guidance to making action plans

8/13/2019 Guidance to Making Action Plans

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Guidance to making Action Plans

Action Plan

Most of us will have been involved in the processes of an Action Plan,

whether it is in preparing, implementing, or evaluating actions. Typically noone person will be 'responsible' for all three. Most action plans involvegroups, teams, or whole networks of colleagues and this complexity canlead to 'drift' in action planning. Put simply we become less clear aboutwhat is necessary to achieve a successful Action Plan outcome.

The purpose of these notes is to offer some advice to assist individuals andteams involved with Action Planning.

The maority of action Plans are usually drawn up in response to the

re!uests of either an internal committee or to meet and satisfy externalstakeholders !uality, audit, or compliance re!uirements. "sually there isfunding attached to the re!uest which serves to sharpen the focus.

I Have a Life!

#t is important first to say something briefly about compliance andmotivation. $enerally speaking better Action Plans emerge from motivatedparticipants. "nfortunately Action Plans are a necessary evil % and ActionPlans are often constructed in circumstances where compliance prevails %i.e. getting on with the ob, without necessarily being over%enthusiastic,

particularly interested, or willing. #n many cases some of the 'players' don'trealise they are involved because they have not been informed of their roleor responsibilities and feel imposed upon when sometime in the future&usually before a deadline they are suddenly the centre of attention, andasked to prioritise issues which they don't see as part of their set ofcommitments. #n circumstances like these the Action Plan may well suffer.The outcome may well be that the team (organisation achieves a 'ust doingenough' outcome but hasn't necessarily improved !uality and performance orestablished sound standards for the future.

#n summary a necessary precursor is gaining commitment, bearing in mindthat people may prefer to prioritise other aspects of their life, other thanthe specific plan under consideration.

A Basic Model

A simple model that can be used is based on four stages) *efinition,Planning, #mplementation, and +valuation &or #mpact.

This doesn't mean to say that once a plan has been defined then it movesinexorably to its evaluation. Action Plans are liable to change as they

progress and will be revisited before complete % hence although we candefine Action Plans as having a linear structure, their evolution is cyclical.


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Stage 1: Definition (part 1)

This should be the starting point of all Action Plans. #t is the stage wherethe overall Aims of the plan are discussed and the feasibility of the whole

proect examined.

Being Clear

As a minimum each person should be clear about what is necessary toachieve a successful outcome. This means everyone should know)

the clear obectives the standards % clear performance indicators &Pis % to be used any constraints

hat resources are necessary to complete the proect % people,money, e!uipment

-uch discussions at this stage will be meaningless if we haven't assembled allthe likely contributors to the Plan, and it will certainly veer off course ifthere are key players absent from a briefing discussion (meeting. This isalso the time to gauge levels of motivation and ownership of the plan. Thegeneral aims established are most likely to feature as prompts or generalheadings within the plan itself.

Definition: Part II

The aims should be then broken down into obectives. A well%documented'test' is the SMARTtest.

bectives should be SMART.

S% -pecific &precise, clear and simple

M% Measurable &how will we know they have been achieved/

A% Achievable &is it possible with the resources available/ 0as anyonedone anything like this before/

R% 1elevant%realistic &to provide the purpose, or reason, in terms oforganisation%wide obectives % this affects motivation

T% Timeframed &deadline and duration % how much time to spenddoing it

The SMART%er the obectives, the easier it is to get everyone'sunderstanding and compliance2 if the relevance is particularly high, there is

every chance of getting their commitment.


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#n applying the SMARTtest you should also check to consider the overallimpact on the organisation of the combined obectives and subse!uentactions being met &i.e. does it meet the Aims/ is it internally coherent/.This is based on the old medical story % 'The operation was a completesuccess but unfortunately the patient died3'

Setting Perforance Indicators (PIs)

A performance indicator is any attribute, characteristic, or !uality of are!uirement that needs to be met, or satisfied, in order for thatre!uirement to be successfully achieved. This can also be referred to as theperformance criteria.

#t is the team's' responsibility to identify these P#s, and ensure they are clearand measurable.

