Project Planning 102 – Recognize a Goal

Hello again everyone! In my first post, I introduced you to the general ideas of Project Planning. Over the next few months, I am going to walk you through how we planned the National Youth Institute-East last year so you can get the inside scoop on big time Project Planning.

Now it’s time to get down tot he nitty gritty with our first step, RECOGNIZING A GOAL.

This is probably one of the more obvious parts of Project Planning — afterall, how can you plan something if you don’t know what you’re planning? The idea of Recognizing A Goal is to pick out something to achieve. It doesn’t matter how big or small this goal is, but you have to have one so everyone involved knows what you’re working towards.

Last year, we realized that there is a huge opportunity for us to bring youth together in one place, have a fun weekend, and give everyone a chance to share ideas while learning more about the Red Cross. This is when we recognized our goal: to plan a Red Cross Youth Institute. At the time, we weren’t sure if it would be small or big, short or long, in the north or in the south. Pretty much, nothing. But we knew our goal.

Now, think about the needs in your chapter or your community. Is there something that you wish could be done? Think about this for a while, and you’ll probably find something that facinates you and leads you to Recognize a Goal.

Happy Project Planning everyone!

[Stay tuned: next time, we'll talk about how to successfully turn a goal into a full-blown project!]

Sohini Stone, Massachussetts