START – STOP – CONTINUE (SSC) PLAN
This SSC is an updated plan based on what you have already created in session 3 and throughout the program.
A Start-Stop-Continue (SSC) plan is a simple yet effective framework for personal development, team improvement, or organizational change. It’s often used in businesses, personal coaching, and various educational settings to help individuals or teams identify actions to improve performance and achieve their goals. Here’s what each term in the SSC plan refers to:
Start
These are the actions or behaviours an individual or team should start doing. They are typically new habits, practices, or initiatives that enhance performance or progress towards the set objectives.
Stop
These are the activities or behaviours that are unproductive, harmful, or act as a barrier to success. The “Stop” part of the plan is all about identifying these detrimental factors and making a concerted effort to cease these actions.
Continue
This part of the plan identifies the things already being done well and contributing positively to progress or performance. They are actions or behaviours that should be sustained and built upon for continued success.
The SSC plan is often conducted as a personal feedback or self-reflection process where individuals or teams give and receive input on what they should start, stop, and continue doing.
It can be a powerful tool for encouraging reflective thinking, promoting constructive feedback, and fostering continuous improvement.
The Start-Stop-Continue (SSC) framework is crucial for personal and professional growth and leadership development for several reasons:
Self-Awareness and Reflection
The SSC plan promotes introspection and self-awareness. By identifying what one should start, stop, and continue, individuals become more cognizant of their habits, behaviours, and practices and how they impact their performance and relationships.
Continuous Improvement
SSC encourages a mindset of continuous improvement. It inherently suggests that there’s always something one can do better, which can lead to a positive and progressive outlook towards personal and professional development.
Actionable Feedback
SSC provides clear and actionable feedback, making it easier to develop and implement a plan of action for improvement. This is particularly helpful in leadership development, where actionable feedback can improve communication and leadership skills.
Promotes Constructive Feedback
The SSC framework offers a constructive approach to delivering feedback. This can make feedback more palatable and increase the likelihood of the feedback being taken on board and acted upon, fostering personal and professional growth.
Simplifies Complex Problems
The SSC plan breaks down complex challenges into manageable actions. By categorizing into ‘start’, ‘stop’, and ‘continue’, individuals and teams can easily pinpoint where they need to change or improve.
Encourages Positive Habits
By identifying behaviours that should continue, the SSC plan reinforces positive habits and actions that are already contributing to success, helping to instil these behaviours more deeply.
Relevance to Leadership Development
Regarding leadership, the SSC framework can help leaders identify what leadership behaviours they should start or stop and what effective leadership behaviours they should continue. This can lead to more effective, self-aware, and emotionally intelligent leaders.
The SSC plan’s simplicity, clarity, and action-oriented nature make it an effective tool for personal and professional growth and leadership development.
To give you an idea of what we’re after, we’ve prepared a START-STOP-CONTINUE Plan example.
You can download a copy by clicking on this link:
Let’s get started and devise a plan for our own self-leadership growth.