Preparing Short-Term Work Plans
Developing Short-Term Targets
Developing Monthly Work Plans
Developing Weekly and Daily Work Plans
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Preparing Short-Term Work PlansShort-term work plans should be developed to schedule activities for a particular service delivery site or for particular staff members. These work plans can be specific enough to show day-to-day activities, and may cover a period of time lasting anywhere from a week to a month. Using the annual work plan as a guide, project managers and supervisors at different CBD and clinic sites can draw up, with the help of their staff, separate monthly or weekly plans showing the planned activities of the staff and the chronological sequence of activities. These shorter-term work plans should only be developed after the annual plan has been formulated.
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Dividing yearly objectives into monthly targets |
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One way to develop the short-term work plans is to divide the yearly objectives
into quarterly or monthly targets. To determine these targets, begin by
looking at the yearly objective. For a service delivery site, a yearly
objective could be "to provide family planning information and education
to 10,000 potential acceptors during the first year of service delivery."
To divide this objective into short-term targets, first divide the 10,000
potential acceptors by 12 months to get a monthly target for that site. Next,
divide the number of potential acceptors to be visited each month by the number
of fieldworkers at the service site so that each fieldworker will know how many
people she or he will need to visit each month. This target can be further
divided by the number of working days per month and put on a calendar so that
each fieldworker will have a work plan to use on a daily basis.
Objectives for administrative work are more difficult to divide into short-term targets. Instead, you may find it more appropriate to divide objectives into sets of tasks by writing down all the steps that will need to be taken in order to reach the objective. For example, an administrative objective may be "to prepare four quarterly reports during the first year of project activities." This objective can be broken down into tasks and schedules to ensure that the information required to compile and write each report is available when it is needed. This requires a system that ensures the regular and timely receipt of monthly service reports from all the service sites. The monthly data will then need to be reviewed by site, and the site data will need to be aggregated and analyzed, in preparation for writing the quarterly report. In addition, depending on the content requirements for the quarterly report, you may have to coordinate with a financial manager to report on other indicators, such as the cost per new user of providing services. Once you have made a list of the major tasks that need to be completed for each objective, the next step is to formulate a monthly or weekly schedule that outlines when these tasks will be completed and by whom. This schedule will become a short-term work plan, which can be revised as needed to keep it up-to-date and relevant.
In this way, you can break down large overall objectives into smaller, more manageable units that enable you to develop a monthly work plan more easily and to distribute the workload more equitably. When developing these targets and short-term work plans, be sure to take into consideration any seasonal variability that may occur or any variations due to project start-up which might require making adjustments to individual staff work plans. You may also need to adjust targets according to the individual situation, such as the availability and accessibility of transportation or the difficulty of the task, so that staff members are not unreasonably overloaded with work.
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Definitions of objectives and targets |
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Although there are many definitions for objectives and targets, for the
purposes of this discussion and the examples shown here, the distinction
between objectives and targets is defined as follows:
Objective:
Objectives should be SMART and refers to the measurable results that are expected among designated population within a specified period of time. Usually there will be several objectives relating to one program goal. Example
Targets:
Example
An example of an annual target for a supervisor: To conduct supervisory visits to 10 fieldworkers each month of the year. An example of a monthly target for a fieldworker: To provide information and education to 400 couples in three communities during the next month. An example of a monthly target for a fieldworker: To locate and interview 15 clients each month who have dropped out of the program in order to find out the reason they dropped out. |
The use of targets in work planning |
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Targets can be very useful in bringing large objectives and numbers down to a
more manageable and realistic level. By developing numerical targets which
staff can relate to their daily activities, targets can serve to motivate staff
to reach their personal work goals and provide a sense of accomplishment upon
their completion.
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Set realistic, useful targets |
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You should be sure to review targets regularly to make certain that they are
realistic and to ensure that the services provided are of high quality. Using
unrealistic targets can lead staff members either to not work hard enough
because they can reach their quotas easily, or to compromise the quality of the
services they deliver because they are only trying to meet their numerical
quotas. You can also set targets that help to ensure that the intended quality
of services is maintained. For example, assigning fieldworkers to find out why
former acceptors have dropped out of the program will help to determine how
services can be improved or how they can be made more responsive to the needs
and concerns of the clients.
