A plan: the things you are going to do
A plan sets out which actions you are going to carry out and which results you are aiming for. This can be a strategic plan for the organization, but also the annual plan of a team. If all goes well, you will not go unnoticed when drawing up your plan. You consciously think about the challenges you face, the objective and goals you want to achieve, the important choices you make and the actions you will take.
In short: your plan contains the things you are going to do and the expected results.
During the execution of your plan, you soon find out that reality is different than expected. Circumstances change and certain actions work better or worse than expected. It is therefore very important to have a good discussion about progress as a team on a regular basis. Two questions are central to this:
- Are we doing things right?
- Are we doing the right things?
The “stuff” in OGSM
OGSM is a method to display your plan in one overview. The question "Are we doing things right?" is about the implementation of the actions. The question "Are we doing the right things?" is about the strategies, where you use the indicators on the dashboard to gain insight into the results of the actions.
Question 1: Are we doing things right?
The owner of an action provides a status update of the progress every month
The first question is about the implementation of your plan. In the OGSM you record which actions you perform and when they must be completed. During the execution of the actions, keep a finger on the pulse to check whether the execution is going according to plan. The owner of the promotion is responsible for keeping the team informed of progress. This means that it regularly provides an update about the work that has been done, but especially about the status: is the action going well? Does the owner expect to complete the action on time and deliver the agreed results? If not, it is important that he or she sends out a signal.
Determine how you can improve the execution of the actions
If things don't go well, you have to think about measures as a team. Do you need to put more energy and time into an action? Can we overcome obstacles? Or should we decide to settle for less or to postpone the deadline? That's how you make sure you're doing things right. And if not, that you make improvements on time.
How often do you have this conversation? A rule of thumb that we use is to consider the implementation of actions every month.
Question 2: Are we doing the right things?
Evaluate the progress of the strategies every quarter
The second question is about the results of your plan. Do the actions you perform actually deliver the results you strive for? Do they (ultimately) contribute to the realization of your objective and goals? You can still perform actions as well, if they don't produce the right results, they are pointless. A waste of the effort and investment.
So make sure you keep doing the right things. This means that the owner of a strategy (together with the team) periodically evaluates the results of the actions. Do these make a sufficient and correct contribution to the strategy? If not, a good discussion is needed about how you can make adjustments.
Determine how you can improve the results
The conversation starts with thinking about the causes of the disappointing results. Are there any external factors? Is it due to the implementation of the actions? Or have we made wrong assumptions in determining the actions?
It is especially important as a team to think about what this means next: Which actions are no longer relevant? Which actions should we change or add? Make sure you keep doing the right things, even when circumstances or insights change. This way your plan will always remain relevant.
How often do you have this conversation? A rule of thumb is to evaluate the results of the past quarter every quarter and adjust your plan where necessary.
The five building blocks of teamwork
The “good conversation” about actions and results does demand a lot from the team. You have to dare to be open about progress and results and talk to each other about this. Earlier we wrote the article “The five building blocks of teamwork”In which we discuss mutual trust, constructive conflicts, support for choices, responsibility and a focus on common goals.
Practical working method with monthly and quarterly sessions
Conduct the monthly discussions about actions and we have drawn up a practical method every quarter about the strategies. This allows you to have a good conversation about progress and results every month and every quarter.
Monthly session: DO
The owner of an action indicates in a brief progress report:
- What the progress of the action is; in a percentage.
- What is his / her assessment of the progress; with a traffic light (green, orange, red).
- What changes, if any, he / she proposes.
Quarterly session: LEARNING and ADJUSTING
The owner of a strategy indicates in a concise progress report:
- What is his / her opinion of the results of the strategy; with a traffic light (green, orange, red). The dashboard of the strategies contains important indicators for arriving at this judgment.
- What are the most important results of the past quarter.
- Why the strategy is green / orange / red.
- Which changes to the strategy she / she proposes.
Thanks to this structured preparation, you as a team know what to zoom in on during the session. It is important here that a traffic light is not a judgment about the owner. It's a signal from the owner to the team. This makes it clear about which actions and strategies they should have the right conversation.