11.10.2004 02:00

Today I finished writing my detailed plan for this quarter, which includes about ten pages. Every 90 days I carefully review my goals and plans, and I find that although it can be boring (usually about 10-15 hours of tedious work), this is the main tool for managing not only a business, but all of life. Sometimes life becomes quite complicated, and then, if you do not know exactly where you are going, then under various external influences it becomes easy to turn off the path. When you have been working on a certain project for several days and a new opportunity appears in a completely different area, then if you are not able to take your mind off this project and see the forest for the trees, it can be difficult to make a clear decision. Having a written plan that you can reread at any time gives you the opportunity to look at current situation bird's eye view and make more consistent decisions.

In 2001, I wrote and, apart from some minor improvements, I still basically follow the same approach today. What I have now begun to include in my plan is a list of estimates made when comparing different parts of the plan. Often these are assumptions about how things will go, such as how long a particular project will take. It happens all the time that after a few weeks of working on a project, I run into some kind of roadblock. Then I go back to my list of guesses and look for which one was wrong. I can then correct those estimates and refine the plan accordingly. But if I find that they were all accurate, then I can usually be sure that the plan is basically okay - maybe I just need to change the way I'm doing it now. Just today, I had to back out of two licensing deals that at first glance looked like potential lucrative deals, but in light of my long-term goals, it's clear that they would be a step off course.

When you create a 90 day plan, you are actually looking much further ahead than three months. Usually, to understand what I need to do in the next 90 days, I look at least two years ahead. There are many solutions that seem good when you look at them from a three to six month perspective, but they look more dubious when you look two years ahead. It's very similar to a computer chess program - a move may seem best when the player thinks five moves ahead, but when they look 10 moves ahead, they make a completely different move. The same is true with short-term planning. The best plans you make are when you look ahead a few years and consider your ultimate goal, and then use that long-term perspective to decide what you need to do right now. For some big decisions like if you want to have another baby, you might want to look much further. A long-term perspective gives clarity to the everyday.

When I was unmarried, lived alone, and did not have my own business, such detailed planning would probably be redundant. But now that my life has become much more complicated, it sometimes helps me get past the quicksands of uncertainty and focus on what really matters. The more complex my life gets, the more important it is for me to dedicate time to clarifying my goals and planning.

The most important thing that I get from a written plan is a sense of calmness, I know that I have consciously thought everything over, that everything is foreseen. Can it be hard to make choices like: should I spend time with my wife and kids, or play sports, or prepare my next speech, or write an article, or work on a book, or do some marketing tasks, or play poker, or read a book? One thing I've learned is that I'm probably doing a bad job trying to make these kinds of balancing decisions on the spur of the moment - I end up paying too little attention to some areas of my life and too much to others, so something important eludes me. I simply do not have time to think many years ahead, making every single decision. Only by creating a well-designed long-term plan can I be sure that I can achieve the right balance and implement for real important, while making a conscious decision about which areas of life can be given less attention. I can trust this plan because I know I have thought it through carefully, so it works as a tool to help me make my daily decisions easier and faster.

Sunday, January 28, 2018 12:01:01 PM

Every organization should have an implementation plan in place when deciding whether to move from using Power BI in one or two divisions to a full enterprise deployment. Here's a 90-day implementation roadmap that focuses on quickly getting a pilot set of users into Power BI so you can get real feedback before exposing people in your organization to some risk that could have been avoided with a smaller deployment.

All important details are not presented here because the plan is general and can be customized to fit your organization's needs. When planning your BI deployment, you will also need Technical documentation on Power BI as it will help to articulate things that are not included below.

In the plan below, the use of an "enterprise data mart" is listed as optional. We're leaning towards early adoption of tabular SSAS models, which should take into account currently known data from the outset, which should be gleaned by an IT-managed solution rather than a business-driven or stand-alone solution. However, there are other approaches, and depending on your underlying data strategy, these data marts may not be necessary.

First 30 days

• Define a user group for Power BI Pilot
• Conduct a pre-security meeting with security stakeholders to identify any expected issues.
• Initial short-term policies are defined for high business impact (HBI) or low impact (LBI) data and Power BI usage
• The training material is validated and the initial pilot group is trained in Power BI at the end of the 30 day period
• An Active Directory group structure is being developed for future Row-Level Security (RLS) requirements
• Optional: Define an initial tabular model for enterprise data and share with the Pilot user group as the first data set external to the self-service capabilities
• High Level Design begins to support a long-term BI strategy. She is will be the main data strategy so that different data storage options can be considered such as Hadoop, a large data warehouse, or simply relying on target data marts (like SSAS tabular models) to be used once self-service models mature at enterprise model scales .

