Effective Planning

Failing To Plan

Is Planning To Fail© Hillyard, Inc. 2005

Agenda

• Planning & Organizing– Asset Management

– Identify Needs and Wants

– Setting Goals

– Make a Plan of Action

– Project Planning

Why Plan? It’ll Change Anyway…• To have an initial direction• To measure progress• To save time – have what you need when you need it,

where you need it, ready to work– The time to find out that the wet-vac isn’t working is before the stripper

is on the floor

I Don’t Have Time To…

• You don’t have time NOT to plan– “Today, we’re going to strip & refinish the six rooms in the 300 wing.”

• “Hugo, get the buffer & the wet-vac from 111 (the storage closet on the first floor).”

• “Mary, get the stripper and the neutralizer from 115 (central storage).”

• “Bobby, get the mops and buckets ready from Bill’s closet (Bill is on vacation)”.

20 Minutes Later…

• Hugo: “They’re not there…”• Mary: “We don’t have any stripper.”• Bobby: “I only found one bucket.”

Planning

• Do you wait until you run out of gas to fill the tank?– Do you carry a can in the trunk?

• That’s a plan – not a good plan, but…

• Do you wait until someone shows up to find out how they want the room set up?

Begin Planning By Setting Goals

• Start with the end in mind• Setting goals allows you to focus • Setting primary and secondary goals allows you to do more than

one thing at a time, and to know what you have accomplished– Involving the new-hire in an event set-up

• Shows him/her how the team functions• Shows him/her where things are stored

• But, let’s assume you are the new facility manager…

Planning Begins With Asset Management

• Assets– Supplies– Tools– Equipment– Personnel– Time

• Step 1: Inventory Your Assets• Step 2: Evaluate Your Assets• Step 3: Position Your Assets• Step 4: Utilize Your Assets

Discovering where you are is the first

step to reaching your destination

Inventory & Evaluate Your Assets

• Supplies– List each product

• List each product’s uses– List each product’s precautions– List each product’s prohibitions

– Determine (estimate) usage– Make A procurement/replacement plan

• Frequency – how often do I need to order• How do I pay? P.O.’s, check, open account?

– Make a product testing plan• Are these the most versatile products?

Inventory & Evaluate Your Assets

• Itemize all tools – Note condition

• Make a repair plan• Make a replacement plan

– Include product testing & evaluation– List all approved uses

• Make a “wish list”– Justify, in writing, each item

• Allow for some common sense, but take nothing for granted…

Inventory & Evaluate Your Assets

• Itemize every piece of equipment– Note model #, serial #, fixed asset #

• Note condition

– Make a repair plan

» Don’t forget “wear items”

– Make a replacement plan

» Include testing & evaluation

• List all approved uses

– Make a “wish list”

• Justify, in writing, each item

Inventory & Evaluate Your Assets

• Personnel– List each person on your team

• List their strengths– Reliability – attendance & performance– Performance – task specific– Leadership / personality traits

• List their weaknesses– Reliability – attendance & performance– Performance – task specific– Leadership / personality traits

• How trained are they? Make an action plan for each person

Inventory & Evaluate Your Assets

• Time – Ask yourself, “is this the best use of my time, right now?”

• Plan your day realistically• Stick to your plan (as much as possible)

– Schedule the team’s activities• Realistically – based on times per task

– Prioritize– Re-evaluate

• With the team’s input

Position Your Assets

• Products, supplies & materials– Use a central storage room if possible

• Control access – assign responsibility

• Set “supply days”

• Minimize “on-hand” inventory

– Delivery day

– Order day

– Lead time

Position Your Assets

• Equipment– Put it where it will be most useful by the greatest number of people

• Make sure storage areas are in compliance with safety requirements

– Battery charging stations

» Eyewash station

» Ventilation

– Away from public access

Position Your Assets

• People – position them for success– Assign individuals with people skills to high-contact areas– Get people the training they need to succeed– Continually challenge them– Give them as much responsibility as they can handle – keep increasing it– Keep people growing

• Their growth your responsibility• Lead by example

Assign Responsibilities

• Assign individuals to ensure all equipment is maintained– “Whoever uses it, cleans it; but Joe, this is your machine. If it is not

cared for, you will be written up for it.”• Assign someone to each piece of equipment

• Put someone in charge of the supply room, limit access, and they tell you what to order, when.

