Strategic Planning Kit For Dummies®, 2nd Edition

Holding People (Including Yourself) Accountable to the Process

Accountability is key to successful implementation — hands down. If you and your team don't have to report to anyone on your progress, the plan may find itself farther and farther down your to-do list or at the bottom of your stacks of papers. You don't need an elaborate accountability system, but you do need something everyone understands.

One of the most important pieces to successful implementation is you. In addition to your strategic plan manager (covered in the next section), find someone to hold you accountable — a business coach, an executive group, a colleague, an outside consultant, or anyone else outside of your business who advises you.

Don't forget to discuss the consequences for non-performance with your team. Just like rewards, consequences are critical in any action plan. Often, the consequences are removal from the team that's working on the goals. Peer pressure creates such an intense expectation of performance that it causes action, so hold monthly strategy meetings where people have to publicly report on their progress. If you had to give a report in front of your peers, you'd have your act together, right? Just the thought of humiliating yourself in front of the team for non-performance may make ...