30-60 days

• Power BI Pilot becomes available after training for targeted users. It will be mostly self-service in nature with some ability to use the initial enterprise data package if implemented.
• Security requirements for long-term implementation defined power B.I. Any gaps are filled with additional policies or procedures
• Detailed design already supports a long-term BI strategy

60-90 days

• Optional: Filtered enterprise data mart built based on row-level security
• Active directory structure to support organizational role from Power BI is complete
• Power BI training for the rest of the organization begins
• A long-term data strategy is being implemented using a phased approach to replace "self-service" models with enterprise models as needed
• Optional: Defines High Level requirements for the embedded Power BI environment if there is external user access (for example, customers or partners)
• Initial feedback from the Power BI pilot group collected and reviewed for the Power BI roadmap
• A BI implementation plan is being developed to connect the rest of the organization
• Define success criteria for enterprise-wide deployment. This can be the number of active users, the number of reports, the number of content packs.

What to track after the first 90 days:

• Most knowledge workers within an organization use Power BI to help manage the business
• Optional: Development of Power BI Embedded / pilot project
• Power BI user groups are continuously trained.
• Certain success criteria must be continually evaluated and updated to ensure that they are met.

Creative marketing is good. Genius marketing is great.

In order for marketing to bring tangible results - that is, to increase profits - it must be systemic.

The "90 days" system is a way of organizing the work of marketing in a company, allowing you to get maximum consistency, concentration and effectiveness.

Checked - it works!

Book:

How to make a plan

Sections on this page:

How to make a plan

The successful implementation of the 90 days plan is subject to the Pareto law.

As you know, the Pareto law says that "20% of efforts give 80% of the result, and the remaining 80% of efforts - only 20% of the result."

In our case, the preparation of a specific 90-day plan will take 20% of the effort from the entire work on the project, but they will ensure the implementation of the 90-day plan by at least 80%. We believe that with the help of this book you will overcome (albeit not without hard work) the bar of 90%.

If you highlight the main points, overall success the implementation of the plan depends on:

Relevance (and necessity!) of the tasks included in the plan;

A real assessment of their complexity and the cost of working time;

Correct selection of performers.

Below is a step-by-step process for creating a plan.

You will find a plan template in Appendix 2 (Figure 1. How to make a plan correctly).

As the theater begins with a hanger, so the creation of a plan starts with a survey of key employees of the company. Sometimes it is required to hold meetings/interviews with clients, business partners, marketing service providers.

If a company works with marketing agency, PR agency, business consultants, it makes sense when preparing the 90-day plan to discuss activities with them.

During the survey we:

getting ideas about what to include in the plan (“It would be nice if we could do such and such in the near future ...”);

get confirmation their preliminary ideas (“Do you think we should do this? ..”);

make the polled supporters our plan (“Would you mind if we agree on work in this area with you and involve some of your employees, of course, by prior agreement with you? ..”).

The main thing is ideas.

It is important to learn to see in the answers of respondents (interviewees) ideas / actions for the plan.

Here are some quotes from respondents (and ideas for a 90-day plan):

1. “My businessmen have no distribution. There is nothing to negotiate with…” (The idea for the 90-day plan is to make new handouts for meetings with potential clients.)

2. “It would be nice to increase PR activity, in the regions they have heard little about us.” (The idea for the 90 days plan is to make a regional PR plan.)

3. “There is a general presentation about the company. But our department needs presentations on industries, and always with interesting cases.” (The idea for the 90 Day Plan is to make a set of industry presentations.)

4. "I need a program to find and attract new dealers ..." (The idea for the 90 days plan is to launch the "We are looking for new partners" program.)

5. “We have long wanted to launch post-installation surveys of customers six months after the completion of the project.” (The idea for the plan is to conduct customer surveys with equipment installed six to nine months ago.)

6. “The site needs to be sorted out. Applications began to come from him a little. (The idea for the 90 days plan is to increase the number of leads from the site by 50+%.)

