Implementing a Plan M-2

Perseverance is what gets us to our goals.

After you plan your work (modules E-4 through E-9), then you should "work your plan." Implementing the plan requires considerable skill and attention.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

After mastering this section, you should be able to:

1. Identify skills needed to implement plans.
2. Distinguish between "immediate" concerns and "important" concerns.
3. Choose actions which will help you to be a better manager.
4. Carry out your plan of work.

CARRYING OUT YOUR PLAN

When moving from ideas to action, several steps are involved. First, you must have ideas. Then you must choose the most important ideas (priorities) to work on. Next you must write those ideas as goals and objectives. Then you must make sure you have the resources to carry out those objectives. And you must write down a plan which tells how the objectives will be met. The plan tells who does what by when (deadline). Modules E-4 through E-9 discusses these steps in detail. Now you are ready to carry out the plan. Here you put your ideas into action. At this point leadership is critical.

In the broadest sense you need to apply everything you know about leadership in order to get action on your plan. You need to understand yourself and how to best lead given the current situation (modules L-1 and L-5). You must use teamwork (L-2) and stay within your organization's mission and limitations (E-13 and E-14). You must get people to do the various tasks and keep them moving forward (V-2, V-3, V-4, V-5, V-6). You must communicate effectively with others and help people working on the plan to communicate effectively with each other (C-1, C-2, C-3). You must expect conflict to arise and then deal with it constructively (M-3). You must stay on track with your plan, but adjust it as necessary. You must use meetings carefully to make decisions and keep everyone together (L-3 and L-4). Finally you must do all of the above at the same time. You must use your leadership resources where they are most needed to keep everything else going.

There are, however, some specific skills that will help in carrying out activities described in the plan. These skills need attention. They include supervision, time management, coaching and self discipline. Supervision is discussed in the next section as a separate subject.

Time management is mostly a matter of working smarter--not so much harder. The self-management exercise in module M-4 is a time management technique. To strengthen your time management skills complete module M-4.

Coaching is familiar to most of us. That doesn't mean, however, we are all natural coaches. Good coaching begins with explaining and demonstrating the fundamentals. A good soccer coach doesn't just tell a beginning player to "kick the ball hard." The coach demonstrates how to back up several steps, to approach the ball at a 45 degree angle to the direction of the kick, to plant the non-kicking foot beside the ball, to bend the knee of the backswing, to lock the knee and ankle just before contact, to keep the shoulders over the ball with head down and eye on the ball until it is kicked, and to follow through with the kicking foot in the intended direction of the ball.

The coach breaks down a complex task into easy parts, demonstrates each part, then puts the parts together. Next, the coach watches the athlete in action (a drill or a game), observes errors, and goes back over that part until the athlete understands and performs correctly.

You can use this same approach in supervising volunteers. You observe the volunteer in action, suggest an improved way to do the job, and check to see if the suggestion was understood (and carried out if accepted by the volunteer). It is through coaching that a supervisor trains and develops people. A coach needs to spend plenty of time at it, especially when the volunteer is inexperienced.

Self-discipline means staying calm, composed and confident whatever happens. Easy to say, but often hard to do! It's like the cartoon of the guy in the middle of the swamp who says, "When you're waist deep in alligators, it's hard to remember that your original purpose was to drain the swamp."

Under pressure we all have trouble keeping track of what's important (draining the swamp) while handling the immediate problem (fighting off the alligators). If we do not deal with some immediate problems, we may not make it to the important one. On the other hand, if we spend all of our time on immediate problems, we never make it to the important ones either.

Following is a checklist to help you evaluate your needs and do a better job of carrying out the plan. It is divided into two parts: 1. fighting alligators (dealing with immediate problems of program management) and 2. draining the swamp (dealing with long-range problems of program management). Don't try to do everything on the list at once. Work on one or two key things at a time.

Fighting Alligators

1. Keep a listing of things you want to do. Do this on a pad or in a notebook. Cross off things as they are finished. One refinement is to make a weekly list, then transfer any unfinished items to next week's list.

2. Learn to listen--by practicing listening skills.

3. Ask why? --about everything.

4. Develop, maintain, use, and later on, evaluate a schedule or timetable for the things you want to do. The next year should be quite general; the next week should be quite specific.

5. Keep an eye out for things--little or big--that your people (volunteers and staff) do that deserve recognition, either by you, your boss, or the organization head--then see

that they get it. Mighty easy to overlook this.

6. Never ignore your people. Praise them certainly--or criticize them out if you absolutely must--but never ignore them.

7. Use the services of your staff. Help them to work effectively, keep up to date on their subject-matter and on the organization.

8. Delegate everything you can that your people can handle and that isn't a major decision matter. You can't be everywhere at once or do everything that has to be done. Be as sure as you can of the abilities of each of your people in this regard. Tell 'em - "Do the best you can. I'm counting on you."

9. Get people to your meetings (such as regular staff conferences) by having the last person in write up the minutes of the meeting, get them typed, and distributed to all members. Once this policy is set up, nearly everyone gets there early.

10. Watch--and guard against--the intrusion of the assembly-line philosophy in the work your people do. Variety is important. The business of doing something from start to finish--the whole job--is important. Too much fragmentation of jobs may lead to boredom and quits.

