Definition: Implementation is the carrying out, execution, or practice of a plan, a method, or any design for doing something.
Implementation is the key to putting your plan into action. If you can’t implement, what good is your plan? When speaking to groups about action planning, I always remind the audience that your plan is only as good as your ability to implement. Thus, many plans are put together that are unfortunately never carried out. Why?
1. Capacity: Capacity is a key reason why many plans are not implemented. There are just not enough resources to carry out the objectives and goals set forth in the plan. Capacity is all about resources, whether that’s financial or human. When putting your plan together you have to consider if you and/or the company has the capacity to carry it out. This means you have to ask the question, what does it take to make this work? Do we have the funding? Do we have the people? Can we get the funding? Can we get the people? If you don’t have the answers to these questions there is a strong likelihood that the plan will not get implemented.
2. Accountability: Accountability is another key reason plans don’t get implemented. At the end of the day someone has to be responsible for carrying the plan out and seeing it through. Who will that be? You may need a project manager or an accountability partner, but someone or something has to be in place to ensure that things get done.
3. Alignment: Busyness often takes the place of “defined action” and they are not the same. The actions you take should align with the goals and vision at hand. Tasks should be based on moving forward on the goals and objectives that have been established. All of this goes back to purpose, productivity and profit. When the why and how are clear you enhance productivity and profitability.
4. Experience: Limited experience can be another reason plans don’t get off the ground. For example, having the wrong person in the wrong role working on the wrong task can hinder progress if the individual in question does not have the skills to do the work that’s required. In this instance, the task or assignment would need to be outsourced or given to someone else while the individual gains the skills needed to carry out the role.
5. Visibility & Consistency: In order to implement the plan, the plan must be visible and in front of those who will bring it to action. If the plan is put in a drawer or on the shelf it’s pretty hard to carry it out. This is why I am a big proponent of the one page strategy and action plan. It make take a few pages to hash all your strategies and thoughts out on paper, but after all the brainstorming is done, condense your plan into a one pager. That way you can very easily see what it is you need to be doing on a regular and consistent basis. Then stay consistent. Too many people detour from the plan too quickly, changing strategies without following them through to see how well they work. This is a classic symptom of entrepreneurs and small business owners who are often jumping from trend to trend without seeing their strategies all the way through.
Plans fail mostly because they are not fully implemented and too many business owners just don’t stay the course. Those that are willing to commit and consistently take action, tweak and evaluate, find that their plans usually work quite well.
Biz Practitioner
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