7. “We need to create a new boxed solution and a program for its promotion with one of our vendors.” (The goals for the 90-day plan are to make a boxed solution with vendor X and a plan to move that solution forward.)

Who should be on the interview list within the company? It depends on the size and structure of the particular organization:

Owners;

CEO;

His deputies;

Heads of departments and divisions;

Also, you can talk to former employees companies. They offer interesting ideas, we tell you ...

Even though we're getting ready to make a plan marketing activities, when surveying, it is desirable to cover all areas of the company's activities (sales, finance, logistics, technical management, production, etc.) - this will bring more good ideas, "expand the picture of the world", make it possible to consider marketing as a broader concept than just advertising or promotion.

The list of questions should be agreed with the sponsor (customer). About what they can be - below.

It's good if the sponsor makes an announcement on e-mail: will alert all involved employees about the upcoming survey and its objectives and introduce the project driver - marketer or head of marketing. Further, the driver independently or with the help of an assistant (if any) agrees on a time and place of meetings convenient for company employees.

There is a possibility that the sponsor (customer) will want to be present during the surveys. We encourage you to gently decline. The survey is conducted in private with an invited employee in the format of a friendly conversation with the greatest possible empathy. You can even promise the anonymity of the survey (and then provide the customer with the results of the survey without identifying the authors of the ideas). It is clear that the presence CEO or the owner at the meeting will greatly fetter your interlocutors. good ideas and revelations will be much less.

Each interview can take anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour.

The spread of time is explained by the fact that some employees during a conversation can be very brief - for various reasons and circumstances (they are in a hurry to meet, they are afraid to say too much, they are just not very sociable ...), while others will simply not be stopped!

During the conversation, it is necessary to ask the employee to give his own definition of marketing and name at least four or five tasks (or more, if desired), the solution of which he expects from marketing for his direction within the framework of the "90 days" plan. Be prepared for a wide range of responses, from “I don’t need marketing, I’m fine, I don’t need anything” to fantastic wishes that even a goldfish would not be able to fulfill. There is no universal recipe for conducting such a survey. It depends on the personality of the interlocutor, his understanding of marketing, experience of cooperation with the marketing department (positive or negative), and how successfully the ice was broken at the beginning of the meeting.

From experience, we note that some heads of departments, who at the first meeting did not show interest in cooperation, during the implementation of the plan, making sure that it could be useful for them as well, proposed new tasks that were included in the plan on the go.

To reiterate: be patient, you will need it more than once throughout the project.

Either way, by the time you complete your employee survey, you should have a to-do list for your upcoming 90-day plan.

How many tasks should be included in the plan?

In our opinion, the optimal number is from 40 to 60 tasks. Having grouped the tasks into blocks, they must first be discussed with the sponsor (customer) in order to make adjustments. After that, you can begin to form the first plan "90 days".

Igor Mann: “When I started working as a marketing director at Arktel, after interviews and surveys with employees and managers of the company, I found that 127 tasks were included in the “90 days - 1” list! I worked like an ox for all these three months ... from dawn to dusk ... on weekends and holidays, but my team and I did a little more than 70 tasks. Therefore, let there be fewer tasks in the plan - less stress and higher motivation.

The choice of survey questions depends on which services you are surveying. For example, the Marketing Machine company prepares questions for the sales department, marketing department, support departments and top managers.

Every time company employees conduct surveys, they generate a unique list of questions (usually five to seven), focusing on the following lists:

Here are some questions for the front office employee survey

1. If 100% is the mark of an ideal sales service, how would you rate your service? Why?

2. The main difficulties, difficulties that you have to face when offering the company's products.

3. What kind of support from the company do you need to sell more effectively?

4. Please name:

Strengths companies (at least two);

Weaknesses of the company (at least two).

5. Who is your biggest competitor (if you could eliminate one competitor from the market, who would you eliminate first)?

6. In what way is he stronger than you?

7. What are its weaknesses?

8. Which of the strong moves, techniques, finds of competitors should be brought to the work of the company?

9. What is currently worth doing to increase the turnover of the company? (Assortment, prices, sales tactics, marketing enhancement, etc.)

10. Loyal customers, as a rule, do not leave, they buy regularly, more, at a higher price. What ways can you suggest to increase the loyalty of your customers?