Utilize Your Assets

• Use everything to its fullest advantage– Use automation whenever and where ever possible

– If there is an item in your inventory that is no longer used, get rid of it

• Unless you have excess storage space

• Trade it, sell it, give it away or throw it away*

*In Compliance With Local Regulations

Utilize Your Assets

– Utilize people

• Delegate correctly

• Learn from others’ experiences

• Get out of their way – let them do their job

• Train for maximum performance

Utilize Your Assets• Utilize time – make it your friend, not your enemy

– Schedule your time wisely

• Is this the best use of my time, right now?

• Develop a sense of urgency in yourself and in your team – lead by example

How Much Working Time In A Year?

• There are 365 days per year• 104 are weekends, leaving 261• 10 days vacation leaves 251• 12 holidays leaves 239• 12 sick days leaves 227• 2 personal days leaves 225 work

days• 225 8-hour days = 1800 hours• Two 15 min. Breaks per day =6750

min. =112.5 hours leaving 1687 working hours per year

• If you lose 5 minutes per day = 18.75 hours per year (225 days) = 1.11% of your available work time per year

• If you take 2 twenty minute breaks and a 40 minute lunch daily, you are losing 5% of your available work time (75 hours per year)

• If you allow your 5-person team to do this, you are squandering 375 hours per year that are supposed to be working time

• @ $10.00/hr = $3,750.00 – the cost of A good piece of equipment

As A Supervisor, You Must Learn To

Look At The Big Picture

Looking At The Big Picture

• If you can figure out how to save 5 minutes per day on one task, you can save 18.75 hours per year.

• If you can figure out how to save each person in a 5 person team 30 minutes per day, you could save 562.5 hours per year.

• @ 10.00/hr. = $5,625.00 – the price of A good piece of equipment; which could save another 30 min./day...

Looking At The Big Picture

• This “saved time” will allow you to improve the level of service you are able to provide, without increasing the labor costs through extra hiring.– This may be the difference that allows you and your staff to remain

competitive in today’s marketplace

Saving Time

• Assume it takes 600 steps to cross your facility– @ 1 step / second = 600 sec. = 10 minutes– @ 2 steps / sec. = 300 min. = 5 min.– How many times a day do you cross your facility?– How many are really necessary?– How often do you do something else while crossing?

• The point is, looking for time savings should become a habit for everyone on the team

Setting Priorities

• Start With a List of Needs and Wants• Assign Priorities

– A = Must Be Done– B = When A’s Are Done– C = If/When There Is Time

• Assign Order– 1 = First– 2 = Next– 3 = Last

Setting Priorities

• First Make a List– Refinish Floors– Extract Carpeting– Wash Walls– Clean Furniture– Acid Clean Water Deposits– Disinfect Lockers– Power Wash Sidewalks

– Change A/C Filters– Clean All Light Fixtures– Empty Shelves and Clean– Paint Hallway Walls– Power Wash Picnic Tables– Scrub All Waste Cans– Wash Exterior Windows– Wash Interior Windows

Setting Priorities• Then Assign A,B,C

– A - Refinish Floors– A - Extract Carpeting– B - Wash Walls– B - Clean Furniture– B - Acid Clean Water Deposits– A - Disinfect Lockers– A - Power Wash Sidewalks– A - Change A/C Filters– C - Clean All Light Fixtures– C - Empty Shelves and Clean– C - Paint Hallway Walls– A - Power Wash Picnic Tables– B - Scrub All Waste Cans– B - Wash Exterior Windows– C - Wash Interior Windows

• Then Assign 1,2,3– A-1 - Refinish Floors– A-2 - Extract Carpeting– A-3 - Power Wash Picnic Tables – A-4 - Power Wash Sidewalks – A-5 - Disinfect Lockers – A-6 - Change A/C Filters– B-1 - Acid Clean Water Deposits – B-2 - Scrub All Waste Cans– B-3 - Wash Walls– B-4 - Clean Furniture– B-5 - Wash Exterior Windows– C-1 - Wash Interior Windows– C-2 - Paint Hallway Walls– C-3 - Clean All Light Fixtures– C-4 - Empty Shelves and Clean

