Cheryl Trump

Cheryl Trump, of New York City, is the daughter of a well-known financier. She is currently in her first year of college but has decided that she definitely wants to earn an MBA as soon as possible after earning her four-year college degree. Outline the five steps in effective planning. Use these planning guidelines to develop an appropriate plan for Cheryl.

The first thing to do when making an effective plan is to set goals. According to Williams (2013), “To direct behavior and increase effort, goals need to be specific and challenging” (pg 89), and to do so one can use the “S.M.A.R.T. guidelines; S.M.A.R.T. goals are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely” (pg 89). In reference to Cheryl Trump, a few S.M.A.R.T. goals for her to graduate in four years and continue on to get her bachelors, she should first plan out her map for her school career. One way to do this is to use the schools resources, such as an academic advisor. Mapping out her school career will help her graduate on time by keeping her on track and knowing what classes she needs to get done and when. Another goal for her could be to know what it takes to get into graduate school to receive her MBA.

Having this kind of knowledge will keep her at an advantage to her competitors because she knows what graduate schools are looking for. Mapping out her major, plus knowing what it takes to get into a graduate program are a few good S.M.A.R.T. goals because not only are they specific, they are measurable. She can keep track of all the classes she takes, as well as, what grade she gets in them and keep referring back to what she needs to accomplish to graduate in four years in addition to getting into a graduate program. Along those lines, to accomplish the specific goals Cheryl can set for herself, she can also take it one step further by developing an effective action plan.

As said by Williams (2013), “An action plan lists specific steps (how), people (who), resources (what), and time period (when) for accomplishing a goal (pg 90). Cheryl can take herself, the “who”, focus on the classes of her major that are core and most important, the “what”, by studying for as many hours outside of class as she spends inside of class for the entire semester, the “when”. This strategy will allow her to maintain a plan inside of her head of what she needs to do to accomplish her goals. To make sure the plan she has implemented is allowing her to reach her goals, Cheryl will have to be able to track her progress. One of two methods to track her progress as the textbook states is to set, “proximal goals and distal goals” (pg 90). “Proximal goals are short-term goals or subgoals, whereas distal goals are long-term or primary goals” (Pg 90). I think a more convenient and easier way for Cheryl to keep track of her progress is to use the second method which is to provide performance feedback.

I think this method is easier because she can keep track of her performance through exams, assignments, or attendance depending on the course. This will give her a good idea of how she is doing in the class at any point in time. At the end of the day Cheryl’s goals need to be achievable and manageable for her and that is why she should always leave some room in her schedule to work with. This extra free time allows her to keep her flexibility open at all times and especially if, or when things go wrong. Overall, one should always keep options available and not fill their time up with so much stuff that they never stop moving!

In conclusion, Cheryl has many ways she can implement and execute a successful plan to graduate in four years as well as get her MBA. The main thing to focus on when you apply your plan is to keep track of how you’re doing and if you are heading towards your goals. If you realize you are not going in the right direction, take advantage of your options and change things that need to be changed. As a whole, planning is deciding on an objective and constructing a good method or system to reach that objective, and when doing so, it is important to consider all aspects and to take it one step at a time.