Creating a Plan for your team or organization isn’t always easy, but the CrossLead Platform is here to help.
CrossLead offers a Setup Wizard option to help you through the process of creating a new Plan. The Setup Wizard is a step-by-step walkthrough providing education, definitions, and tips for the planning methodology of your choice.
To create a new Plan using the Setup Wizard, go to the 'Plans' section of CrossLead and click the orange 'Create New’ button. On the “Method of Plan Creation” step, select the “Setup Wizard” option.
Choose a Planning Framework
Next, you will be prompted to select a framework for your Plan. The framework dictates the structure of the hierarchical visualization in which you can organize goals and outline dependencies.
CrossLead offers the following planning framework options:
- CrossLead
- OKRs
- Custom
- Org Default
To learn more about these planning frameworks, click here.
CrossLead Plans
If you selected the CrossLead framework for your Plan, the Setup Wizard will take you through the following steps:
- Add Mission, Vision, and/or Values (optional)
- Define an Objective
- Create a supporting Strategy
- Outline Initiatives
- Invite Teammates
- Title your Plan
As you proceed through these steps, there is a Plan visual on the right-hand side that will build out and reflect the content that you input into each step of the Setup Wizard.
The Setup Wizard also includes an example of a good Plan for reference. To view the example Plan, click “Example Plan” link below the visual of the plan structure.
Step #1: Mission, Vision, and/or Values
You will first be prompted to enter a Mission, Vision, and/or Value statement for the Plan. This step is optional, so if your Plan doesn’t need Mission, Vision, or Values, then simply click “Continue” to proceed to the next step.
Step #2: Define an Objective
Objectives are concrete, measurable goals that advance the organization or team towards the mission. Enter one Objective that defines success for the team or for this particular Plan. The Objective must be 100 characters or less.
Step #3: Create a Supporting Strategy
Next, you will be prompted to enter a Strategy that explains how the team will accomplish the Objective that you just outlined. As you think about your Strategy, you can click the “Objectives” tile in the right-hand side to expand that section and reference the Objective you entered.
Step #4: Outline Initiatives
Each Strategy is supported by a series of Initiatives, or the implementation of the Strategy. Enter at least one Initiative detailing the key programs, projects, or activities necessary to achieve your stated Strategy. To add another Initiative, click the “Add Initiative” button.
Step #5: Invite Teammates
Now that your Plan has been built out, you can invite teammates to collaborate with you on this Plan. You can either enter email addresses of teammates in order to invite them to join CrossLead as a new user, or you can search for and select existing CrossLead users.
Step #6: Title your Plan
All that is left to do before your Plan is officially created is to give your Plan a title! Good Plan titles are succinct and easily recognizable by others in your organization.
OKR Plans
If you selected the OKR framework for your Plan, the Setup Wizard will take you through the following steps:
- Add Mission, Vision, and/or Values (optional)
- Define an Objective
- Create Supporting Key Results
- Invite Teammates
- Title your Plan
As you proceed through these steps, there is a Plan visual on the right-hand side that will build out and reflect the content that you input into each step of the Setup Wizard.
The Setup Wizard also includes an example of a good OKR Plan for reference. To view the example Plan, click “Example Plan” link below the visual of the plan structure.
Step #1: Mission, Vision, and/or Values
You will first be prompted to enter a Mission, Vision, and/or Value statement for the Plan. This step is optional, so if your Plan doesn’t need Mission, Vision, or Values, then simply click “Continue” to proceed to the next step.
Step #2: Define an Objective
Objectives are concrete, measurable goals that advance the organization or team towards the mission. Enter one Objective that defines success for the team or for this particular Plan. The Objective must be 100 characters or less.
Step #3: Create Supporting Key Results
Key Results benchmark and monitor how the team will achieve the Objective. They are specific, time-bound, measurable, and verifiable. Enter at least one Key Result in support of your Objective. To add another, click the “Add Key Result” button.
Step #5: Invite Teammates
Now that your Plan has been built out, you can invite teammates to collaborate with you on this Plan. You can either enter email addresses of teammates in order to invite them to join CrossLead as a new user, or you can search for and select existing CrossLead users.
Step #6: Title your Plan
All that is left to do before your Plan is officially created is to give your Plan a title! Good Plan titles are succinct and easily recognizable by others in your organization.
Custom Plans
If you selected Custom for the planning framework, you will be taken through a customization process in which you can choose the number of layers in your Plan, label those layers, and give them definitions. After you’ve defined your unique Plan structure, you will be taken through a step-by-step walkthrough to populate Items in each layer of your Plan.
Org Default Plans
The Org Default option in the framework selection step appears if an admin user for your team has created a custom framework and set it as the Org default. Choosing Org Default together with the Setup Wizard will put you into a step-by-step walkthrough with the custom layers and definitions dictated by your colleague.