Planning and Reviewing
“Plans are nothing; Planning is everything” – Dwight D. Eisenhower
Edwards Deming in the 1950’s proposed that business processes should be analysed and measured to identify sources of variations that cause products to deviate from customer requirements. He recommended that business processes be placed in a continuous feedback loop so that the parts of the process that need improvements can be identified and changed. Deming created a simple diagram to illustrate this continuous process, commonly known as the PDCA cycle for Plan, Do, Check, Act:
Deming’s PDCA Model
Deming’s cycle proposes ‘Plan, Do, Check and Act’ as a continuous process. It relates to analysing and measuring business processes to identify any variations that cause products or services to deviate from client requirements. The PDCA cycle allows coaches to identify and change the parts of the coaching process that need improvements.
The Planning stage involves identifying priorities and defining how the activities will be undertaken in the Do phase.
In the Do phase the coach needs to be reviewing and monitoring the plan hence the circle around the Do – modifications and improvements can be made to the plan during this phase before it is too late.
In the Check phase the coach should be thinking about progress, quality and that processes and people are working effectively – if things needs to be changed Action needs to be taken which often feeds into the next phase of planning.
Recording Plans
Producing plans is a fundamental part of the planning process. For the High Growth Enterprise Coach it underpins the organisation, planning and prioritisation of workloads especially when working with a large caseload of clients. When plans are recorded, they can be consulted, amended, reviewed or used as the basis for a new plan.
As a minimum, a plan should have included in it somewhere:
- The objectives
- The actions to achieve those objectives
- Measures that will be used to determine if the objectives have been achieved
- A timescale for completing the actions
- A named person or role who is responsible for each action
- Space in which to record progress
Plans should be:
Aligned to the needs of the client and their organisation’s aims and objectives: This means being designed to meet the aims and objectives of the organisation and their specific High Growth Plans.
Clearly communicated: This means communicating the plans clearly to all those who need to be aware of them and updating everyone if the plans change. If clients are unaware of what the plans are, then it is unlikely that they will be committed to them nor achieve them. It is important to identify the most appropriate way of communicating plans.
Fully understood by all concerned: This means checking that all of the stakeholders (e.g. the client, the sponsor, the coach, managers within the client organisation) understand the plans, and that they all understand the same thing by them.
Agreed upon: It is important that stakeholders understand the plans and that they are committed to implementing them.
Achievable: This means that given the available resources, stakeholders are able to carry out the actions in the plan. Even with the correct attitude, knowledge and skills, if all of the stakeholders do not have the correct or sufficient time, manpower, tools or materials, they will not be able to do so.
Measurable and measured: Progress of plans must be capable of being captured in some way in order to be communicated and also in order that High Growth Enterprise Coaches and other stakeholders can undertake checks to ensure that progress is being made.
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