11. How do you think you can make your sales team more efficient? (Training, motivation, marketing support, etc.)

Sample questions for a survey of employees of the marketing department

1. If 100% is the mark of perfect marketing performance, how would you rate the performance of your service? Why?

2. What do you think is the main task of your department?

3. Who do you work for (for whom is what you do)?

4. You work closely with the sales department. Is it really true? Are there relationship difficulties? Which? What do you think could be improved? How?

5. If you were commercial director(or a member of the board of directors), what would you change in the work of the marketing department?

6. What marketing has done that has brought the greatest value to the business?

7. If the owners of the company came to you and asked what they could do for the marketing department, what would be the first thing you would ask them?

The challenge is to choose the right questions.

So, the survey is completed, and before you is a list of tasks created based on your own thoughts, experience and feedback from those with whom you spoke. Now you need to think over their exact wording, which will be included in your 90-day plan. This will avoid the occurrence of "semantic" problems during the implementation of the plan between:

Driver

task executors,

Sponsor.

And last but not least, it will help you when summarizing the work done (defending the plan to management) at the end of 90 days. Trust us, it's not that easy.

To paraphrase the words of the cartoon character Captain Vrungel, "as you name the task, so you will fulfill it." Try to avoid general terms. For example, the title of the task:

“Visits to 10 key customers for a satisfaction survey” is clearer than “Conduct a survey”;

"Technical seminars in Kazan, Novosibirsk and Krasnodar" is better than "Seminars in the regions";

“Conduct a press tour to the plant with the participation of 7-10 specialized media” is clearer than “RK production”.

In fact, the correct name should be:

Specify the task as much as possible;

Eliminate different interpretations of the expected result;

To have a verb (“seminar in Kazan” in the composition is worse than “organize and conduct a seminar in Kazan”);

Help in determining whether a task has been completed or not.

Discuss “on the shore” with each performer his block of tasks, find out if you and him understand the same thing as what needs to be done and how. Be sure to listen carefully to his opinion.

Make adjustments, if necessary, taking into account his comments and suggestions before submitting the final version of the plan to the sponsor (customer) for approval.

Among other things, the involvement of company employees in planning will allow you to establish mutual understanding at the start of the project. People like it when their opinion is listened to.

Then all tasks are divided into sections in the Excel file.

You will find the plan template in Appendix 2 (Figure 5. Plan template for 90 days).

How many and what sections should be in the plan? Again, this depends on the specific company, its profile, structure and tasks.

A 90-day plan can have standard sections, such as:

Internet Marketing;

Product marketing;

Internal marketing;

Regional marketing;

Working with vendors;

Analytics;

Exhibitions;

But there may also be non-standard sections - for example, a block of tasks for the development and launch of a new series of low-voltage complete device RS:

Marketing NKU RS.

There is no hard and fast rule here: you create sections of the plan based on the existing list of tasks and common sense. If, for example, you received tasks from department heads, then you can add the appropriate sections to the plan:

Sales department;

Department of Regional Development;

System Integration Department;

Some tasks will be requested in several sections at once. There is nothing wrong with that, take them to the most appropriate section, in your opinion. The main thing is that the task is in the plan.

Important: it is better to break large tasks into parts - into separate tasks. Firstly, it is more convenient to work with them. The above example task "Technical workshops in Kazan, Novosibirsk and Krasnodar" can be better divided into three:

"Technical Seminar in Kazan";

"Technical Seminar in Novosibirsk";

"Technical Seminar in Krasnodar".

Each of these tasks has its own deadline and, most likely, its own specifics and different performers.

Secondly, it is easier to close tasks this way. There are large complex tasks consisting of several subtasks. In this case, there is always a risk of not completing the entire task. Not everything and not always depends on the diligence and skill of the driver and performers. Force majeure, especially in our country, has not been canceled. In order to avoid misunderstandings and conflicts with management in the future (“we spent so much time and effort on it, completed it by 90%, but we were not credited with it”), our good advice to you: split tasks!

For example, break the task “Bringing a new product line to the market” into several:

Assessment of market capacity;

product line;

Direction positioning;

Sales Kit for sellers;

Motivation system for sellers;

Some tasks initially cannot be fully implemented in 90 days. They require several iterations. In this case, "Version 1.0" is added to the end of the task name. This means that the same task will be included in the "90 days - 2" plan already as "Version 2.0".

All plan activities can be divided into three types:

Already done in the company, but not well or efficiently enough;

We have long wanted to implement, but have not yet reached the hands;

Never made by the company before.

