B. Planning

You are discussing planning with middle management. First, you explain that all good strategic or operational plans answer the six ED SODA questions:

- Experience?

- Direction?

- Situation now?

- Outcome desired?

- Deadline?

- Action steps?

– Mr Frost speaks about experience and direction. Experience includes traditions, culture and management style, resistance to change. It is the question "Where are we coming from?". Direction means answering the question "Where are we heading (if we keep going)?"

– Mr Nelson speaks about situation now and outcome desired;

– Mr Backer speaks about deadline and action steps (strategy, sub-objectives, resources needed).

You are discussing the planning cascade, including organizational mission, strategy, unit objectives and individual objectives:

– Mr Welsch understands mission as voluntary imprecise statement of purpose, overall task, ethic, policy of the organization.

e.g. "To provide excellent service to our customers".

– Mr Burton speaks about strategies as conscious choices as to how the mission is to be fulfilled (e.g. operating options; areas of emphases, decisions on methods, resources and direction).

e.g. "To improve customer service by computerizing, order handling and stock control".

– Mr Frost speaks about objectives. He considers them to be the critical few measurable differences between performance now and performance expected at the end of a given period.

e.g. "To have reduced the number of customer complaints on delivery from the present 10 per month to max. 2 per month by July 31^st without extra headcount.

• You agree and say that a good objective must meet 3 criteria (necessary, realistic and agreed) and must have 3 components (result, deadline, limits). – you say that action steps mean sub-objectives.

C. Organizing

You are discussing problems of organizing time:

– Mr Becker speaks about principles of time planning. He mentions 4 main principles of time planning:

• define and record your key goals;

• select appropriate time-planning instrument;

• define most useful time savers;

• get organized.

– Mr Fletcher thinks that in order to define key goals, first it is necessary to conduct an ED SODA exercise on yourself.

Experience. Where am I coming from?

Direction. Where am I heading (if I keep going)?

Situation now. Where am I now?

Outcome desired. Where do I want to be?

Deadline. By when do I want to be there?

Action steps. How will I get there?

– You agree and say that it gives the opportunity to define your carreer goals, annual goals, monthly goals, weekly goals, daily goals;

– You thank the participants and say good-bye.

You are discussing problems of organizing work. You think that the professional manager organizes the work of his or her unit by:

- job descriptions (which tasks are to be performed by which function?);

- job specifications (what kind of person is required to perform each job?);

- job maps (which responsibilities are given to each person and how will that person be judged?).

• You ask Mr Benson how he understands jоb descriptions and he explains that they include:

• accountabilities (checklist of duties for which position is accountable):

- dimensions ("size" of position - sales? budget? machines?);

- framework (organization chart);

- relationships (list of internal and external contacts the position requires and their frequency).

• Mr Townsend speaks about time planning instruments, such as:

• pocket planner;

• desk diary;

• desk top calendar;

• wall planner;

• things to do checklist;

• personal computer;

• hand-held memo-calculator;

• post-it notes.

– Mr Brown thinks that there are time-savers in the office and outside the office. If you are in the office, you should:

- prioritize action items: A - do now, В - do soon, С - do later;

- treat all the appointments like the dentist (postponing means sliding back);

- implement a "quiet hour" with no interruptions;

- never touch a piece of paper more than once;

- group appointments together;

- always seek precise information.

If you are outside the office, you should:

- always have your time planner close at hand;

- use down-time productively (delayed flights, waiting);

- read weekly, not daily news (in bus, train or plane);

- watch TV news every day;

- get up 30 minutes earlier;

- block hours for hobbies;

- when in doubt - do it now.

– Mr Thompson thinks that a job specification for each position describes the kind of person required to perform satisfactorily in terms of:

- physical (health, appearance, age);

- achievements (education experience, training);

- aptitudes (with equipment, words, figures);

- disposition (acceptability, dependability, persuasiveness);

- environment (domestic, background);

- interests (hobbies);

- salary requirements.

– Mr Gration gives special attention to the fact that job descriptions and job specifications are formal and somewhat rigid. As for a job map - it is flexible. It should be up-dated with eraser and a pencil each time something about the job or the job-holder changes. It should cover 4 essential performance ingredients:

- mission (Why is this person here?);

- accountabilities (One phrase for each area);

- standards (Performance will be satisfactory when …);

- authority limits (How far can the person go in each area of accountability).

You are satisfied with the discussion and thank everybody.