Planning is a lot like exercise . . .we all know we should do it, but many of us never quite get around to it.

We know we'd feel better. We know the results would be terrific. But we never take the time to do it. And the longer we wait, the harder it gets. Then, when we finally do try it we wonder why we didn't start years ago.

One reason people start to exercise is that they see the results of not doing it. They look heavy. They feel tired.

When organizations don't plan, the symptoms are just as real. But organizations do not realize that the cause of those symptoms is lack of planning. Perhaps if your organization recognized these danger signals, it would put the time and effort into planning that it really needs. What are they?

A Sense of Being Overwhelmed
"We needs better systems," is the refrain of many groups that feel overwhelmed by all that they need to do. "We need to take a time management course." Often what a group really needs is not a better system but better clarity about its direction and priorities. With that clarity it will be able to get done what it most needs to do.

A Sense of Being Fragmented
In an organization with this symptom, people feel disconnected from what others in the organization are doing. They don't know how their work relates to the work of other people. They ask, "What are we all about? What does this all add up to?"

A Sense of Staleness
People no longer feel inspired. Rather than energize them, their jobs drain them. They wake up at two in the morning and wonder if they are making any difference.

A Yearning for Honest Evaluation
"What we need is some measure- ments of our effectiveness," is the typical comment. But usually the reason a group is having trouble evaluating its work is because it hasn't gotten clear about what it wants to accomplish. Once it does, ways of measuring its effectiveness becomes obvious.

Chronic Financial Chrisis
This is a big one for many nonprofits. To get out of the crisis, most organizations think they need more money. Their funders think they need better financial management and controls. But most groups with this problem know how much money they have . . . or, more likely, how much they don't have. Yet they begin new projects anyway, and every project seems all important. The real problem is not the absence of financial controls but the lack of priorities developed through a tough planning process.

Feeling Boxed-In by "Funding Realities
" A group with this feeling has usually been deciding what it can get money to do. It begins to go after whatever money is available without considering whether the resulting project is very relevant to the organization's mission. An organization that finds itself with lots of separate projects better ask itself if these projects are the result of a well planned strategy. ..or if they are simply a melange of projects created because a funding source -- or some individual -- wanted them.

Swamped by the Need to Be Responsive
Some organizations can't say no . . .to their constituency, staff, funders. They try to respond to everyone. The result is that they do a little bit of everything, but nothing very well. Certainly an organization should respond to its constituencies, but some organizations respond blindly without deciding whether the requests are important in keeping with their purpose.

"If Only There was More Money, Yhings Would be Okay".
Often an organization will come to us only wanting our fund-raising help. What we often find is an organization that is struggling financially because it has not been able to communicate clearly what it's about and where it's going. Usually this is because it doesn't know what it's about and where it's going.

A lot of internal conflict
Sometimes conflict within an organization is caused by real differences over its direction. Often people think the conflict is the result of personalities, when in fact, the underlying cause is a lack of clarity about what an organization should be doing. Even when the cause is personality conflict, simply sitting down and thinking about what you are trying to accomplish together can be extraordinarily healing. Going through a planning process can heal many things besides personality conflicts. It can give an organization a tremendous infusion of energy. But, like exercise, you'll only do it when you're aware of the current problems and costs caused by lack of planning. Hopefully, by knowing what the common danger signals -- and costs -- of poor planning are, you'll begin to see that planning is just what the doctor would order.