As you will understand by now, as a leader you will be trying to influence people, behaviours and situations in order to achieve particular goals (Lewis et al (1991). This means thinking about the group as a whole, its goals, strengths and weaknesses, skills and experiences, practical constraints and so on. Some of the tasks you will need to undertake include:

• clearly understanding the needs and the goals to be achieved

• enabling others to perform their tasks

• motivating people and maintaining morale

• establishing appropriate structures and climates

• evaluating effectiveness

The people involved, goals, situation and how all these interact will come together to determine the type of leader you will need to be, and the steps you will undertake to meet needs. This probably sounds pretty daunting, especially to a new leader, but there are some simple steps that you can follow that will assist you in this planning process.

Planning to be a Leader

To be an effective and efficient leader you need to follow a very basic model which involves assessment, identification of goals and objectives, exploring and selecting methods or strategies for achieving the goal, implementing the plan, and evaluating. All this results in you having a clearly established way for deciding what to do, how and when, and who to do it. Planning is really something we do every day of our lives - as a leader you just need to be a bit clearer about it all.

Needs Assessment

The first stage of the planning process is identifying the needs. You need to make sure you have all the relevant information and a very clear picture before you develop your program or strategies. You must be specific about the actual problem or need to be addressed, and then find out if everyone involved feels the same way about it. If there is not some sort of common understanding or agreement , you will need to rectify this before you go any further.

You also need to analyse the resources you have available and what you might need, including skills and experience, funding, venues, equipment, books, etc.

To measure the need, you can:

• talk to, hear and record what people are saying

• conduct a survey or use one that has already been done

• hold a meeting

• map services and gaps

• or use any other data available.

This doesn't have to be the most elaborate or scientific process but generally the more complex the problem, the more specific the needs identification has to be.

The information you gather should be comprehensive enough to clearly identify the problem to be addressed, measure relevant community characteristics, analyse consumer perceptions of the problems and goals, and to show whether the needs are being met by any other program or service (Lewis et al 1991:p37). Once done you can then go on to goal setting and strategy planning, as discussed further on.

Consultation

While surveys and data analysis sound impressive (and are often required by funding bodies), nothing beats the information obtained straight from the horse's mouth.

Direct contact with the people affected by the situation is usually the best method for getting a true picture and for working out what to do to meet their needs, though it can be very time consuming and emotionally wearing. However without this contact, you could end up providing something that the community doesn't need or want, which is both a great waste of resources and devastating for the leader in question.

So, if possible and whenever you can, consult with those directly involved in the situation. Talk to them, survey them all or at least a good sample, call meetings inviting them to come and work on the problem, make them aware of the work you are wanting to do via posters or articles in the local paper, ask other agencies to pass on information, use your networks, and so on. The more comprehensive your consultation, and the more those affected are involved in the planning and implementing of programs, the more success you are likely to have, and the better the outcomes you will see.

Don't be tempted to think you fully understand a situation or know what to do about it, even if you are personally involved. It is always best to include others; remember that more heads will result in many more ideas, and hopefully avoidance of complaints, problems or disappointments in the future.

Planning

Planning is really just problem solving, or working out a way to meet a desired goal. We do it every day as we decide how to get to work on time, organise a family picnic and so on. The basic steps are:

• have an overall goal

• collect information on the current situation

• collect information on what the future may hold for your group/situation

• identify the main threats that may prevent you from achieving your goal

• identify the big opportunities for meeting your goal

• try to work out several ways for meeting your goal, taking into account the threats and opportunities

• evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of each strategy, and any roadblocks to successful implementation of each

• develop an action plan that has the best chance of succeeding

• develop a contingency plan to deal with the unexpected

• set specific tasks and objectives along the way as a means of determining whether the plan is on schedule or not (Jewell et al 1984).

A more specific planning model has been developed by Mayer (1985:p105). This is illustrated on the following page.

Let's look very briefly at each stage.

1. Determination of goals:

A goal provides the sense of direction for your activities; it is a generalised statement of your desired outcome, what you hope to achieve, where you want to head. Being broad and generalised, goals cannot be specifically measured.

2. Assessment of needs:

As covered earlier, this involves fact finding to specify need, and may lead to a change in your original goals, until agreement is reached by all concerned.

3. Specification of objectives:

Objectives specify how the goals or desired end states are to be attained; they are targets that must be reached in order to achieve your overall goal. Objectives are smaller and achievable, specific in terms of what is to change and when, are concrete and can be measured.

4. Design of alternative actions:

Here you come up with a range (if possible) of alternative methods or options for meeting the needs and achieving your goals. Brainstorm with as many people as possible, and write down every idea you have - even the most absurd suggestion can lead to a brilliant idea when you get lots of energy and enthusiasm going.

5. Estimation of consequences of alternative actions:

Again, brainstorm. Try and analyse every option in terms of its advantages and disadvantages, the group's strengths and weaknesses, roadblocks, resource limitations, etc.

6. Selection of course(s) of action:

After considering all aspects, decide on your course of action and get specific about it - detail who, what, when, where and why. This is best done by those who will be involved, either implementing or participating or receiving benefits; consultation at this point. Remember that joint involvement in decision making, should ensure support and good participation in later stages.

7. Implementation:

Do it. Finalise how, and get on with it. But be prepared for more planning at any stage. Even with the best foresight you won't be able to predict all that could happen, so constant monitoring and willingness to alter plans is the best way to go. Being flexible is less stressful on all involved, and again will hopefully ensure success.

In the next chapter we have provided you with a list of practical things you need to consider in implementing a program or leading a group - it is by no means complete, but it may assist with your thinking and planning at this stage.

8. Evaluation:

This involves assessing the outcomes, and is discussed in detail in a later chapter.

9. Feedback:

At all stages give feedback to all relevant people - how it is going, are the goals being met?, etc. Feedback is really ongoing consultation and commitment to teamwork and participation, keeps the leader in touch, and ensures later planning is appropriate and useful.

Now, The Practical Tip …

Don't feel you have to be this thorough and cover all steps every time you undertake a planning exercise. The above models and steps are there to guide you, and to try and ensure that you don't forget some vital part of the process. Get familiar with the steps and then call them what ever you want to, pull out the bits you like, re-order them and make it work for you. Apply the steps to some planning exercise you have been through - writing an essay, planning an outing, trying to get a child to do something, etc.

As stated earlier, all of us are planners, as women, partners, mothers, community members, every day of our lives. Recognising and using a clear planning process can only help us do it better and more efficiently in future.

References and Further Reading:

Jewell et al. (1984) "For the First-time Planner" Supervisory Management July, pp40-42

Lewis, J., Lewis, M. & Souflee, F. (1991) Management of Human Service Programs 2nd Ed. Brooks/Cole, California

Mayer, R. (1985) Policy and Program Planning: A Developmental Perspective Prentice-Hall, New Jersey