Setting goals and standards are merely the first pieces of the performance plan puzzle. Once you've fixed the goals and a standard of performance that you expect each and every one of your employees to execute in reaching the goals, it's time for you to get down to the specifics of how exactly all of this is going to come to pass.

Action Plans

Action plans are the next hurdle that you, along with your staff, must leap over. Think of action plans as akin to gasoline in a car. Let's say, for example, that you've built a snappy-looking, powerful automobile with all the necessities and extras to not only “burn rubber,” but to do so in stylish comfort. Even the best-quality and fanciest cars in existence are useless (other than as museum pieces) without the fuel to put them in motion. And so it is with goals and the standards to reach them.

As a coach, you could have the most laudable and far-reaching goals in place for your employees. You could couple them with the most rigorous of standards. But that and two bucks will get you a ride on the New York City subway these days. So, what you need to do next, in close concert with your employees, is develop action plans to grease the skids of the goals and standards in each performance plan. These are, in essence, the plans within the plans — the energy source of performance plans.

Essentially, action plans are crisp and clearly defined directions — A to Z — detailing precisely how the desired goals are going to be reached, and what physical efforts (actions) are expected from team members in getting there. Action plans, in effect, summarize why employees are hired in the first place. They indicate what people do on the job. Nobody is left in the dark with action plans. Everybody knows what they are expected to accomplish, in what time frame, and how they are going to execute their prescribed duties. There's no room for guesswork.

Measuring Sticks

Lastly, in a thorough performance plan replete with clear goals, standards, and precise action plans (there could be several for each goal), there must be measures in place to check the quality of the results. It's one thing to cast your fate to the wind. It's quite another thing to cast your employees' performance plans to the wind and hope that everything comes out exactly as planned. Plans without regular checkups are like English muffins without toasting. They just don't happen. Appropriate measures must be in place from the beginning to the end of all performance plans. While affording your staff great autonomy, you must nevertheless monitor the progress of each one of your employees' performance plans.

When President Ronald Reagan signed historic arms control accords with Russian President Mikhail Gorbachev in the late 1980s, he was asked how he — a staunch anti-Communist — could sign on to a deal of such breathtaking proportions and importance with an undemocratic nation and totalitarian form of government. Reagan quoted the Russian proverb, “Trust but verify.” Translation: Show good faith and accept at face value that a former foe (in this instance) could be trusted. But continually verify that the agreed-upon arms control reductions are actually taking place when they are scheduled to take place.

You must likewise show trust in your employees, but you must also, on a recurring basis, verify that they are doing exactly what was mutually agreed upon at the onset of their performance plans. You must verify that all concerned are in fact reaching their targets — in terms of time and quality — on the way to achieving their ultimate goals. Measures inserted in performance plans as checkpoints are not the equivalent of showing a lack of faith in your team. On the contrary. As professionals in the private or public sectors, men and women must come to expect continual measurement of their performances and be held strictly accountable for their work efforts.