Professional Development and Performance Planning Event, 24.Feb.2025

Introduction

The primary challenge of managers is to get things done effectively and efficiently with and through people. This course introduces the four universal functions of management known as Planning, Organizing, Leading, and Controlling (POLC) to help managers in their job. Analyzing and forecasting are also important tools of planning and the course introduces different techniques such as environmental scanning, budgeting, and breakeven analysis. In addition, the course covers basic concepts of project planning such as Work Breakdown Structures (WBS), 'PERT' diagrams, 'Gantt' charts, and 'Load' charts.

When major projects or initiatives are launched, changes in the organization are often needed for the project or initiative to succeed. For this purpose, the course also introduces a module on change management and on dealing with resistance to change. In that module, participants will learn the principles of change management and how to implement five managerial activities essential to managing resistance to change.

Course Objectives of Professional Planning for Solid Performance

• Explain the importance of planning and employing the 'SMART' criteria to objectives setting
• Use environmental scanning, budgeting, and breakeven analysis as tools for planning and forecasting
• Define projects and apply project management techniques such as 'PERT' diagrams, 'Gantt' charts, and 'Load' charts
• Recognize the importance of control, and of properly utilizing key performance measures to keep work on track
• Assess the impact of organizational change and manage people's resistance to change

Professional Planning for Solid Performance Course Outlines

Day 1

Foundation of planning

• The functions of management
• Definition of planning
• Elements of planning
• Types of plans
• Planning in the hierarchy of an organization
• Efficiency versus effectiveness
• Benefits of planning
• Why many managers and supervisors fail to plan
• Elements of good plans

Day 2

Planning tools and techniques

• Analysis of the environment
• Forecasting techniques
• Definition of benchmarking
• The benchmarking processes
• Allocating resources and budgets
• Breakeven analysis
• Limitations of breakeven analysis

Day 3

Project planning and scheduling

• Definition of a project
• The work breakdown structure
• Simple network diagrams
• Steps in developing a 'PERT' chart
• Forward and backward scheduling
• Finding the critical path
• Gantt and Load charts

Day 4

Control and performance measurement

• Definition of control
• The planning and controlling link
• Importance of control
• The control processes
• Measuring: what and how
• Sources of information for measuring performance
• Managerial decisions in the control process
• Organizational performance measures
• Feedforward, concurrent, and feedback controls
• Information controls and balanced scorecards
• Contemporary issues in control

Day 5

Managing and controlling resistance to change

• Forces for change
• Rate of success in change efforts
• Why organizational change fails
• The 10 principles of change
• Five activities contributing to effective change management
• Force field analysis