SHuRePlan

If not, what actions are needed to stay on course?

If the monitoring processes are effective, they will throw up early warnings when the plan is not on course to achieve its goals.  However good the planning there will always be a degree of uncertainty in predicting the outcomes of the actions in the action plan.  When warnings are received the first thing to do is review the action list:

• Has the action actually been implemented?
• Have we over or under estimated the impact of the action?
• Is it taking longer to produce its outcomes than expected?
• Has something happened that we did not anticipate?

If the problem has been spotted early enough, it may still be possible to adjust the action to put things back on course.  For example, if wastage from training has been higher than anticipated, it may be possible to increase numbers entering training to compensate and to take corrective action to reduce the wastage of subsequent cohorts.  Alternatively, it may be possible to take corrective action by adjusting some of the other actions on the action list.  For example, shortfalls in output from training may be compensated for by using alternative sources of recruitment at home or overseas.

In more complex areas, such as the introduction of new ways of working, we may have underestimated the level of resistance to change in the organisation and may need to invest in additional OD activities to win acceptance for the change. 

Corrective action can only take us so far.  If the scale of the problem is such that we cannot make adjustments to bring us back on course, the only option is a radical review of the plan, which is covered in the next section.