As a manager, it will be your responsibility to make sure that targets are not being misused. Keep in mind that targets serve three major purposes:
Setting targets is also useful for determining whether the program objectives are realistic. The example in the next section shows the importance of this aspect of work planning. Developing Monthly Work PlansMonthly work plans should be developed and used at all levels of a program or organization. They are particularly useful for fieldworkers and supervisors. The activities in work plans are based on the annual plan but include more detailed information on activities, such as which villages and households will be visited; the timing of these visits; and the dates of the supervisory visits, holidays, staff meetings, and training. These details ensure that staff at all levels are coordinating their efforts, working as a team, and using resources efficiently.
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Monthly work plans help you to achieve your objectives |
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Developing monthly work plans and writing a detailed account of the planned
activities for each day of the month helps you to make sure it is possible to
achieve your anticipated objectives. For example, supervisors and program
managers can see whether their yearly service delivery objectives are
reasonable by developing a fieldworker's work plan for one month and
making projections for the next eleven months. If a program objective is to
achieve a total of 1,200 new acceptors in the total program area by the end of
each year (an average of 100 per month), five fieldworkers would each have to
recruit 20 new acceptors per month. Given an anticipated 10 percent acceptance
rate, this means that each fieldworker will need to visit an average of 200
eligible couples per month. Whether this is possible depends on a number of
factors:
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Using work plans for feedback |
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Once you have formulated monthly work plans, you should examine them to see whether it will be feasible to meet monthly and quarterly targets. If not, you should make adjustments in the annual work plan and program objectives before the next implementation cycle begins. When starting a program or service, you may want to set targets somewhat low, as it can take a while for a program to gain momentum. By encouraging the analysis of work plans and by being realistic, work planning will be a worthwhile use of your time and will contribute to a more productive year. Example from Bangladesh - Developing Monthly Work Plans for Family Planning Fieldworkers Developing Weekly and Daily Work Plans |
Developing "To Do" lists |
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Another easy and efficient way to plan your time and to coordinate activities is to develop "to do" lists. Whether you work in a group or individually, you should develop a daily or weekly list of things to do, and prioritize your tasks so that you do the most important things first. Ideally, everyone in a program or organization should develop the habit of doing this, even if it is only for her or his own purposes.
If you work in a group, you can make a list of all the tasks that must be completed by your group, and group members can select for themselves what they will be responsible for doing. Other items may need to be divided up into a series of smaller, more manageable tasks and delegated to group members with the tasks divided equitably. Whatever the period of time you are planning for, you should plan to meet again at the tend of this time to review your progress. At that time, the group should give particular attention to items that have not yet been completed, come up with alternatives and solutions, and start a new list of activities, including those items that are not yet completed.
Some major advantages of writing "to do" lists are:
Just as with setting targets, it is important that these lists and assignments be developed through the coordinated efforts of all the people concerned. When targets are not met or certain tasks are not completed, it is often not the fault of the worker, but some other factor. As a manager, it is your responsibility, with the help of your staff, to determine a solution that is feasible, even if it means lowering numerical targets or reassigning the tasks to someone else.
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"To do" lists are informal |
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A manager has many things to do and remember each week. By making lists every
week or two and checking off items as you complete them, you can be sure that
important tasks are not accidentally overlooked or forgotten. This can be done
very simply by writing a list of things you have to do, noting when you plan on
doing each task, and carrying over uncompleted tasks to the next week's
list. In doing so, you have a record of everything you have done
and when you did it, which can be useful to refer to later. It is also helpful
to note your tasks on a conventional calendar that you keep with you at all
times. You will notice very quickly if some days are blank and other days are
overloaded with too many things to do, and you will be able to redistribute
your tasks more evenly. Making "to do" lists is an informal, easy,
and valuable method of work planning, which will definitely increase your
personal contribution and productivity.
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