Igor Mann's principle "The main thing in marketing is to know what to do, know how to do it, and take it and do it" applies to all of them.

And here it is impossible to bypass the question of the selection of performers.

The executors (or those responsible for the tasks) of the “90 days” plan decide, if not all, then a lot. The driver alone in the company is not a warrior. He is more of a catalyst for marketing activities, but for this he needs a "critical mass" of assistants. Ideally, each assignee (responsible for the task) should be:

Motivated;

Competent;

Responsible;

Ready for cooperation.

Who can be appointed as the executor or responsible for tasks?

Anyone - from an ordinary employee to the head of the company (including, of course, the project driver). It all depends on the level of complexity of the task. For example:

Booklet redesign and printing ( advertising manager);

Creation and launch of an online store ( Head of Internet Communications Department);

Launching a product competition for customers ( brand manager);

Audit of points of contact ( project driver);

Publication of an interview with the head of the company in the top 5 industry media ( head of PR service);

Organization of an offsite business session with the best dealers ( Commercial Director);

New product development ( Technical Director);

Be prepared for the fact that the head of the company suddenly wants to become responsible for one or more tasks. Do not be afraid of this, but regard it as an additional advantage and an opportunity for cooperation.

How many performers can a task have? We recommend no more than two people. Otherwise, responsibility is blurred and the likelihood that the task will be completed on time or even implemented at all will decrease. You may need to outsource some tasks of the plan. For example, to make a press tour to a production site successful, it is better to involve a specialized PR agency (for example, PR Partner). And for SEO-optimization of the site, you can contact the company "LidMashina". But the employees of the company should still be indicated as responsible in the “90 days” plan for these tasks. Here are all possible combinations of responsible for tasks in the plan:

Employee;

Employee + employee;

Driver;

Driver + employee.

We note two more important points:

Notification by e-mail by the sponsor (customer) of all performers (responsible) about their involvement in the work, the purpose of the project and coordination of work with the driver (with a copy to the latter);

Tripartite meeting (sponsor - driver - responsible) before the start of the project.

Each task of the plan has three time parameters - start (start), time spent and completion (finish). As a rule, not all tasks of the plan start at the same time as the project starts. It may be related:

With the fact that the task is tied to the date of an external event (exhibition, conference, etc.);

Since this task is part of a more complex task, the execution of subtasks goes in order, it is necessary to solve the previous ones first;

With a lack of human resources;

With internal expediency;

With other reasons.

Specify in the plan template "90 days" in the "Start" column for each task the beginning of its implementation. You can just put down the week number, but from experience it is more convenient to specify the exact date - day and month.

An example of a plan with timing can be found in Appendix 2 (Figure 2. Plan "90 days". Timing).

The time spent for each task will vary. One needs only a week, another one month, and the third will require all ninety days.

Discuss and determine the necessary deadlines for completing each task with their executors (responsible). Based on experience and available resources. If you see fit, add one to two weeks for a possible force majeure. The main thing is that the deadlines do not go beyond 90 days. Indicate in the plan template "90 days" in the column "Tr / ztr" for each task the necessary time spent - the number of weeks. For example:

Brand block update - 1 week.

Audit of points of contact - 4 weeks.

Program to attract new dealers - 5 weeks.

Search and activation of new sales channels - 8 weeks.

Company website restyling - 12 weeks.

In the "Finish" column, indicate the planned completion date for each task (from the task's start date, count its time spent).

One of the most important parameters of the 90 days plan is task difficulty factor, since it is involved in the calculation of the main indicator - the percentage of the plan.

Empirically, we came to the range of the coefficient from 1 to 3:

3 - very difficult;

2 - difficult;

1 is not very difficult.

For example:

Capacity analysis and sales forecast - 3.

Inclusion and presentation of feedback channels (according to the book "Feedback") - 2.

Participation in the exhibition in Samara - 2.

Audit and structuring of the materials folder by products/solutions - 1.

Creation of the document "10 commandments of promotion in social networks" - 1.

Estimating the complexity of tasks is itself subjective. It is influenced by factors such as time-cost, novelty, the need for outsourcing, etc.

Discuss with the executors (responsible) and indicate in the plan template “90 days” in the “Kt / complex” column for each task its coefficient of complexity.

The second parameter is task priority factor- also has a range from 1 to 3:

3 - very important;

1 is less important.

