Everyone knows the importance of establishing a plan for business growth. But many business owners and sales leaders find it frustrating when their best laid plans are not executed and fail to yield the expected results.
Was your plan or idea well communicated both orally and in writing?
Did everyone understand who was responsible for what?
Did everyone know what needed to be done, and within what time frame?
Did you have a system to measure, monitor, and hold people accountable?
Are they feeling motivated and empowered?
Many companies are developing wonderful ideas full of great intent, but their ability to execute on these ideas is clearly the biggest challenge we have seen them face. To address this, we would like to share a best practice that K.Coaching has created, and that many companies are now using successfully. The best practice goes by the acronym DOGOM: Description, Objective, Goal, Owner, Measurement/Monitoring. DOGOM is a planning format that helps you take your idea—the "what to do"—and clearly communicate the "why" and "how" to do it.
The following explains how to use a DOGOM to put some real meat on the bones of your great ideas, and also includes examples of objectives, goals, and means of measurement. Your own DOGOM, of course, is more specifically shaped to your subject. But we think that once you've embraced this concept and completed a DOGOM for your business, you won't go back to any other method.
Description: Describe your idea in writing—the "what to do." This should be a one or two paragraph statement of your strategy. At this stage, you don't need to include specific objectives or goals; these will be defined in upcoming steps. The description should simply be a general statement of intent—clear, concise, and easy to understand by anyone outside of your company or industry.
Objective: List in specific terms your intentions, reasons, and expectations for the execution of your strategy. Simply, what do you want to achieve?
Goal: Goals should be measurable, realistic, and attainable. Your goals should be quantifiable: cite specific numbers and dates for completion.
Owner: Identify a single individual who is ultimately responsible for the success of the strategy. This person should be intimately involved in the strategy, as well as leading the team.
Measurement/Monitoring: This step defines accountability for executing the strategy. It can be tied to reports and metrics, but should contain reward and recognition for accomplishments.
DOGOMs should be used to clearly define a specific strategy. Your DOGOM should not try to address multiple strategies, nor should it be complicated; limit your DOGOM to one or two pages. The DOGOM is a written format where you can commit your creative ideas to paper in order to share and collaborate with others.
The DOGOM is not the kind of plan you create on your own and then e-mail to everyone as a set of instructions. Hold team meetings around the development of your DOGOM; express your ideas, solicit input, delegate tasks, and gain commitment. This will ensure collaboration and everyone will feel a part of the plan.
A sales rep can take this exact format and build his own DOGOM. This gives a rep the format to establish what they know they need to do differently to grow their business, and puts it in a tactical form. For example, for a sales rep who wants to start prospecting more, a DOGOM gives him the framework for specifically establishing goals and objectives. The rep can define how many new accounts he will open and in what time frame. He can state specifically how he intends to take ownership, and measure and monitor his progress.