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Big Dog's Leadership Page - Direction
by Donald Clark, copyright 1997
Managers are people who do things right, while leaders are people
who do the right thing. - Warren Benniss, Ph.D. "On Becoming a Leader"
Introduction Harvey Mackay said, "A goal is just a dream with a deadline."
And that goal will remain a dream unless you create and execute a plan
of action to accomplish it. Every goal that gets accomplished has a plan
behind of it.
Planning
Good plans start with a brainstorming session of all the people involved
with the project. This allows everyone to be part of the solution and gathers
the best ideas. The steps for brainstorming are:
-
Write down a brief description of the problem.
-
Use the description to get everyone's mind clear of what the problem is
and post it where it can be seen. This helps in keeping the group focused.
-
Write down all the solutions that come to mind. Do NOT interpret the idea,
however you may rework the wording for clarity's sake.
-
Do NOT evaluate ideas until the session moves to the evaluation phase
-
Do NOT censor any solution, no matter how silly it sounds. The silly ones
will often lead to creative ones.
-
When the participants say they "can't think of any more ideas" then give
them about 15 more minutes as the best ideas sometimes come towards the
end of long thought out thought processes.
-
To create more ideas, open up a book or dictionary and then randomly select
words or phrases to get the creative juices flowing.
-
Once all the solutions have been written down, evaluate the list to determine
the best action to correct the problem.
Next, two key question must be asked: (1) What
are all the ingredients necessary for its successful execution? What are
all the possible forces or events that could hinder or destroy it? As much
as possible, get all the answers to these questions. Listen carefully to
the judgment of your people. Then plan the positive forces and events,
and take action to prevent any obstructions that might hinder the project
in any way.
A detailed plan must include the who, what, when, where, how, and why.
Who will do what? Who does it involve? What are we going to do? When does
it start? When does it end? Where will it take place? How will it take
place? Why must we do it...what will happen if we do not do it?
Also, it must be organized. Organizing is the process of creating and
maintaining the conditions for effectively executing plans. It involves
systematically defining and arranging each task with respect to the achievement
of the objective. It includes three major steps:
-
Determine all tasks.
-
Set up a structure to accomplish all task.
-
Allocate resources.
Determine all tasks
In this phase you and your people brainstorm to determine all the tasks
and conditions necessary to carry out the plan. All essential information
must be brought out. It is also important to consider timing - when each
task must be started and completed. A helpful approach is to use "backward
planning." Look at each goal and decide what must be done to reach it.
In this way you plan from the moment of the project start point and work
your way back to the present in order to determine what must be done. Backward
planning simply means looking at the big picture first, and then planning
all tasks, conditions, and details in a logical sequence to make the big
picture happen. Include all the details of support, time schedule, equipment,
coordination, and required checks. You and your people must think of every
possible situation that will help or hinder the project. Once the process
of mentally building the project has begun, the activities will come easily
to mind.
Now, organize all these details into categories, such as needs, supplies,
support, equipment, coordination, major tasks, etc. List all the details
under the categories. Create a to-do list for each category. This list
will become the checklist to ensure everything is progressing as planned.
Set up a structure to accomplish all tasks
You and your people cannot do everything at once, some things are more
important than others. Others have to be accomplished before another can
start. Set priorities for each checkpoint and assign someone to perform
each task on the list. Develop a system for checking each other and ensuring
that each task is accomplished on time.
Allocate resources
Plan for obtaining all the required resources and allocate them out. Not
having the required resources can stop a project dead in its tracks. For
this reason you must closely track and monitor costly or hard to get resources.
Executing
Now you are ready to execute the project. If your plans are solid, things
will go smooth. If your plans are faulty, then you have a very long and
hard project ahead of you! Throughout the project's execution there are
three things that you must be involved in: standards, performance, and
adjustments.
The standard means, "is this project being completed or accomplished
as planned?" Are all the checkmarks being completed as stated in the planning
process? The standard, which is set, must mean the same to you and your
people.
Performance is measured by "completing the tasks and objectives correctly."
While the standard relates to the project, performance relates to the people
working on the project.
If performance does not meet standards, then adjustments can be made
in two ways. Improve performance or lower the standards. Most of the time,
improving the performance is appropriate. At times, however, the leader
may face a situation where the standard is unrealistic. This is usually
caused by poor estimates or resources are unavailable or late.
Problem Solving
There are seven basics steps (2) of
problem solving:
-
Identify the problem. You cannot solve something if you do not know
what the problem is. Ensure you have identified the real problem, not an
effect of another problem. One method is the "five why's." You ask why
five times. By the time you get to the fifth why, you have found the ultimate
cause of the problem.
-
Gather information. Investigate the problem and uncover any other
hidden effects that the problem may have caused.
-
Develop courses of action. Notice that courses is plural. For every
problem there are usually several courses of action. Identify as many as
you can. There are always at least two: fix it or don't fix it. Brainstorming
with your team will generate the most courses of action.
-
Analyze and compare courses of action. Rank the courses of action
as to their effectiveness. Some actions may fix other problems, while others
may cause new problems.
-
Make a decision. Select the best course of action to take.
-
Make a plan. Use the planning tool covered in the first part of
the section.
-
Implement the plan. Execute the plan as discussed earlier.
References
1. U.S. Army Handbook (1973). Military Leadership.
Return
2. Butler, Gillian, Ph.D. and Hope, Tony, M.D. Managing
Your Mind (1996). New York: Oxford University Press Return
Notes
Created May 11, 1997. Last update - October 24, 1998.
Return to Big Dog's Leadership Page
Donald R. Clark
donclark@nwlink.com
