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Effective Planning and Organizing

The document outlines effective planning and organizing strategies for high-performance teams and organizations. It details seven key questions for effective planning, emphasizing the importance of alignment, resource identification, and contingency planning, as well as a debriefing checklist for post-execution analysis. Additionally, it describes a five-step organizing process that includes reviewing objectives, determining activities, classifying tasks, assigning work, and evaluating results to ensure successful implementation of plans.

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Willie Joe Bona
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12 views

Effective Planning and Organizing

The document outlines effective planning and organizing strategies for high-performance teams and organizations. It details seven key questions for effective planning, emphasizing the importance of alignment, resource identification, and contingency planning, as well as a debriefing checklist for post-execution analysis. Additionally, it describes a five-step organizing process that includes reviewing objectives, determining activities, classifying tasks, assigning work, and evaluating results to ensure successful implementation of plans.

Uploaded by

Willie Joe Bona
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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7 Steps for Effective Planning

February 25, 2020/in Culture & Engagement /by Dyan Crace

Strategic planning, debriefing, and after-action reviews are critical steps in building high-
performance teams, high-growth organizations, and meeting/exceeding goals. Planning and
debriefing models can be used for long- and short-term execution and are the cornerstone of why
some projects fail and others succeed.
We believe strongly in bringing teams together around an aligned objective, specific strategy,
and goals that work collaboratively to define actions for execution. Many of our clients
understand that 60% of plans fail due to a lack of alignment and accountability. Having an
execution plan for projects and initiatives provides a North Star for teams that want to achieve
desired results.

Here are the seven questions you need to ask to plan effectively:

#1: What’s Our Objective?


Determine your objective. Agree as a team what you are trying to accomplish. Objectives must
be concise, quantifiable, time-bound and support your organization’s overall mission. Make sure
all individuals in the planning process are aligned and understand their role.

#2: Are There Any Potential Roadblocks?


Take the necessary time to collaborate with your team and outline the items you can control and
the ones you can’t control. By making a list of these items, you can mitigate risk and discuss
possible solutions to issues that come up.

#3: What Resources Can We Utilize?


In order to properly execute a plan, it is important to understand what resources you have or will
need to get the job done. Identify people, programs, and costs associated so you can get proper
approvals and research different options in advance.

#4: What Have We Learned From Past Planning Sessions?


If you don’t currently have a central location that everyone on the team has access to for lessons
learned on similar projects, make a point to document and store project after-action reviews, case
studies, process docs, notes, and templates in one location. Our company saves all these items in
a “Center of Excellence” folder on our Google shared drive.

#5: What Actions Do We Need To Take?


Make a list of all the actions that must be executed leading up to and during the “mission” by
you and others on the team. This is where you need to get specific on the what, when, and who.
What’s expected, when is it due, who is responsible, accountable, consulted and informed.

#6: How Might This Plan Fail?


Every plan should have an outside party review. Having a fresh set of eyes can bring a new
perspective and catch potential holes in the plan. Some call this the Red Team process
where individuals not involved in the planning process come in to provide feedback and potential
issues/concerns so the planning team can develop contingencies.
Building a simple one-page template for this process helps to keep meetings on track and guide
the team in creating a solid plan.

#7: What Are Our Contingencies?


All good plans have a Plan B. It’s time to think about the “what ifs.” When identifying the
elements out of your control, discussing the unknowns, and creating contingency plans allows
you to course-correct much quicker.
Once you finalize the plan, give your team the autonomy to execute and after execution, make
sure to debrief and document lessons learned. This will allow other team members to learn from
your wins and losses making the organization as a whole stronger.
We’ve created a quick debriefing checklist for you to follow.

Debriefing Checklist
• Schedule a time and place for the debrief, send a calendar invite, and designate a note-
taker.
• Practice respectful conflict (create a learning environment that gives all team members an
opportunity to talk).
• Ask these (5) questions:
1. What were we trying to accomplish? (review your objective)
2. Where did we hit or miss the objective?
3. What was the root cause of your result?
4. As a team, what should we stop, start or continue doing for future success?
5. What are our key lessons learned? (List 3)

Make sure to end any debrief on a positive note! Ensure that all notes from the meeting are
documented and distributed to the team and key individuals in the organization within three days
of the debrief.

This process transforms mindsets and behaviors toward high-performance and builds
accountable teams that follow-through. It’s time to get after it!

https://takingpointleadership.com/7-steps-for-effective-planning/

How to Effectively Organise Your Organization ? (5 Steps)


The organizing function is extremely important, because once the objectives of the
organization and the plans have been established; it is the primary mechanism with
which managers activate such plans.
“Organizing” is the function of gathering resources, establishing orderly uses for such

resources and structuring tasks to fulfill organizational plans. It includes the

determination of what tasks are to be done, how the tasks are to be grouped, who is

going to be responsible to do these tasks and who will make decisions about these tasks.

The process of organizing consists of the following five steps.

1. Reviewing plans and objectives:

The first step for the management is to reflect on the organizational goals and objectives

and its plans to achieve them so that proper activities can be determined. For example,

if a high class restaurant is to be opened in an elite area, then the management must

establish objectives and review these objectives so that these are consistent with the

location of the restaurant and the type of customers to be served.

2. Determining activities:

In the second step, managers prepare and analyze the activities needed to accomplish

the objectives. In addition to general activities such as hiring, training, keeping records

and so on, there are specific activities which are unique to the type of business that an
organization is in. For example, in the case of the restaurant, the two major activities or

tasks are cooking food and serving customers.

3. Classifying and grouping activities:

Once the tasks have been determined, these tasks must be classified into manageable

work units. This is usually done on the basis of similarity of activities. For example, in a

manufacturing organization, the activities may be classified into production, marketing,

finance, research and development and so on.

These major categories of tasks can be subdivided into smaller units to facilitate
operations and supervision. For example, in the area of serving customers in the

restaurant, there may be different persons for taking cocktail orders, for food orders and

for clearing the tables. For cooking food, there may by different cooks for different

varieties of food.

4. Assigning work and resources:

This step is critical to organizing because the right person must be matched with the
right job and the person must be provided with the resources to accomplish the tasks

assigned. The management of the restaurant must determine as to who will take the

orders and who will set as well as clear the tables and what the relationship between

these individuals will be. Management must also make sure that adequate resources of

food items, utensils and cutlery is provided as necessary.

5. Evaluating results:

In this final step, feedback about the outcomes would determine as to how well the
implemented organizational strategy is working. This feedback would also determine if
any changes are necessary or desirable in the organizational set-up. For example, in the
case of the restaurant, complaints and suggestions from customers would assist the
manager in making any necessary changes in the preparation of food, internal decor of
the restaurant or efficiency in service.

https://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/business-management/how-to-effectively-organise-your-
organisation-5-steps/3465

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