This coefficient does not affect the calculation of the percentage of completion of the plan, but allows you to correctly prioritize. And this, in turn, will help in making a decision if, during the course of the project, it becomes necessary to postpone, reschedule, or cancel a particular task.

Who should prioritize the objectives of the plan? Our experience shows that it is better if the sponsor (customer) does this at a joint meeting with the driver. Specify in the 90-day plan template in the Priority column for each task its priority factor. For example:

Control algorithm product portfolio - 3.

Online promotion plan for each brand - 3.

Survey of the best dealers (for benchmarking) - 3.

Positioning update (“why us?”) - 2.

Map of online tools for top managers - 2.

More original and high quality souvenirs and gifts - 1.

So, your 90-day plan template is almost complete. Information has already been entered in the following columns:

"Task" - divided into sections (blocks).

"Responsible" - assigned executors (responsible for the task).

"Priority" - priority of tasks (from 1 to 3).

"Kt/complex" - coefficient of task complexity (from 1 to 3).

"Start" - the beginning of the implementation of the task (exact date).

"Tr/ztr" - time spent on the task (number of weeks).

"Finish" - completion of the task (exact date). You will be left with two blank columns:

- "%" - the percentage of the task from the plan.

- "Status" - task completed / task not completed.

Using the functionality of Excel, do simple operations:

1. Sum up all the values ​​of the tasks of the column "Kt / complex"

The result is the total weight of all the tasks of the plan. This value should be reflected below the column (highlight it in bold and blue).

2. In the "%" column for each task, create a calculation formula

The formula takes into account the percentage of this task from the total weight and its completion status. The formula looks like this:

% task = (Kt / complex task / Total weight tasks) x 100 x Task status

Until the task is completed, in the column "Status" the cell is empty and in the column "%" the value will be "0.0". When the task is completed, in the column cell "Status" the value "1" is indicated, and the percentage of the completed task automatically appears in the cell of the "%" column.

For example:

The total weight of all tasks is 115.

The coefficient of complexity of a specific task is 2.

When the task is completed and the value "1" is entered in the "Status" field, the value "1.7" will appear in the "%" field.

3. Sum all task values ​​of column "%"

The result was the percentage of the plan "90 days". This value should be reflected below the column (highlight it in bold and red). This main indicator - the percentage of the plan - for all ninety days will be for you a kind of glide path system of the project. It will help you correct the actions of your crew in a timely manner.

Igor Mann: “For those who are not friends with numbers, do not like calculations, we can offer a system for assessing the performance of tasks “traffic light”.

Green highlight what has been done.

yellow- something that has been started, but for some reason not completed.

red- not done.

Grey color means rollover to the next “90 days”.

Dr. Challa did not suffer from a lack of opportunities, he was, one might say, drowned in them. He was bright, confident and empathetic. He knew how to easily find an approach to the patient, and was also an experienced entrepreneur who managed to open nine medical offices in five cities.

But rapid growth began to outpace Dr. Challa's ability, not to mention his team. Theoretically, he could open two more departments, acquire a small dermatology practice, add medical outpatient clinics in some clinics, open a medical spa shop - there were many things on the list. But as the business grew, Challa's performance began to slowly decline, and his staff struggled to keep up with his energy and constant flow of new ideas. The ideas were good, but their huge number did not make it possible to realize everything planned.

Personal performance and team performance are inevitably linked. And while companies often make quarterly plans, people rarely do so. But it is necessary. 90 days is the perfect amount of time to get the big picture of your goals and set priorities so you don't overwhelm yourself and your team.

Most projects that jeopardize our productivity actually take longer than we think, so it can be difficult to plan out the daily or weekly activities leading up to the goal. But when done right, a 90-day sprint is enough to produce meaningful results that, when combined, will bring you closer to your long-term goals. And at the same time it's enough short term to quickly correct your actions if something went wrong.

Here's an example of a one-page work plan that can help you balance in the next quarter. You can quickly jot down your plan on a piece of paper and it will work too:

Step 1: Choose the three most important things

Start by choosing a maximum of three " priority areas' in the coming quarter. Of course, you still have to do daily work, but these three points should dominate - it is on them that your time, talent, attention and money are best spent, based on the long-term goals of the upcoming quarter. Your daily tasks keep you afloat, and the main activities move you forward.