Setting Priorities

• Break your list down • Example Order List:

– A-1: Refinish Floors• 1-Reception/Waiting

Areas • 2-Halls• 3-Restrooms• 4-Cafeteria• 5-Offices• 6-Copy Rooms• 7-Storage Rooms

• Keep Breaking It Down– A-1: Refinish Floors

• 4-Cafeteria• 5- Offices

– 1- Administration» 1- 101» 2- 102 (etc)

Setting Priorities

• Eventually your list will have– The tasks listed in order of priority

– The prioritized tasks listed in order of accomplishment

• If you assign dates to your extended priority list it becomes…

• A Schedule

Making A Plan Of Action

• Planning without action is dreaming• So far we’ve discussed

– Asset management– Setting Priorities– Setting goals

• Now, using the lists and information we’ve generated, we need to make several action plans

A Plan Of Action

• At its most basic level contains:– An action (what will you do?)

– Collaborators (with whom will you do it?)

– Times (when will you start? When will you be finished?)

Working A Plan Of Action

• Just like every other plan you create– Do it

• Decide what to do; coordinate with your team members; set a time for it to be done.

– Review it• What problems did you encounter, and how did you handle them? What

went right, and can be incorporated into the next action? What did you and your team learn from this action?

– Renew it• Fine-tune new approaches and add them to the repertoire of methods

and techniques your team will use in facing similar situations later.

Project Planning• Planning A project

– The specification (scope of work)• Global context (the big picture) coordinating projects• The interfaces• Time-scales• External dependencies• Resources

– Work breakdown structure– Task allocation– Time estimate– Establishing controls

• Milestones• Routes of communication

– Consult the team– Project review

PlanningDetailed planning allows you to anticipate problems or consequences of actions

Quiz

1. (T / F) Making detailed plans and contingency plans is a requirement for a smooth-running facility.

2. (T / F) Strategic placement of supplies, and equipment is a requirement for a smooth-running facility.

3. (T / F) Clearly defined roles and responsibilities are a requirement for a smooth-running facility.

4. Detailed planning allows you to . 5. (T / F) When scheduling contractors at your facility, the rule

should be first come, first served.

Quiz6. By expanding on a project’s priority list, you can arrive at a

.7. (T/F) By expanding on a project task list, you can arrive at a

supplies order.8. (T/F) By expanding on a project task list you can arrive at a

project cost sheet.9. When reviewing today’s “To-Do” list, you should ask yourself

“Will this be the ?”

10. (T/F) An Action Plan details , , and .

Answers

1. (T) Making detailed plans and contingency plans is a requirement for a smooth-running facility.

2. (T) Strategic placement of supplies, and equipment is a requirement for a smooth-running facility.

3. (T) Clearly defined roles and responsibilities are a requirement for a smooth-running facility.

4. Detailed planning allows you to set priorities.5. (F) When scheduling contractors at your facility, the rule should

be first come, first served.

Answers6. By expanding on a project’s priority list, you can arrive at a

schedule.7. (T) By expanding on a project task list, you can arrive at a

supplies order.8. (T) By expanding on a project task list you can arrive at a project

cost sheet.9. When reviewing today’s “To-Do” list, you should ask yourself

“Will this be the best use of my time ?”10. An Action Plan details what will be done, who you’ll

collaborate with, and the schedule.

Effective Planning

Thank you for your participation

References• Gerard M. Blair (www.ee.ed.ac.uk/~gerard/Management/index.html)• Kathy Paauw (www.orgcoach.net)• George Fuller, The First-Time Supervisor’s Survival Guide. Paramus,

New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1995.• John and Shirley Payne, Management Basics. Holbrook

Massachusetts: Adams Media Corporation, 1998.• David Baron, Moses On Management. New York: Pocket Books

(Simon & Schuster), 1999.• Arthur R. Pell, Ph.D., The Complete Idiot’s Guide To Managing

People. New York: Alpha Books, 1999.• Roger E. Allen, Winnie-The-Pooh On Management. New York:

Penguin Books Ltd., 1994.