The success of business or organizations in its specific undertaking is credited to a well designed and thought out plan. Business and organizational direction is dictated by specific plans, designed by the planning team. So we have business plans, strategic plans, marketing plans, distribution plans, and so on.
To make these plans profitable and useful, these have to be communicated throughout the business or organization, must especially to the employees who is most qualified and most affected by its implementation. What steps do business and management do to achieve the goal of sharing its plan to its employees? The first step is to know your plan by heart.
Business or organizations have to be knowledgeable with its plan, of necessity it has to know it by heart. Every detail, angle, repercussion and nuance of the plan has to be absolutely understood and taken into heart. That is the essential element without which the other elements of sharing will not be effectively communicated.
The framework of the plan has to be clear, simple, direct and understandable. Clear, simple, direct and understandable plans are easily put to heart and remembered. The plan should have a purpose, what is it for? The plan also should include various components that contribute to its success.
A typical business plan, for example, consists of the purpose: Business Process Outsourcing, Call Center Operations. The various components might be: the Marketing aspect, who is our customer? The Financial aspect, where will our funds come from? How will it be spent? The Management aspect, what type of organization will we adopt? The Technical aspect, what equipment and technology will suit us?
A second element in knowing the plan is to know its limitations. What does it include and what does it exclude? Limitation channels the plan to the specifics and it provides focus and concentration. Limitations reveal what can be done, what is attainable, and what can be done, what is not attainable.
A third element in knowing the plan is to know its application. Is it applicable to all industries or to some industries only? The specific application helps the planner distribute the tasks evenly to the human resource of the business or organization.
Share your Plan Wisely
Sharing your plan has to be done in wisdom. The way to do this is to decide on the right timing. If you get the timing wrong, employees are not just receptive. While constant meetings and conferences might do the job, it can stifle productivity and is a waste of time. Carefully decide on the manner and method for sharing and communicating your plan. This can actually be accomplished in a variety of ways.
One method might be to share it in digestible chunks through mails or memos. It should be transmitted and designed in such a manner as to be easily remembered. Another method might be share the plan in an outline format, saving the details of the plan for some other event. Still another method is to share it in the form of acrostics, initials and abbreviations; this might just do the trick.
When sharing the plan, effort has to be dedicated in making it really understandable. Understandable in the sense that, employees should comprehend that the plan is not just designed for the business or organization but it is designed for them as well. Their understanding should come to the point that the intention of the planner has really been transmitted to them. The picture that the planners desire for them to see must really be seen from the same viewpoint. They must also understand that the success of the plan depends so much on their cooperation. The success of the plan fortunately, will translate into tangible benefits for them that they may enjoy presently and well into the future.
From making the plan understandable, business or organizations must stir their employees to motivation. The understood plan has to be translated into action. The best plan is only a plan, that is, good intentions, unless it transforms itself into actual work. This is the challenge of business or organizations.
Work on your Plan Agreeably
An initial reaction of employees is always resistance to change. Since most plans involve change, reorganization, rearrangement and the like, expect a certain amount of resistance from employees. This energy of resistance has to be turned around so that it can be harnessed to the transformation of the plan, from good intentions to actual implementation.
Being agreeable is never a virtue of business or organizational management. They are used to controlling and dictating. But in the case of sharing your plan to employees, being agreeable has to be practiced otherwise you will be like the farmer, pulling and yelling at a mule that won budge an inch. You will lose your energy in such and such a scenario. Business or must initiate the task of being agreeable. When this is done, it is easier to move around the different units of the business or organization as you share your plan.
Working on your plan agreeably might involve compromise in certain areas. Employees may demand certain things in exchange for being affected by the plan. Business or organizations must decide whether to hang the carrot or show off the stick in these situations. And although, being agreeable and taking the consensus is good for employees in motivating them regarding the plan, business and management must not lose its conviction and firmness that the plan works and it is for the benefit of all.
Review your Plan Periodically
In the business world where the only thing that is constant is change; reviewing the plan is something that should be done periodically. Some things that worked out well yesterday may not work out well today.
A classic example is the installation and maintenance unit of phone companies. If customers were not so demanding you can let them fit in your installation or maintenance schedule, but not anymore.
Customer demand you conform to their schedule, and since installation and maintenance units are not swift enough, again outsource partner becomes the logical solution. Business or organization need a plan review and if necessary a plan revision whenever factors in the business arena work out against their favor.
Reviewing your plan involves being watchful in two very important fronts. Reviewing and observing variation and changes is paramount and this cannot be done in one direction or in one angle or front. The two very important fronts are, the outside front, that is the global and local business arena and the inside front, that is inside of the business or organization. Too little focus on these fronts may affect your plan so that you might have to start all over again, something that might be too costly and time consuming.
Sharing your plan to your employees is no easy task. People are more complex than the most elaborate equipment. Complexity is a breeding ground for failure. However, these guidelines might just work excellently: again know your plan (the framework, limitations and application), share your plan wisely, work on your plan agreeably and lastly, review your plan periodically.
