Planning for results includes identifying the relevant steps, actions, and considerations to take to make sure the results are high quality and meaningful. A well thought through plan will provide you, your team, and key stakeholders more clarity and will give you an opportunity to revise the workflow to drive higher-impact results.

Review Quick Guide

The Quick Guide to Planning for Results outlines the four steps you need to take to create a plan that drives high-impact results.

• Identify action steps, key stakeholders, and resources
• Establish realistic timelines
• Identify risks and plan contingencies
• Communicate expectations to everyone

Planning for Results Quick Guide

Learn About Influencing Others

Bringing people along to support your idea is no easy task. It’s easy for a project to get stalled because a key stakeholder did not support and champion it. Even the best processes can fail to deliver results if people can impact decisions that drive your results. The Quick Guide to Influencing describes three steps that can help you influence more effectively.

• Establish the goal
• Assess your audience
• Determine the key influencing skills and tactics to use

Influencing  Quick Guide

Learn About Delegating

Supervisors need to delegate to build capacity and achieve results. Delegation provides you with an opportunity to develop your employees while freeing up your capacity to deal with higher-level tasks. The Quick Guide to Delegation outlines five steps for effective delegation to help improve overall results.

• Identify the task/project
• Identify the team members
• Determine whether this is a good time to delegate
• Provide clear communication
• Follow up

Delegation Quick Guide

Apply What You've Learned

This scenario will help you know how to decide who to influence, who and what to delegate, and what to do about risks.

Self-Check Quiz

Managing execution is the application of your plan through conversations, feedback, coaching, and accountability. This is how you achieve the high-impact results you have identified and planned for.

Learn About Metrics

As a supervisor, it's important to establish metrics or performance indicators in order to track the overall progress. Establishing metrics and indicators will allow you to know when you need to:

• Step in and provide more guidance and direction
• Celebrate and recognize outstanding progress
• Adjust the deadlines or project’s scope 

Depending on the nature of your work, metrics may be quantitative (deadlines, milestones, key performance indicators, etc.) or qualitative (improved quality of work, behavior changes, etc.). Either way, you will need to establish a specific outcome or observable behavior to monitor. This behavior or outcome can also be defined as a “key accountability.”

Review Quick Guide

Accountability is one of the most effective tools a supervisor has for making sure important work gets done. A strong culture of accountability lets you:

• Achieve critical results in your team
• Engage and motivate employees
• Address poor performance

Accountability means that there is a consequence (positive or negative) if a person takes or does not take an action. It is also an iterative process where you go through the four main steps to achieve results:

• Define. What behavior or outcome are you trying to influence? How can you connect it with the overall metrics you defined?
• Communicate. How will you communicate your expectations?
• Assess. How effective is the current level of consequences (positive or negative)?
• Follow through. What adjustments are you willing to make?

Review the Quick Guide to Establishing a Culture of Accountability for more on the accountability ladder and best practices.

Establishing a Culture of Accountability Quick Guide

Apply What You've Learned

Work through an interactive self-check quiz below to apply what you've learned about managing execution and accountability.

Self-Check Quiz