Ten is feeling completely chaotic and out of control. Zero is calm and in control. Five is borderline. Where are you now?

The farmer who doesn’t prepare his soil, misses the planting window and leaves fertilising too late will not reap his crop. It’s simply impossible to cheat nature.

The business leader who fails to take stock of where the business currently is, where it needs to be in the future and then put plans in place to achieve that vision, she’ll also fail.

The simple truth is that too many organisations are in chaos because their leaders have failed to plan appropriately. They say they haven’t the time to plan. They say they don’t know how. They say that they have done all right so far without planning.

A culture where chaos is normal is not a good place to be. To get back in control, embrace these three basic strategic planning questions.

1. Where are we now? Do a SWOT Analysis.

2. Where do we want to be? What do you want to look like and be like in 12 months time? Describe it.

3. How are you going to get there? Develop an action plan for your priorities based around 90 day projects.

You owe it to yourself, those around you and your organisation to get back into control, and stay there.