Page 198 - Harnessing the Management Secrets of Disney in Your Company

Make Your Elephant Fly—Plan 179

teams are so proud of the fine plans they craft that they forget about imple-
menting them. They begin to look at the plan as their deliverable. Get in the
habit of thinking execution immediately after you say the word planning.
One way to help you keep the process in perspective is through your
system of rewards. Set it up so that idea generation is rewarded, to be sure,
but save the biggest rewards and the largest celebration for the successful
completion of the overall project. That way, employees will be encouraged
to keep their eye on the ultimate goal.
That objective will be closer to your reach after you master the story-
boarding technique that we will describe in the next chapter. Using it has
helped our clients to conquer seemingly insoluble planning and communica-
tion problems. Once you learn how to storyboard, you will find it useful in
solving a range of problems.

Questions to Ask

■ Do organizational boundaries inhibit your planning processes?
■ Do you have one or more planning centers in your organization
where leaders and employees can work together on processes and
projects?
■ Do you have a designated communications center where employees
can post their project timelines and critical aspects of their projects?
■ Does your organization have a specific process for project implemen-
tation?
■ Do you encourage the development of prototypes to help develop an
overall concept and determine whether or not it is workable?
■ Do you avoid micromanaging employees who are working on proj-
ects and champion their adherence to determining guidelines and
milestones?
■ Do you celebrate specific milestones and the completion of projects?

Actions to Take

■ Develop a process for project implementation that is used throughout
the company; provide training on the process and champion its use.
■ Create planning and communication centers for project and process
activities.
■ Allow individuals and teams the flexibility to work on projects with-
out management interference.