For example, you might prioritize strengthening your leadership skills, improving your sales system, or hiring a key employee.

Why only three? Because too many priorities are the same as none. 90 days pass quickly, and if you or your team are torn apart, then you will quickly realize that you are doing a lot of things partially, and not completely, and the trail of these is half finished projects will follow you into the next quarter. It is not necessary. This is not only a waste of resources, but also a disappointment for your team, which by the end of the 90-day sprint will appreciate only real achievements, not the beginning of projects.

Step 2: Decide how you will measure progress

Now that you have chosen three priority areas for the quarter, you need to clarify the success criteria for each of them. It can be difficult. First, be ruthlessly realistic about what can be achieved in just three months, and second, look for concrete signs of progress. It is important to establish criteria that are as objective and measurable as possible.

Take your time to set success criteria for each priority area. Not only do you need to determine what success should be like in 90 days, but you also need to decide what changes you will need to make to your normal working day. You may need to allocate 30 minutes each day to work exclusively on one of the priorities. Or delegate a daily task to a colleague this quarter so you can spend more time on something else. But you won't know what steps to take until you set the criteria.

Step 3: Determine the steps to take (and who should take them)

Now that you've identified your three priority areas and the criteria for evaluating them, it's time to figure out how to get there. In order not to bloat your plan more than one page, you will have to break each priority area into 5-7 steps and stages. Your plan should be detailed enough to guide you, but not so detailed that you get lost in the details.

Here you decide which steps to take and which ones you need help with. If one of your priority areas is professional development, then the main work will fall on you; if the other direction relates to a business goal, then this is a great opportunity to attract a team. When it comes to the latter, dedicate a specific team to doing just one step in a 90-day sprint. Remember: the point is to improve productivity, not just add more work to each.

I gave this one page plan to Dr. Challa two years ago and he used it with his team every quarter. Since then, his business has generated $4 million more in revenue and is more focused and organized than ever before. You cannot do everything at once. But the things that really matter are the things you can do more productively in the next 90 days.

16.01.2015 00:31

Many years ago, when I was just starting my career in HR, my boss warned me: “Whatever a candidate says during an interview, multiply it by 10, in the end you will get what you see after 90 days of his stay at work” . So, if a candidate admitted that something bothers him in corporate culture company, this is much more than just a remark: in the process of work, many things in the workplace can be offensive to him. If a candidate answers quietly and in monosyllables during an interview, he may become so shy that employees will not be able to communicate with him normally. Even worse: he may be hiding something and just pursue the goal of getting a job.

If you got a job, then you turned out better ...

Some of you may think that the recruiting advice above is discriminatory. And you will be absolutely right. Because hiring itself is discrimination. The employer tries to find the best candidate for the job based on the following factors:

Personality: Will this person fit into the company culture and get along with teammates, contributing to increased productivity?

Skills: Will this person be able to adjust to our processes without constantly comparing us to their previous employers?

An experience: Does the person have the skills and knowledge to get to work right away?

Availability: Will the person be happy salary and the benefits he is offered, or will he be disappointed and see the offer as a downgrade in career development?

The above factors ultimately determine whether or not you get the job. It is very difficult to win this battle. And if you end up getting a job, it means that your total score turned out to be higher than the rest, and this suited the employer.

Congratulations! You are the winner... at the moment.

NOTE: the rules will change after you get a job

In the course of work, another set of criteria is triggered that determines how large your professional potential is. Unfortunately, many newcomers are blissfully unaware of the changes in the rules of the game, which hinders their success in their new role.

What should you know

In a new company, you are not the best employee. Now you are a part the best company and therefore must act accordingly. In the first 90 days of your stay in a new company, you really want to become a "golden child". You're so desperate to prove what the company did the right decision by choosing you to offer your help and advice to everyone in the office. You proactively tap into ideas and projects, and it's easy to put in a few extra hours or stay up late to help the company succeed. You openly share everything you have done, so most people know that you work a lot. The problem is that you are acting like a tornado and your actions will have long term consequences. Here are just a few of them:

• You will be perceived as a know-it-all who strives to become the pet of management.
• You risk earning a reputation as a tactless or incompetent employee, questioning everything that was done before his arrival, and stepping on the heels of colleagues who have been with the company for more than one year.
• You create the image of an employee who will always be ready to work overtime.
• You give the impression that it is not difficult for you to take on any unattractive job that no one wants to do.
• You give people the opportunity to count on the fact that you are always ready to help them in everything.

