The concept of managing for the short term has traditionally suffered from a stigma when contrasted to the notion of being a long-term visionary thinker. Short term was considered bad, while long term was considered good. Long term connotes something lasting, well thought-out and perhaps even capable of leaving a legacy, while short term brings to mind shallow, reactive and even shoot-from-the-hip thinking. When employees are working as fast as they can and believe that short-term thinking means reacting to only the crisis of the day, it’s understandable that a manager might question the idea of focusing on the short term.

However, the reality is that managers today have to be more oriented toward the short term to be better synchronized with their organization’s needs. In addition, that orientation allows an organization to be better in tune with the changing needs of customers and their desire for quick gratification.

Once a manager gets over the negative perception that anything short term is inherently bad, short-term execution and long-term vision can begin to be aligned.

Beyond being demanded by the current business environment, managing for the short term can also have distinct advantages for the manager who understands how to use such methods to support the company’s overall strategy:

• Because it focuses on quantifiable information, managing for the short term is based not on guesswork but on reality. It is, by definition, market-influenced, as customer contacts and interactions actually can cause management to adjust if the organization is set up to do so.
• By providing incremental forward motion, it offers the opportunity to correct errors quickly before they become disasters.
• By producing documented immediate results, it offers opportunities to garner support needed to implement projects on an ongoing basis.
• By focusing on information flow, it provides companies with a fresh influx of ideas, constant updates, and the ability to stay abreast of and capitalize on change.

Calendar Versus Event Planning

Any company’s strategy must be accompanied by planning for how to achieve it. However, managing for the short term means that the planning process must be an evolutionary one. And it must recognize that to move forward given the short-term demands of the business environment, organizations must achieve in incremental, short-term steps.

Traditional planning has been calendar-based. A corporate mission is developed, usually at the top. The word is handed down, and off everyone goes?often back to being distracted by the day-to-day events that can very quickly make the original strategy seem distant or even irrelevant.