Elements of an Effective Plan

05/04/2009

Elements of an Effective Plan

Hold on to the center and make up your mind to rejoice in this paradise called life.
Lao Tzu

In his book, The Five Most Important Questions You Will Ever Ask About Your Organization, management guru Peter Drucker identifies these important elements of an effective organizational plan:

Abandonment: Deciding whether to abandon what does not work, what has never worked — the things that have outlived their usefulness and their capacity to contribute.
Concentration: Building on success, strengthening what does work. The best rule is to put your efforts into your successes. You will get maximum results. When you have strong performance is the very time to ask, "Can we set an even higher standard?"
Innovation: You must look for tomorrow's success, the true innovations, the diversity that stirs the imagination. What are the opportunities, the new conditions, the emerging issues? Do they fit you?
Risk taking: Planning always involves decisions on where to take risks. Some risks you can afford to take, those where if something goes wrong, it is easily reversible with minor damage. And some decisions may carry great risk, but you cannot afford not to take it.
Analysis: It is important to recognize when you do not know, when you are not yet sure whether to abandon, concentrate, go into something new, or take a particular risk. Then your objective is to conduct an analysis.

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Organizational Evaluation
Director Evaluation
Staff Appraisal
Program Evaluation
Environmental Evaluation
Child Assessment
Child Observation

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