Goal Setting, Planning and Decision Making

R. Elements of a Good Plan
A good plan will:
♦ Have a clear statement of the current situation
♦ Have a clear aim
♦ Reflect the resources available
♦ Detail the tasks to be carried out, whose responsibility they are, their
priorities, and deadlines.
♦ Explain control mechanisms that will alert the manager to difficulties in
achieving the plan.
♦ Plan for contingencies, so that a rapid effective response may be made to
crises, perhaps at a time when you are at low ebb or confused following a
setback.
S. Making Effective Plans
The following points will help to make your plan effective.
♦ Involve people affected by the plan to gain their support
♦ Explain why the plan is being carried out
♦ Ensure that the required resources are available and remain available.
♦ As far as possible keep existing ways of doing things. This avoids
unnecessary disruption.
♦ Build in milestones and review progress. This helps to keep a sense of
movement in the plan, and allows achievement to be rewarded.
♦ Use KISS (Keep it simple and straightforward)
♦ Keep the plan flexible
♦ Consider traditional arrangements, how will you keep things going while
you implement the plan
T. Evaluation of the plan and its impact
Once you have worked out the details of your plan, the next stage is to work
out whether it will work and its impact: often you may find that the plan will
have unexpected effects, either positive or negative.
You may also find that when you cost the plan, and compare it against the
benefits achieved, that the plan is simply not worth carrying out. This can be
frustrating after the hard work of detailed planning, however it is much better
to find this out than when you have invested time, resources and personal
standing in the success of the plan. Evaluating the plan now gives you the
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