One of the curious things I see in business is the planning for improvement objectives (or any other kind of objective, for that matter). Well, I say curious. That's probably the wrong word...
So, you might be thinking that this is stupidly obvious, so let me pose a question for you:
Often I see no planning for an objective. This is how it looks to me:
In the above image, something magical is expected to happen. No input from anyone (let alone management!). The result just appears. You'll know that this rarely works, so excuse me for stretching this scenario to its irrational extent.
Reality says that the image below is what should happen:
"How effective is your planning to achieve your objectives?"
Do you include all of the steps?
Do you assign responsibilities?
Do you determine deadlines for the tasks?
Do you review progress regularly?
If your planning looks a little more like the top image, please take stock of what you do and what improvements you can make.
And, if in doubt, it is better to have too many actions rather than too few. Most us cannot make the magical jump between steps, so don't leave it to chance with your team either.
Giles
About the author:
Giles Johnston is a Chartered Engineer who specialises in helping businesses to grow and improve through better business processes and embracing Kaizen.
Giles is also the author of Effective Root Cause Analysis and 'What Does Good Look Like?'.
About the author:
Giles Johnston is a Chartered Engineer who specialises in helping businesses to grow and improve through better business processes and embracing Kaizen.
Giles is also the author of Effective Root Cause Analysis and 'What Does Good Look Like?'.