A question Great Plains ToP Facilitators receive is, “How to we move from the planning stage to implementation.” Great Plains ToP Facilitator Trainer Kim Howe shares,

Coordination is key for implementation and accountability. Take the time to ensure that group roles, check-in/meeting cycles, communication channels, project management tools, etc. are in place and there is a clear “cat herder” who will support the rest of the team in fulfilling their goals and commitments. Read more…

This is also an important final opportunity to do a reality check to ensure people are committed to the plan! I like to ask a few questions at this point:

• If we do ONLY these things, will we reach our goal? Is anything missing?
• If we move forward with ALL of these things, is there anything that gives you heartburn? Does anything need to be reconsidered?
• Are we – the people in this room – ready and able to commit to doing all of these things?
• Are there adjustments that would strengthen this plan or make it more doable?
• What needs to be in place to make this work possible? (i.e. roles, meetings, tools, etc.

Developing your own list of coordination questions can help!  

2. The DARCI or RACI Model is a tool for clearly defining who really “owns” a decision that has been made. Hence, there’s no ambiguity about who’s responsible to carry it forward. This spreadsheet has a tab to explain DARCI and a tab to help assign roles and balance workload, and it can be found in our participator resources section.

A tool that IS in our course ToP Secrets to Implementation is the Grenny Model, based on the book “Influencer: The New Science of Leading Change” by Joseph Grenny. The Grenny Model helps you identify and reinforce the six enabling factors that encourage groups to make difficult changes and sustain long-term commitment.