#n summary, when considering a re!uirement you have of a particular actionalways link to appropriate Pis by which you will udge its achievement.

Setting Standards

-tandards represent the minimum re!uired.

Targets are aims and aspirations.

A standardP# for use of resources might be 'at least 4 of the following

referred to'.A targetfor the same resources might be 'at least 5 of the followingreferred to'.#n this way, both for you and for the client &recipient of Action Plan, e.g.external stakeholder, #nternal 6ommittee the expectations are clear andknown in advance.

Addressing perforance against targets

0ow do we know whether performance is poor or not/

+nsure that you have evidence that the criteria and standards which you areusing to assess performance)

are known in advance are valid indicators of performance have ( have not been met

7ou should be able to establish whether there is a performance gap betweenwhat ought to be produced and what has been, or is being, produced.


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sta"lis#ing $esponsi"ilit%

#t is all too easy to assume that poor performance is someone else's faultand responsibility. 8ut you should consider your own responsibility for anyfactors which may contribute to poor performance % particularly, your

responsibilities in terms of resources and knowledge.

1esources

ill the team be given sufficient or ade!uate resources with which tocomplete the task to the level re!uired &this includes time, and access tomaterials and e!uipment/

9nowledge

This refers back to the importance of ensuring that everyone knows what isre!uired, and also why. The 'what' is needed for information and clarity2 the'why' is needed for motivation and commitment. hen addressing issues ofperformance, colleagues often ask, :hy are we doing this/:. #t's a valid!uestion that needs answering.

Stage &' Planning A#ead #at Ice"erg*

This stage covers consideration of the who, what, where, how, and wheninvolved in the actions. All activities should have a named lead person, andhave a specific team and staff involved % i.e. actions should be assigned. #t

is also essential to identify resources re!uired, necessary input from otherteams, training needs, potential problems, and contingency plans, whichshould be analysed. 6onsideration of these aspects will undoubtedly re!uire-tage ; to be revisited and obectives SMART%tested. 8oth stages are notnecessarily se!uential but rather worked through together, and should beseen as essential prior to the implementation &-tage Three.

Another important aspect to consider at this stage is 1#-9 MA


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Actions unfold % often for excellent reasons &particularly slippage in timescales. #dentification of the monitoring arrangements should be seen aspart of contingency planning rather than a stick to be beaten with.


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tasks and standards. >ailure to set clear obectives is one of the mainreasons for poor performance.

People new to proect management are usually good at actually performingtasks, but less skilful at setting clear goals and obectives for others. They

often waste time telling their teams how to do their obs rather thandefining what the teams should be doing.

As with defining the overall proect obectives the acronym -MA1T &-imple,Measurable, Achievable, 1ealistic(1esource, Timetable will allow you toevaluate obectives. To have your team :Paint the >orth 1oad 8ridge blue byTuesday: is simple, and it is measurable &the bridge will have turned blue,but it isn't achievable using current technology &you would need immenseresources, not ust a few workers, so it isn't realistic and the timetable isludicrous. This example is not a serious one, but you get the point2 nothingde%motivates people faster than being made to work hard at something that

can never be completed. bectives may be difficult and challenging butthey must be both possible and well%defined.

nce the obectives have been set and checked, it is the lead person'sresponsibility to decide how they will be implemented. >or example, thefollowing !uestions are typical of those you should ask yourself % you will beable to think of more yourself along the same theme)

hat resources are needed to get the work done/ hat are theexternal dependencies/

hy do we need this/ hy is it important/ hen do we need to start(complete the work/ hen do we need to

tell other teams that we have completed it/ 0ow do # motivate the team to do it/ 0ow do we measure it/ 0ow will

it affect other obectives/ here do # get the resources/ here will they sit/ ho is going to help me/ ho needs to know what actions # am

taking/ ho will benefit from the achievement of the obective/

Meeting to plan t#e PLA

At the planning stage of an Action Plan it is advisable to have discussions.This will be done via a combination of team and individual meetings. Themixture of team and one%to%one meetings will depend on the si?e of theteam, the si?e of the proect, etc. 0owever, whatever the mix of meetings,the information that each team member needs is as follows)%

Aim) An overview of the background to the proect, whatit is for in general terms, and why it is beingimplemented.

