're in, you're in the people business. Nothing is possible without the concerted efforts of your team, your clients, your suppliers and the numerous people you encounter in government agencies or private industry. So, as a rule, you have to gather information from all directions and synthesize that information into meaningful trends. Based upon these trends, in conjunction with your own intuitive sense of things, you will adjust your plans of action. Learn more in my book, OLA16. 

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