Play the long game

How well you integrate into the company in the first three months makes a big difference in your career. Management loves when a hire exceeds their expectations. And you have to play the long game for that to happen.

12 Tips for Creating a Good Impression and Building Healthy Office Relationships

1. Determine your manager's communication style.

Make an appointment with your manager and try to find out how you can help him achieve his goals. Some managers prefer weekly face-to-face meetings, while others discuss work matters via e-mail. It is important to determine how to communicate with the manager without taking up too much of his time. You must be able to receive answers and demonstrate that you are capable of doing assigned tasks. The sooner you find the most appropriate way to stay in touch with your manager, the better.

2. Develop a plan for 30-60-90 days.

In this written plan, you need to fix what you plan to do each week / month for the next 90 days. Highlight certain stages in the plan so that the manager sees that you are on time and doing your job as efficiently as possible. Show this plan to your manager, discuss it with him and agree on the goals defined in it. If the manager feels that they are too bold, you will know about it before you start work.

3. Find out the professional program of action for each employee you encounter at work.

Every colleague you work with has a stake in your success, and you have a stake in his. Therefore, it is important to know the goals of colleagues in the company. What achievements do they aim for, what is your direct role in their success? Answering these questions will help you provide them with the right support.

4. Refrain from any "quick friendship" relationships.

Be wary of colleagues who rush to be your friend to share office gossip. They tend to pounce on newcomers for a reason. Be kind, but keep your opinion to yourself, don't let anyone comment on it. Over time, it may turn out that the reputation of these employees is not the best in the office and contacting them is not in your interest.

5. Plan your main job and master the plan in less than 40 hours.

Figure out your tasks and responsibilities so you can be efficient enough to easily complete them in less than full time. working week. Such a plan will save you from unnecessary complications and teach you to work smarter. It also frees up time so you can focus on the next task.

6. Determine the most important project.

This project is a problem that you identify by doing the main work and that you can solve by investing time. It should be something that saves and/or brings in money for the company and justifies the time investment. Important projects like these also hone your skills and make you a more valuable employee.

7. Don't rush into any hasty judgments or judgments of colleagues and company policies.

When new colleagues do something that is very different from what you are used to, it can make you feel uncomfortable. The worst thing you can say is, "In my previous company, we did it like this..." So take a deep breath and find out why your new employer is taking a different approach.

8. Ask, don't tell.

Smart questions are your secret to success in a new company. Ask questions correctly when something is unclear and you need to understand the situation. For example, if a team is following a process that seems laborious, you should not say, "This is a slow and wrong process," instead, ask, "Why are you following this process?" By asking questions, you can get an idea of ​​what's going on. It may surprise you that there are no answers to your questions. It is possible that your questions will lead to a discussion about possible changes.

9. Write emails in plain language, set your phone to vibrate.

Everyone will pay attention to your etiquette. Letters should demonstrate your professionalism. Do not send personal emails from corporate mail. And hide your phone somewhere far away. Colleagues are distracted by phone calls, they do not want to look at how you exchange SMS messages. Strive to make a good impression in the workplace. Information about your passion for personal gadgets will quickly reach the authorities.

10. In case of doubt, consider all competent persons whose opinion is valid.

Nothing destroys a working relationship like ignoring a colleague's involvement in a shared project. It is better for him to say that he does not participate in it, and then you can safely remove him from the list. Otherwise, he may resent you for not realizing his important role in the project.

11. Find a reliable fellow mentor.

At first, you will have many small questions about work. And it is not necessary to go to the boss with all these questions. Better find out who in your department is treated with respect, and if this person can become your mentor during the first few months of work. Explain that you don't want to interrupt your manager's work large quantity stupid questions and hope he can help you. By the way, this good way build relationships with one of the team's key players.

12. Be among the reliable employees.

The biggest fear of every employer is that a candidate, surprising in an interview, will turn out to be an unreliable employee. Employers expect you to be on time every day. They expect you to do your job on time and without problems. If they feel that negative trends can develop into long-term processes, they would rather stop working with you now than continue to hope for something and invest a lot of resources in you.

First 90 days on new job can be career turning points. Don't let the misguided desire to become a "golden child" ruin your prospects!

Translation: Inga Hammi

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