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Many organizations later in their life cycle will come to the conclusion that they need to establish a clear direction for the future and will decide to conduct a Capacity Review to determine exactly where they are today in relationship to where they could be or should be in comparison to others in their sector. Capacity planning is the process of determining the production capacity needed by an organization to meet changing demands for its products.  In the context of capacity planning, “capacity” is the maximum amount of work that an organization is capable of completing in a given period of time.

In my opinion, a Capacity “Preview” is also necessary to the survival of an organization, and can add substance to future Capacity “Reviews,” strategic, and long range planning efforts. We all can agree that it can be difficult to revisit somewhere or something you never visited in the first place.

Entrepreneurial Lesson 2: Was definitely as I learned it. During the initial business planning process, I was satisfied with the progress that had been made over such a short period of time, but found something about the process unsettling.  I had convinced myself that like most small businesses, I could expect to sit on my hands for a while and take my time planning for success because it certainly wasn’t going to happen over night.

But what happens when you are prepared for the worst and unprepared for the best?  Well what would seem to be blessing can in fact quickly turn into a nightmare as you scramble to “figure it all out” while “it” is all already happening.  This not only leaves your veins bulging and aching from anxiety, fluster, and shock, it leaves those observing your situation wondering if you are in over your head.  That is definitely not something you ever want a potential client to wonder about you or your company. 

A great way to avoid this unfortunate circumstance is to plan for your business with both success and failure in mind.  A perfect example of a business that planned for failure and not success is a bar that I went to a few months ago.  The bar rarely stocked up on alcohol because they knew roughly how many people came in each week, what they ordered, and even sometimes the name of patrons family pet and what items filled their grocery cart. 

What they did not know, was that the neighborhood around them was changing.  What they did not know, was that more and more young people were moving into the homes surrounding the bar.  These were young couples with disposable and income and no dependents. And hey liked to drink- a lot.  One night, a very large group of young urban sophisticates decided to stick around and explore the local flavors for the evening. They headed to the local bar to get a start on their night. The bar was completely unprepared for them and ran out of liquor within 1 hour! From that night forward, the hip professional sought out other hot spots where they could be sure that the bar would be well stocked.

In business and in life we can expect the unexpected.  But careful planning and common sense can minimize the effect of the unexpected.  Our tendency is to view a certain set of things as “bad” and another set o things as “good.” Our lowest points as human beings are those times when we learn the hard way how quickly one becomes the other. Not planning for success can be just as damaging to your business as not being prepared for failure.

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