Preparation is key in most aspects of life. Especially when attempting to display high levels of competency and leadership qualities. Being organised and resourceful of both yourself and other people, is a defining metric that separates foundational workers from operations managers.

Even if you don’t operate as a manager, being prepared for tasks puts you beyond your station, by taking responsibility for planning the future ahead. It gives you greater visibility of your current and future situations, being you in greater control.

When walking into a meeting or interaction, notice the person who typically controls the flow of the conversation. Typically the individual who has taken the time to collect all the relevant information, can enter a meeting with a premeditated agenda, that enables them to lead positively with information that will align a team toward a desired outcome.

Good preparation is the cornerstone for good decision making. By not overloading your brain, you remain in a constant state of clarity. Problems become more black and white because you can problem solve by breaking down tasks into manageable steps. Preparation is about having the foresight to develop both short and long term strategies that will move an organisation toward success.

If you are preparing, you are in motion, gathering information in order to make an effective next move. This gives you the best opportunity to understand situations, giving you time to assess and provide valuable input. You’ll never miss deadlines and will not lose awareness of important events and situations.

By always being prepared, you will stand out by giving off a leadership and managerial stance. A dedicated professional who stands out as someone who appears to know everything. Someone who can fight problems on their own terms and assess the risk of situations before it’s too late.

If you are not prepared, you will make more mistakes and the way you perform as a professional will be misaligned to your intentions. Hesitation and idleness are common symptoms of poor preparation. These negative behaviours give off an external impression that an individual is not in control of a situation. If these behaviours are sustained by a leader, those within that person’s control will sense this lack of direction. It will breed within the dynamic of the team, affecting both team morale and performance.

Likewise, if you are not a leader but still show signs of ill preparation, you will be plagued by your inability to take successful action in situations. Those who want to find career progression and transition into leadership roles need to display decisive decision-making within their current role. By showing a high level of preparation, you enable your ability to be self-sufficient and ultimately, effective at the tasks you carry out. Only then will you be worthy of leading and governing others.

How To Stay Prepared

Short effective preparation can make anybody look like a hub of all knowledge. But the trick is just like preparing a steak. You want to keep all of the juice good bits and remove all of the fatty excess. Gathering information works in the same way. Make sure you prioritise preparing with relevant information that is important, as your mind can only hold so much and you can only document so much. By preparing with only priority information, you will stand above those who ‘cannot see the woods for the tree’s’.

Be simple and effective by taking notes, both physically and digitally. Keeping a notepad is a great way of quickly documenting information. Daily/weekly planners and calendars can go a step further by giving you visibility of deadlines and to assess your future workloads. Before the day’s ends, list all the things you need to keep in mind for the next day. These notes will help you return to the flow state of understanding your next move, as well and not forgetting key information day-to-day.

Prioritise being data driven. Build and adopt systems that focus on recording data. Record sheets, timestamps, project management software and ERP systems are all great examples of frameworks that can help an entire organisation be prepared. At a personal level, document and summarise sharing of data through communication channels such as email and other forms of asynchronous messaging.

To be prepared you need to be an observer. Take opportunities to step back and assess situations. Monitor the ways others behave and how things are being done within your organisation. Being prepared is about foresight, being able to predict what could happen with the evidence available. This will allow you to assess risk and prevent problems before they happen. It will also allow you to spot opportunity and room for improvement. Especially in events of crisis when composure and preparation are the only solution for safety.

Conclusion

It is vital that leaders adopt behaviours that allow them to see the bigger picture. To be able to understand situations from a perspective of clarity, giving them the ability to make decisions with a holistic presence of mind.

Even if you are not in a position of leadership, being responsible for your own preparation is paramount for progression in both your career and in general life. Having a vision for what the future holds for yourself and your organisation allows you to set targets. Providing you with the ability to understand how you can progress toward these desired outcomes.

Everyone likes to prepare differently and everybody has a unique perspective on what preparation is. But the most important thing is that you are aware of situations, so you can be in the best position to solve problems and move forward.

Liam Adcock • February 7, 2025