Today's quick thought is about building an action plan.
We are getting ready to do some development training with a client, and we are going to be helping their staff create a personalized development program. A critical part of a good development program are action plans.
There are many ways to design an action plan, but it's important to include at least these 3 areas:
Goal - in an action plan, it is normally an outcome, whether that is increased performance or some kind of change;
Benefits - how will it benefit you if this goal becomes real? This is important when the work gets hard;
Time - it's important to have finite dates around when you will reach your goal. It provides accountability and measurability, and helps make the goal more 'real'.
Another excellent section could be titled 'steps', where the individual works out the actual steps that go from current position to achieving the goal.
There are numerous benefits to creating an action plan:
1) Huge increase in follow through - a huge amount of research confirms that creating a plan, writing it down, and working step by step helps people reach goals.
2) Provides accountability and ownership - by identifying goals and laying out a plan to achieve them, there is built in accountability to meet goals, and ownership because you chose the goals you wanted to pursue.
3) Organizing and plan ultimately saves time and money - in terms of efficiency and productivity. Not to mention the added follow through from your employees. Combined, there is a marked increase to your bottom line.
Consider having your employees create a development plan, and make sure action plans are a piece of the puzzle. Or connect with us - we are experts at helping you save time and money.
And that's your Tuesday Quick thought.