6lient) >or whom is the Plan being produced % internal,external stakeholders % and how does the proect fitinto this environment/


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$oals andbectives)

The principle goals and obectives that have beenagreed for the proect, and their relativeimportance to the success of the proect. Anoverview of any critical success factors &6->s thatapply.

Time -cales) An introduction to the time scales that apply to theproect, and when maor milestones are expectedto occur.

8enefits (#mportance)

hy the proect matters to the stakeholder, andwhat the benefits will be from the successfulcompletion of the proect, to them and you.

*ependencies) 0ighlight key dependencies, especially those thatinvolve third parties and subcontractors.

6ritical Tasks) #dentify the activities that are critical to theproect's success so that everyone knows which arethe important tasks, etc.

1oles and1esponsibilities)

+veryone should be made aware of the generalroles and responsibilities that apply to everyone&including third parties involved. People's detailedtasks will be passed to them directly. =ead peopleneed to be identified.

@uestions Answers)

7ou should include these to encourage staff to!uestion anything they are unsure of. #n one%to%one

sessions you should follow this up.

IS 2$DS

The often%!uoted saying, '#f anything can go wrong, sooner or later, it will'has been listed as Murphy's >irst =aw. Bust so you know that things that gowrong don't ust happen to you and have almost always happened tosomeone else first, listed below are some derivatives of Murphy's >irst =aw,

and a few others to make you feel better.

'


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#n other words if you haven't had something go wrong with an Action Planthen you haven't managed one yet. *on't worry about it, deal with it.

Appendi3 1

Example-Guidelines issued to staff drawing up Action Plans(FEF !"S#

$ARATER%ST%S &F A G&&' AT%&!'E)E"&PMET P"A

All activities should have a named person responsible forimplementation and a different named person for monitoring, andinclude a review date

Activities should be over and above normal activity There should be clear monitoring arrangements for each activity,

with a named person and review date There should be clear measurable outcomes that indicate how

individuals will contribute to improvements There should be clear realistic timetables There should be a clear breakdown of costs to enable assessment of

value for money here appropriate, analysis and research should be undertaken to

support maor expenditure e.g. M# -ystem Activities should not be '!uick fixes' but planned activities that will

impact in the medium and long term The Action Plan can be used for monitoring future activities

#t should not identify retrospective funding

Example "a*out (usuall* landscape#

0+A*##6 8B+6T#C+-4. TA1$+T- ( -TA


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6olumn 0eading 6ontents

Area 1efers to -A1 template prompt e.g. ;a. Thesuccess in achieving challenging targets, including!ualifications and learning goal etc.

Targets -et realistic targets, which should be !uantifiablewherever possible, such as learners' retention,achievement, completion of courses orprogrammes, progression to further learning oremployment.

Actions hat action needs to be undertaken to rectify theweakness in terms of the focussing of resourcese.g. people, time, equipment etc.?

utcomes hat has actually been achieved in respect of the

target, (E.g. Target 5% improvement in retention,Outcome, 3%)and an explanation for variance.

+vidence to-upport

-ource of data supplying evidence e.g. !"achievement and retention data, studentsatis#action ratings, etc...

1esponsibility of =ead person named, and the specific team andstaff involved identified.

6ompleted by *ate by which the action has been completed

Monitoring ho, or what procedures, will monitor and reviewwhether planned actions are being undertakenand having an impact on the issue beingaddressed. 1ecord adustments as necessary tooriginal or revised target. E.g. $rogramme Teameeting, $&o" minutes

Targets achievedby

*ate of the achievement of targets e.g. 'herethe impact is recorded at a date other than whenthe actions were completed.

Priority 0 % 0igh &or immediate2 M % Medium &or ranked in

terms of timescale(se!uence(impact on overallorganisation

6ontent Provider) Bohn =evick

guidance to making action plans

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