Be aware of potential barriers when planning tasks
You allocate time, begin the task(s) and then wonder why things have not progressed accordingly. Here are some of the most frequently encountered barriers to the implementation of plans in a business.
- Took more time to organise than originally anticipated.
- Problems surfaced during implementation that had not been identified before.
- Coordination of dependent implementation activities was ineffective.
- Competing activities and crises distracted attention away from implementation.
- Capabilities of those implementing the task were insufficient.
- Training and instruction given was inadequate.
- Uncontrollable factors in the external environment had an adverse impact on implementation.
- Leadership and direction provided was inadequate.
- Key implementation tasks and activities weren’t defined in enough detail.
- Information systems used to monitor implementation were inadequate.
What can you / your business learn from the above? What can you do to offset or avoid the potential barriers above. If you carefully consider the vulnerabilities which led to those barriers, you may be able to mitigate their influence on your implementation plans and be more successful in future.
Contingency planning is another good strategy to aid implementation. Problems will often occur, some expected and others not, but having an understanding of how you expect to respond to them in advance will make the process faster and more fluid when it happens – and you’ll be less likely to completely derail your implementation plans.