Action will Delineate and Define You: 2 Mental Models for an Action Planning Process
By: Mark Frasco
“Action will delineate and define you.” – Thomas Jefferson
I just finished reading a biography of our third president, “Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power,” by Jon Meacham.
Ironically, I write this draft on July 4th, arguably the most meaningful date in Jefferson’s life. Of course, most of us know that he wrote the Declaration of Independence, which was ratified by the Continental Congress on that date in 1776.
After several days of stubbornly struggling, Thomas Jefferson passed away that same date in 1826, along with his political rival and late-life confidant: our second president, John Adams. Jefferson was 83, and Adams was 90.
As I was reading this biography, one common theme continued to strike me about Jefferson: he was a man of action – in fact, one could say timely action.
To give you a few examples of his action orientation:
- Jefferson completed his college degree in two years.
- After the imminent threat from British troops, as governor, he moved the capital of Virginia from Williamsburg to Richmond.
- Against popular politics of the time, with the help of his friend James Madison, he fostered the two-party system, forming the Democratic-Republican party, opposing the monarchist Federalists.
- He conceptualized and finalized the Louisiana Purchase.
- He sanctioned the Lewis and Clark Expedition.
Two Mental Models to Create an Action Planning Process
When it comes to action planning, I refer to two mental models that help frame my thoughts and actions.
1) Three-by-Three Matrix (High, Medium, Low) Model
The first is a simple three-by-three matrix (High, Medium, Low) with one axis depicting the importance of the item and the other the ease of implementation.
| Importance | |||
| Low | Medium | High | |
| Not Easy | |||
| Moderate | |||
| Easy | |||
With this model, you want to ask: “What level of importance does the action item hold to the organization, team or project?” Not every item has high importance. Sometimes it is useful to rank the relative importance of various action items, and then place them in the grid.
If there are dependencies among the items – meaning one or more items need to be completed before another item can be completed – notate those relationships. I use arrows or numbers to depict the sequence.
The other axis, ease of implementation, can be viewed in many ways: time investment, the complexity of completing the item, financial investment, or sometimes a combination of these or other factors. What is the level of complexity of this action item?
Of course, all things being equal, I look for important/easy action items to build momentum and confidence. I’ve found that many projects stall in organizations or on teams because they fail to identify important/easy and are slowed down by less important/more difficult action items.
2) Timing Model
The second mental model sometimes helps me put the outputs from the first model into context, regarding timing.
You can identify the most important/easiest action to take, but is it the right time?
The right action at the wrong time can hurt the effectiveness of an action item and can be sometimes harmful to the overall effort.
As I work with teams, I often ask: “Is it the right time? Are we late or can/should it wait?”
From there, I look for support and build consensus for various timing arguments, considering the array, and again, the sequence of various action items. Timing truly can be everything.
Taking no action is an option. There have been many instances during my career that no action was the best action.
However, I suspect and hope that I will be remembered most for the actions I took, the importance of those actions and completing them in a timely manner. Therein lies the importance of having an action planning process.
Take a moment to reflect on your situation – is the time right for you to act on something important and easy?
Starting a revolution couldn’t have been easy, but I’m glad our forefathers took action when the time was right.
*Note: This article was originally published in July 2013 and has been updated and revised for relevance.
Related Posts
