Intoduction to successful work planning

1. Work-planning: What Works?
Sub-title I: And other acts of fiction
Sub-title II: How to make the most of it

2. • 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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3. • 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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5. 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)?
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6. 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?
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7. 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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