Sounds obvious doesn’t it? 

Everyone wants to save money. Most people realise that organised work saves money.

The point is – “How do I get to be organised?”

Two things can help.

The first is PLAN-DO-CHECK-ACT

The second is 5 Stages to Workplace Organisation.

Here, we’re going to have a look at PLAN-DO-CHECK-ACT.

(See my separate blog for 5 Stages to Workplace Organisation) http://www.resultsresults.co.uk/blog/

Plan-Do-Check-Act is a simple, straightforward and easy to use system.

Its purpose is to make sure that your actions achieve what you want them to achieve. And very importantly, that we learn from the way we do things.

Consider going out to get some milk.

You don’t leave the house without a purpose, or a target in mind. You don’t suddenly decide one day “You know what; I’m going to leave the house, drive round for a while and see what comes up.” That would be silly – wouldn’t  it?

You know that you’re going out for milk. You know where you’re going to go to get it. You also have a plan of what route you are going to take. That’s your PLAN.

So you set out – you start on your DO. But hey! There’s a “No Entry” sign on roadworks, so you have to go through a detour. But that’s Ok, you can change the plan a little so you use a different route, but the final goal is the same – get some milk.

So you get to the shop. You pick up some milk. While you’re there your partner texts you on your mobile. “Pick up some bread as well”. So you get some bread. Your plan has changed again, but the core objective is the same – get some milk.

So you drive home. Your DO is complete. Some minor changes to the plan were needed, but the core objective was the same.

So you do a little CHECK.  “I got the milk, but then I had to get bread as well, and I had to use a different route”.

So now you ACT – you learn a lesson “Maybe I could think a bit more about what I need before I go to the shops. I’m going to do that from now on. I’m going to use a different route until I know the roadworks are clear”.

This all seems reasonable here in our “personal life”. We try to do things without wasting time and effort. That’s what we do in real life. But sometimes, that’s not what we do in business.

So we need to apply that same common sense from “Real Life” to business.

• Plan what it is you want to achieve, and how you are going to achieve it.

• Do carry out the plan and allow for modifications to the plan.

• Check whether the plan is working and decide what lessons can be learned.

• Act on the check by applying the lessons.

Notice that we’ve spent a lot of time on the plan. That’s because the old rule of “fail to prepare, prepare to fail” is actually true. If you do what you planned, and act on the checks on how well it works, your success rates will improve. If you don’t plan, you won’t know what you’re trying to achieve or whether you need to change your approach. If you don’t plan, you won’t really have a concrete objective – so how will you know if you are achieving it?

Be very careful though! Only change the Plan during the Do if it is absolutely necessary, and cannot be avoided. And make sure you learn the lessons from the need to change the Plan. That should make your next Plan more robust.

Planning what to do saves time and unnecessary expense.

Doing what we planned, and allowing for necessary modifications saves us time, effort and money.

Checking what worked and what didn’t allows us to learn from success and failure.

Acting on our lessons learned allows us to stop wasting time on things that don’t work, and to concentrate on things that do.

This all saves time, effort, expense.