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Writer's pictureSarah Staiger

How to Make Your Work Plan Work for You

 

Here are two of our go-to tools to move you and your team into action, reflection and evolution. You can implement this right now for managing (or managing up) a team that has what it takes to reach big goals.



1. Create a shared work plan.

Any style you like and that works for your team will do.  Don’t overthink it.  Here’s our simple work plan you can make your own.

 

2.     Start quarterly work plan check in’s.

Bring the team together quarterly to look at the plan you made.

 

In this sector we are problem-solvers and people lovers who want to help achieve our mission in every and any way possible. Sometimes we forget that abundance doesn’t mean we have to do it all, it means trusting that doing the best things well can be enough.

 

We can’t do it all. Even if it’s in our work plan (more on this from Laura on the blog). Your job as a leader at any level is to support your team to choose the actions that will do the most good we can with our precious human bodies’ actual capacity.

 

If you’re leading this exercise, pre-meeting, ask the team to update the work plan and take a few minutes to reflect on what they notice. Ask them to report on these three things at the check in:


✅ What are you proud of this quarter?

Celebrate your wins.

 

✅ What will you stop doing and why?

Even if it was in the plan, what can you stop because it didn’t work or wasn’t worth it or didn’t align with your values?

 

✅ What is your key focus for next quarter?

Considering all the tactics in your plan, what will have the most impact on your part of the team goals? This doesn’t have to be anything new, it’s likely something you are already doing that is going well.


Facilitation tips: In three rounds, ask each person to report on each question. Don’t allow the conversation to be a work plan progress report. Set a timer for each person to share... and hold to it. If at the end, everyone agrees they have more to say, schedule another time together and repeat. Use the last five minutes to confirm the next check in.



Want more? We offer planning consulting and coaching services for new or growth-oriented managers.

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