Module 4 - Planning your work effectively

 

Introduction

We all make decisions every day. We also make plans for ourselves and with our family and friends. Most of the time we don’t need to write them down. However, once we start to work with other people as part of a community group, things can become more complicated.

You can achieve more as a group by working together and sharing tasks, so it’s important that everyone knows what they are doing and understands how all the tasks fit together to achieve your aims. This means knowing what the tasks are, who is doing what and the timescale for the tasks to be completed.

You need to know your own part in the work of your community group and to communicate clearly with each other. The best way to do this is by developing a written Project Plan.  

What this module is for

The purpose of this module is to help your group develop a Project Plan. You can develop a plan for your whole organisation and all your activities. Or you can develop individual plans for smaller projects, for example, an activity or an event. 

You could also use this module to develop a plan for a local neighbourhood, for example, if a number of organisations in the local area wanted to come together to develop an integration plan.

This module will help your group to:

  •  Understand why planning is important

  • Create a Project Plan for your organisation to help plan your activities

  • Think about the changes you want to see for your community and what you can do to make these changes happen

  • Understand what is meant by the terms outcomes and outputs (which are often needed in funding applications)

  • Put your plan into practice and agree when to review it so that you can make changes if needed.

 
 
 

Let’s get started

Why a written plan is important

There are lots of reasons why having a written plan is important. 

As a group, discuss:

  • Why is making a written plan important for your group? 

  • What might happen if you don’t have a written plan?

Write your answers onto post it notes or note them in this form.

 
 

Making your own project plan

Very simply, the more complex the activity, then the more important it is that you have a written plan which is shared and understood by all your committee members, staff and volunteers.

In this module and the next module we look at the three parts to making a project plan

  • What is the change that you want to make?  These changes are often called outcomes. 

  • What activities will you do? These activities are often called outputs. And how will you do it? These are often called actions or tasks. 

  • How will you show that the change has happened or that you have had an impact? This is often called monitoring and evaluation. 

Sometimes, the language of outcomes and outputs can be quite confusing, but it’s important to understand these terms as they can help you to make a strong plan. Also, funders often use these terms and will often ask you to answer questions about these in their funding applications. 

In this module, we will work through the first two of these. 

The third will be covered in the next module (Module 5 Showing you have made a difference). 

 

  1. Making a project plan - Outcomes

Now let’s think about the change or the difference that you want to make. These changes are often called outcome - watch this presentation on outcomes. 

It will help you to think about:

  • How to write outcomes

  • How to make sure your outcomes clear, realistic and based on need 

  • Short, medium and long term outcomes

 
 

Group Discussion 1 - Making a Project Plan Outcomes 

What is the change you want to see happen? What are your outcomes? (An outcome is the change that you want to see happen).

Agree whether you are looking at the outcomes for your whole organisation (everything that your organisation does or wants to do) or if you are focusing on one project or activity. 

When you are developing your outcomes, remember to think about your purpose (if you don’t know, then see Module 2) and the needs of your community (if you don’t know, then see Module 3)

Now, agree and write down between 2-5 outcomes in this form. Start each outcome with the word People, for example:

  • People are  able to….

  • People will.

  • More people will be able to….

When you have written them, discuss:

  • Are they based on the needs of our community?

  • Are they simple and clear?

  • Do they state the change that we want to see?

If not, then make some changes to the outcomes you have written to make them stronger. 

Once you have agreed your outcomes, please add them into the Project Plan Template

 

2. Making a Project Plan - Outputs and actions

Activities are the things that you do to achieve these outcomes. These are known as outputs.  

Once you have decided what activities you are doing, you can break these activities down into smaller steps. These are called actions. 

Now watch this presentation on Outputs and Actions 

It will help you to think about:

  • What activities/things you will do to achieve your outcomes (outputs)

  • How you will do it (actions)

  • How to write outputs which are SMART - Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timebound

 
 

Group Discussion 2 - Making a Project Plan Outputs and Actions

Go back to the Project Plan Template where you noted your outcomes. Now discuss and add the following:

  • Outputs (what activity you will do to achieve the change that you want to see)

  • Action (what tasks you will have to do to make the activity happen)

  • Who (who is responsible for leading on each task)

  • Timescale (when you expect the task to be completed)

You want to have at least one output (activity) for each outcome, although it is possible that you could have more than one in some cases. Sometimes  one output (activity) might apply to more than one outcome.  

When you have finished, discuss: Are your outputs and actions SMART?

  • Specific: Are the outputs and actions specific? 

  • Measureable: Are they quantifiable? Do they provide information about numbers, that is,  the number of sessions and/or number of people? 

  • Achievable – are the outputs and actions possible for your organisation to achieve? 

  • Realistic – are the outputs and actions realistic ie it is likely that you will be able to achieve them?

  • Time bound – do they have a clear time frame?

If not, then make any changes to the outputs and actions to make them stronger. 

Reviewing your plan

Once you have made your project plan, it is important to think about how you are going to check the progress of your plan when you start putting it into action. This is called monitoring. 

Agree how often you are going to monitor your Project Plan and who is going to do it. You could do this at your committee meetings if you have time or you could set up separate meetings. Agree the dates that you will meet to monitor the plan.

When you meet again to monitor your plan, discuss:  

  • What have we done so far? How has it gone?

  • Any issues arising?

  • Anything we need to change or do differently?

Showing that you’ve made a difference

It is also important to think about how you are going to find out if you have made a difference and if the people who have taken part in your activities have benefited from them. This is called evaluation.

It is a good practice to think about how you are going to monitor and evaluate your plan before you start delivering your activities. This means that you can work out what information you will need to gather during your activities.

We cover monitoring and evaluation in the next module (Module 5) so we recommend that you also complete Module 5 before you start putting your plan into action.