Work-planning: What Works?

Sub-title I: And other acts of fiction

Sub-title II: How to make the most of it

• It’s best to view strategic planning and work-planning as a property of a successful system, not a function of how smart everyone is…

• It’s about making choices (and an investment) in an uncertain future

• It benefits from involvement of people who:– are creative

– bring a diversity of thought and attitude

– have experienced failure as well as success

– respect one another for their range of qualities

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• Requires a willingness to set, then try a course of action knowing full well that it will have to be tweaked or even overhauled entirely as events unfold...

– This is where strategic planning meets work-planning

meets performance improvement…

– Vision and mission are like a cardinal compass point. Due

North is staying put, but your path to get there (your work

plan) may require course-correction en route…

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Qs. Developing the work plan… (I)

• Resourcing/capacity vis-à-vis the various discrete activities: Do we have all

the resources* on-hand to deliver what we set out to do or is part of the

work plan to develop the capacity?

– *(people, $, time, infrastructure, knowledge, skills, other)

• Of our activities, which should be our primary focus/foci?

– Can we rank-order our strategic priorities and deliverables? vs. Which

activities are likely to consume most of our time?

• What’s the right sequence of events (if there is a natural before-next-

after)? 5

Qs. Developing the work plan… (II)

• Where are our greatest risks, e.g., in not completing the work or

reaching our goals? How confident are we that we can deliver?

– How might we mitigate these risks (or improve our confidence)? Should the work

plan reflect the risk/confidence, e.g., pre-identify some tasks as “stretch goals”…

• Keep coming back to:

– The “so what”: Is there a clear and direct connection back to your mission and

vision?

– Potential for high-impact, high-return: Which activities yield the highest returns?

How will you know?

– Existing strengths: What strengths can you rely on to help you deliver?6

Qs. Doing the work…

• Did we do what we said we would? (If not, why not?)

• If so, did each action deliver/work as we anticipated? (If not, why not?)

• If so, can we sustain the action? (With what resources? If not, then what?)

• How prepared are we for what’s ahead?

– What adjustments must we make, if any?

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