You’ve heard the saying; “Failing to plan is planning to fail.” Truer words were never spoken. Study after study in the field of performance improvement show the value of developing a performance improvement plan. In spite of the evidence, those same studies would show that fewer than five percent of individuals who say they intend to improve their performance and productivity have a plan for doing so.
Last week, we talked about developing perspective as a starting point for performance improvement. If we can clarify our vision, our mission and our (core) values, we have painted a very clear picture of (1) what we want to accomplish, (2) why and (3) what core values will we turn into core behaviors along the way.
The next step in developing a performance improvement plan is to define performance. Without a method for linking our performance with our perspective, we’ll only make sporadic progress. Nothing will be sustained.
Define Performance
Defining performance involves taking three important steps: develop strategies, set objectives and take the right actions at the right time.
Strategies are big-picture plans for how you’ll bring your vision to reality. My recommendation is to choose three to five strategic categories in which you want to make progress. Personal development strategies might focus on income, education or career development. Organizational strategies might involve sales, marketing or training.
A strategy provides the foundation upon which you’ll set goals and take specific actions. Increasing personal income by 25 percent in 2010 would lay the foundation for specific goals and actions. Organizationally, a strategy might be to implement a new sales training program in the coming year.
Setting objectives (goals) is the means by which we bring our strategies to life. Unlike strategies, objectives must be measurable. So, the strategy of implementing a new sales training program could translate into an objective of identifying and evaluating three sales training programs by 3/31/2010.
Once strategies are developed and objectives are set, the last step in defining performance is to develop action plans. Like objectives, action plans must be measurable but are on a shorter time frame than objectives. For example, evaluate the xyz sales training by 1/31/2010. In February, another sales traning plan would be evaluated, and so on until the larger objective of evaluating three sales training programs is achieved.
Maintain Alignment
The final step for developing your success plan for 2010 is to maintain alignment. This last step involves nothing more than watching carefully the progress being made on objectives and action plans. Maintaining alignment does not have to be complicated. Here’s a good approach to take: evaluate your day – every day. Evaluate your week – every week. Evaluate your month – every month.
Maintaining alignment is nothing more than keeping your finger on the pulse of your progress. If you find you’re not able to hit the time frames for your objectives or action plans, make necessary adjustments. The key is to stick with the process. The world won’t stop turning because you fail to reach your objectives in the desired time frame. Adjust your course and keep on sailing!
Tags: mission, performance, performance improvement, perspective, progress, starategies, strategy, values, vision
