Plan-on-1-page
A tool that can build up beginners and empower experienced managers.
Agile planning for more action
As your business grows, there are more activities on the go. Project planning becomes an essential skill for a key manager(s) in the business.
Some people naturally take to planning while others don’t. You may have both in your business. You may have a beginner and an intermediate planner. Both beginners and intermediate managers can benefit from improving their skills.
Don’t implement a software to solve a skills gap
Practice practice practice -> results
Project planning can be simple. Simple does not mean easy. Whether you have a beginner or an intermediate manager on your team, they can still struggle with project planning. There are lots of softwares and courses that claim to make project planning easy. If you have implemented or known a business owner that has implemented a project planning software, you know that it starts with excitement then can fall far short of what you need. You are left feeling like less of a leader and wondering whether you need to hire someone new on your team or how you will solve this problem.
The skill of project planning improves with practice.
A focused tool
for practice-practice-practice.
How to Use:
Introduce the template to a manager or your core team as a tool to use in project planning.
At the start of a project, ask your manager to fill out the template with what they know and meet to fill in and adjust gaps in their understanding of the project.
Weekly or bi-weekly check-in on progress with key next steps and the next big milestone.
Support the manager in breaking down tasks, finding solutions around obstacles, and engaging others on the team.
Be kind to yourself like you would be kind to your manager. Remember that you are a great leader to have come this far and attracted great people to your team like this manager. It’s not failure if the manager is not a superstar project planner after one project.
At the end of the project, do a quick debrief of what worked well and what could have done better. Taking this time can lock in learnings for the next time.
What success looks like:
For the business overall, success starts with projects meeting timelines, budget and objectives. Impact is the true success. Your business has a mission and a vision for what it can do. Multiplying your impact is the true sign of success.
With the beginner manager, consistency in using the tool and getting better at identifying next steps is success. Beginners can really struggle to identify the next few steps and big milestones. They are used to doing. Just the consistency of using this tool to identify the objective clearly, identify steps and big milestones is huge. With each use and using it to completion each time, will significantly improve their skills of planning and thinking critically.
With the intermediate manager, they could be comfortable putting a plan on paper but they may still struggle with elements that balance planning and doing, delivering on time, delivering on budget or bringing the team together for the plan. The Plan-on-1-Page can help them focus on the most important. And provides the opportunity for you to check in with them at a high level to keep things moving and nudge them on the right steps to completion.
Share this 1-pager today
Share the template with a manager today. Choose a project that could be a good platform for practice. Using this 1-pager in everyday projects will build the muscles for bigger and bigger projects. Your team is keen to grow with the business. This everyday tool can help them grow the muscles that they need and the business needs to achieve your vision.
“A goal without a plan
is only a dream.”
- Brian Tracy