The key to being successful at both a business and personal level is to have a Plan. It is no surprise that there is a significant overlap between these two issues.
Personal One Page Plan
The personal Plan centres around 3 concepts:
Now - Where are you now on any given issue? Or, where are you now with your personal planning?
Where - Where would you like to be in the Future on any given issue or where would you like to be in the Future with your personal plan.
How - Having established where you would like to be, it makes sense to then put the action plans in place to take you from the now set of circumstances to the where.
When we are asked to drive to an address, generally the first thing we grab is a street directory to show us how to get there in the most efficient manner.
If we decide to build or renovate our house, the first thing that most of us would do is to have a draftsperson or architect draw up a comprehensive plan of what the house will look like when it is finished.
This Plan is then given to the builder who systematically follows it to produce the desired outcome.
When it comes to your life – Where is your Plan? How strong is your Vision for what it is you want in the future? A better question here might be – Do you know what you want in the future?
1. The Now Analysis
Below is a sample One Page Plan (OPP). You will notice that the left hand box is designed to summarize the key points about you now. It will contain what you believe to be the main barriers preventing you from moving forward in your life.
It may state that you are currently single/married with or without children. There maybe some work issues. You would include your 3 key Strengths and your 3 key Weaknesses.
The key is that if an unrelated person was to look at the OPP, they would have a very accurate summary of what was happening in your life from the now perspective.
2. The Where Analysis
The box to the right of the page is designed to highlight key statements about where you see yourself in the future. The first element of the where is:
2.1 A Personal Vision Statement
This is a word version of your vision. What words best summarize your vision of the where over the next 3 to 5 years?
It maybe that you want to be a more relaxed person with your family and have no money worries.
It could be that you want to have the choice of whether or not to actually go to work. You may see yourself as wanting to allocate time to a charitable organisation as part of your self-development.
2.2 Your Personal Goals
What personal goals will you need to set to assist you in the realisation of your Personal Vision?
These goals must be Specific Measurable Outcomes.
In other words they have to be able to be measured numerically.
For instance, what measure would you use to show that you were becoming more relaxed? How would you measure other family issues? What about some financial goals?
2.3 Your Personal Competitive Advantage
What is it that you are going to do on an ongoing basis that will give you the success in life that you are seeking.
What are the Key Success Factors (KSF) that are required to make you feel personally successful within the circles that you travel or would like to travel?
For example a KSF could be Care, Trust, Listening, Support, Communication.
There are two attributes that are important when you establish your Personal Competitive Advantage (PCA):
a. Value To Others – Create a list of What it is that you do, or could do, on a consistent basis that would be considered of High Value by your circle of friends, children, spouse, partner, relatives and so on. These are your Key Success Factors (KSF)
You can then score each of these KSF out of 10. If the KSF would be regarded by the groups of people you have nominated as of very High Value to them, then score it as a 10. If you think the same group of people would regard it as low value, score it closer to zero.
b. Ability To Perform If You Could Do It Well – Now score each KSF out of 10 again. This time base your score on your Future Ability to Perform in that area.
If you believe your future ability to perform is high, then score that KSF at 10. If your future ability to perform in that area (KSF) is low, then score it closer to zero.
Plot up the vertical and horizontal score for each KSF on a grid that looks like this:
Those Key Success Factors that fall into the top right quadrant illustrate those areas where you have a personal competitive advantage. This means they are considered high value by those around you and you have a high ability to perform well in those areas.
Now you can produce a statement:
‘I succeed by being the most or the best………………………..in my circle of family and friends"
Key Performance Indicators
Now that you have developed your Personal Competitive Advantage (PCA), you need to introduce some Key Performance Indicators (KPI).
I suggest that you create 3 KPI's. If for example your Personal Competitive Advantage was to be the ‘best communicator’ you need to be able to measure whether or not you are succeeding in this area. How will you know?
One KPI could be the number of your friends that ask you for advice because you are regarded as a good listener.
You now need to complete your One Page P, but the bottom half of the OPP is looking empty. What's needed is to determine the Strategies and Action Plans.
Think about this over the coming month and make some notes on the types of strategies you think will drive you toward your personal vision and objectives. We will look at the methodology for developing strategy and actions in depth in the next issue of Compass. Contact our Newcastle based Business Consultants who can help you develop your one page plan.