11. Get to know all the jobs of all the people you supervise. Get them to show you, they'll love it, and you'll know better what your people are up against.

12. Watch your staff meetings. They can be deadly dull, or fascinating. You need (1) news, (2) training and development, and (3) management improvement at just about every such meeting. Don't short necessary business, of course. Have a program developed ahead of time.

13. Make use of the resources in your community. Local bankers, food store managers, State and municipal, as well as federal officials all have things to say about management and how they practice it. They're almost always glad to cooperate, by speaking at one of your staff meetings, for example.

14. Treat auditors and inspectors royally. Be sure they understand your organization--its structure, functions, philosophy, unsolved problems you're tackling, etc. Show your pride in the organization. Most auditors and inspectors aren't used to such treatment. They'll respond by doing a much better job for you.

15. When a crisis subsides then concentrate on details. Don't just relax and wait for the next crisis. Anticipate it and prevent it by handling the details in advance. Be thorough and persistent.

16. When you make a mistake, admit it, correct it and move on.

Draining the Swamp

1. Develop and maintain a 3-ring binder to contain notes, clippings, quotations, excerpts, etc., important to you in your job of supervision or management. Classify the material in some appropriate manner. This becomes your handbook of management. Review the material from time to time. Take things out that are no longer of interest.

2. Develop a list of planned reading, containing books and magazines you'd like to read, and perhaps study. Get the cooperation of a librarian--they'll love to help you if they understand that you really do want to read.

3. Learn to write--by writing. Get help from an editor, and pay attention to his or her suggestions (above all, don't get mad at an editor who's trying to help you).

4. Update your knowledge all the time by every means you can. Don't let yourself get out of date. Remember, times are changing rapidly.

5. Send copies of interesting, useful clippings, brochures, quotes that you find, to your supervisor, and to members of your staff with appropriate notes. Also, send a book now and then, marked, as "See especially Chapter 12" or whatever. Ask for a brief book review occasionally at a staff meeting. Make one yourself to get things started.

6. Be sure you have, in writing, the goals or objectives of your organization, and that all your people know what they are. If you are in charge of one segment or part of your organization, what's your objective in relation to the larger one of your agency or company? Get your people to help you develop this. (see also item 11 below)

7. Keep everlastingly at the job of developing people on your staff. Help them help themselves, of course. You can take pride in seeing your people leave you for better jobs than you can offer.

8. When you're recruiting, look for the underemployed. You may be surprised how many people--waiters, post office employees, cabdrivers, waitresses, secretaries--have college degrees or important skills.

9. Keep an eye on your organization structure, in relation to your objectives. Will it do the job next year? Five years from now? Span of control too large? Too small? What effects will forthcoming changes make?

10. Make files for use next year (if the program is repeated). Put notes, clippings, addresses, ideas, etc. in a manila file folder to help you next time or to help your successor.

11. What's in the files that people won't miss if it's removed? Are there any unusual bottlenecks in your procedures? Does it take too long to get some things done? Are some people in your unit overloaded while others are idle? These things can be changed by adjusting assignments and resetting priorities. Involve people, however, in making any changes.

Delegation

Problems with delegation usually result from leaders with delegation blockages.

1. Untrained leaders. Delegation does not occur to them. They can't see the value.

2. "I" leaders. They want to satisfy personal needs that may be unhealthy or destructive to others. They want to deny feelings of weakness, prove adequacy, enhance self-esteem. To expose the problems of their business may be viewed as evidence of a personal defect, so ideas presented by others, regardless of their value will be rejected.

3. Competitive leaders. Motivation to compete may be based on such things as desire for promotion, for power, for wealth, control of people, etc. These individuals want to present themselves to others in best possible light--even at others expense.

4. Fearful leaders. They are insecure regarding their competency and adequacy. It is not so much that they must be right and the other person wrong, they simply can't tolerate mistakes. They check and double-check the work. They strive for perfection.

5. Incommunicative leaders. They don't deliberately refuse to communicate; rather, they don't know how. Interpersonal difficulties develop because people do not like to be in the dark. (May tell one person, but not others. Directions are often oral, and are garbled.)

EXERCISE: ITEMS THAT CAN BE DELEGATED

How Do You Rate? Do You Delegate the Following? Yes No

1. Fact finding and analysis

2. Formulation of goals - not final determination

3. Preparation of first drafts

4. Performance of routines and details

5. Tasks others can do better, sooner, cheaper

6. Representing you at meetings, conferences, etc., where your points of view can be expressed

7. Tasks which will help subordinates to develop through experience

8. Tasks after decisions are made

***Note: A key point in delegation is to hold people more accountable for results than for methods.

B. Items That Can't Be Delegated: (Do You Handle Them Yourself?) Yes No

1. Making final decisions - deciding on goals, etc.

2. Executing tasks where goals are not clear

3. Hiring, discipline, firing of immediate staff

4. Unique or highly personalized tasks that will not come up again

5. Things that must be kept absolutely secret

6. Personal representation where your presence is important

7. Emergency, short term tasks where there is not time to explain

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

1. In which of these skills do you need improvement?

2. How can you do a better job in these skills?

3. How can you get feedback on skills to improve?

4. What resources do you have for personal improvement?

5. Can you organize "self training?" (see module LT-10)

EXERCISE: