Commitment — It’s What Makes Planning Work - 11/15/2004 - Real Estate Education Training Schools Conferences

Commitment — It’s What Makes Planning Work

All of these events have something in common.

Sure, most of them are important to many of you, but what do they have in common? What do they share?

Whether we’re at each event as participants or observers, these are events that we don’t want to miss. So in order to attend them, we have to plan.

This is no big deal, until you realize that planning requires something even more important to make sure we get there on time— commitment. Simply put, “If you commit to making the plan happen, you will make it happen!”

In our industry, it is customary and wise to examine our procedures, to give them a “physical” exam, to make sure they work efficiently, to adjust when necessary and, sometimes, to change them entirely. This is part of being a good manager or planner, but only a part.

Making a plan by organizing all the steps to follow is really pretty straightforward. Making a commitment to follow those steps is what makes the plan work. Call it dedication or a pledge, but it’s essential.

If we could consistently have the same mindset or commitment to finish the job on time, on budget and with a happy customer, our margins would show it. This is why, when we discuss being committed to our schedules we also talk about “posting” our schedules for all to see. With the schedule posted, everybody involved understands their roles and commitment much the same way a race organizer does when he sets the starting time for a NASCAR event. Imagine the chaos if there was no commitment to having the race start on time.

So, the next time you have a medium-sized job coming up, try moving the normal completion date ahead by 5% without changing any of your standards. Then, make it happen.

Yes, it will take some additional planning, but the real difference is commitment. If it works for you, then make the commitment to inject it into all of your jobs and watch the effect on your bottom line.

MM (Mike) Weiss, CGR, CGB, GMB, CAPS, president of Weiss & Company, is the immediate past president of the national Remodelors™ Council. Weiss tours the country teaching both CGR and CAPS courses to hundreds of professional remodelers a year. For more information, e-mail Weiss.