Goal, Plan, Do, Review and Revise Guide: An Executive-Function Informed Goal Achievement Framework for use in Human Services Program

Center for Budget and Policy Priorities and Global Learning Partners, CalWORKs 2.0 development and implementation support partners, have created a new in-depth guide on the Goal, Plan Do, Review and Revise goal achievement framework. The strategies presented in the guide are adaptable to all human service programs, with a special emphasis on job search programs. While the guide has been influenced by many programs nationally, we believe it aligns especially well with the core principles and approaches of CalWORKs 2.0.

Download word version here.

The terms “executive function” and “self-regulation” describe the foundation skills that help us to focus, make decisions, and control impulses – as well as to create, execute and adjust plans. Research has shown that we can increase our chances of successfully achieving our goals by reducing competing demands on our weaker skills and by tapping our stronger skills. One proven strategy for doing this is by establishing routines that we use over and over again. Through repeated practice, routines require less and less effort – and they build skills in the process.

A new guide introduces human service staff to practices that lead to successful goal achievement, regardless of an individual’s unique skill strengths or weaknesses. The guide is built around one comprehensive adaptable multi-step framework called Goal, Plan, Do, Review and Revise (GPDR/R). Each step builds on the last and leads to the next; the final step feeds back into earlier steps in an ongoing process of successfully setting and achieving goals.

The GPDR/R framework works best when used in its entirety, again and again—set a goal, craft a detailed plan, put the plan into action, review progress and revise.  This process is deceptively simple, but the purpose and intentionality of each step—and the relationship among the steps—is profound.

The strategies presented in the guide can be used in individual meetings or group settings.  The guide includes insights and ideas from Global Learning Partners on how to creatively teach GPDR/R.  Here are a few additional ideas to get started.

• Send chapters 1 and 2 to your colleagues, and invite them to a conversation: How s this look at goal achievement through the lens of executive skills useful for you, personally? How might it support our work with participants?
• Distribute chapters 3 -5 to staff who work directly with participants. Invite those staff to a workshop in which you practice the steps of GPDR/R among each other and reflect on the experience.
• Invite a small group of colleagues to be part of a road test in which they use the Chapter 5 tools with a few participants and track the effect overtime.
• Invite your staff facilitators to participate in a workshop using the materials in Chapter 6. Then, see what happens as they, in turn, use these designs to lead workshops with participants. Ask participants how they feel about the GPDR/R process and how it is affecting them in their life goals.

In brief, we hope you will use this opportunity to extract whatever chapters of the guide that appeal to you and your colleagues. Read, experiment, test, track and innovate!