Implemento helps think through an action to explore the potential consequences and learn from them. If it’s a dilemma, take one side and go with it. Then take the other side. If there are a million choices, take a couple. If there are no choices, make up something and run with it.

The “Go!” step is an action you are considering and want to refine. The action you pick does not have to be perfect, it will be adjusted and improved through the Implemento process.

Examples of actions for a “Go!” step are:

• “Get a dog”
• “Return to full time education”
• “Recruit a new assistant”
• “Offer a new product”

Be careful to list outcomes, rather than further actions.

Include those things that concern you and seem like they could happen, even if they are unlikely. Think about the impact on yourself, on the people immediately around you, and on others.

Examples of worst outcomes:

• “I am overwhelmed by my workload”
• “My family are complaining that I’m never home”
• “My main customer’s business has been affected by my failure to deliver”

Don’t be tempted to come up with actions that would prevent the worst outcomes from happening in the first place! Imagine you are already facing these worst outcomes and need to get into action to recover from them – this gives a richer set of insights and possible actions.

You will revisit these actions later in the process.

Consider:

• Linking up with others to hear their opinions and ideas, inform or enrol them, and get them on your side
• Gathering data and information, on your own or with others, doing research and design
• Investing more of your time, money, attention, energy and experience
• Making decisions, choices and commitments

This is a picture of how things could look in the future – the best possible outcomes that could result from your initial action. Imagine what this future would be like – how it would feel for you, the impact it would have on others, and how the world around you would be different from today.

Sometimes it can be difficult to get a long list of really great outcomes – we often hold back from sharing our highest hopes. When you think you have run out of ideas push yourself for ‘just one more’.

Examples of best outcomes:

• “I feel like I am in control of things for the first time in months”
• “We’re settled in our new home and happier than we’ve ever been”
• “The project I was working on has led to a promotion”

We rarely allow ourselves to think beyond achieving the outcomes we want. Acts To Enhance is an opportunity to think through what could be done to make things even better, or avoid the problems that can sometimes come with success, e.g. attention you don’t want, orders you can’t fulfil, overwhelming demands on your time.

We may not be ready for these actions yet, but Implemento takes us to a place where we can explore them. Stand in the future, with your best outcomes as a firm foundation beneath your feet, and take the time to imagine what might now be possible.

Consider:

• What could be done now
• What options could be put in place
• How might you prepare for success

Measures turn best and worst outcomes into something you can work with now, highlighting the most important factors to pay attention to. Measures help communicate a more complete description of what you want to achieve and give a sense of progress towards goals.

Your aspirations can be found in the list of outcomes you imagined. These might include both tangible and intangible measures, such as happiness, efficiency, relationships and communication. These overlap and interact to define what you want to achieve.

Integrating these outcomes into a set of measures also defines the minimum results that the starting action was intended to deliver. You can transform your worst fears into a commitment to a fundamental standard of achievement.

Examples:

• Rather than a worst outcome of “increase in injuries”, the minimum acceptable is “no decrease in our safety performance” and the aspiration is “an improvement in our safety performance”

The Must Do Actions ensure the minimum acceptable measures you identified previously. Rather than taking acts to recover after the event, you can take a form of the action now so that the worst outcome doesn’t come about.

The process of transforming Acts To Recover into Must Do Actions is powerful and insightful. This exercise provides a form of “hindsight” – Implemento is a simple structured way of thinking things through in advance.

Example:

• “Ask the neighbours if they can look after my puppy” becomes “research local dog walkers”

This is the place to list actions which will make a positive difference to your plan. You may not be ready for these yet, but you can look for opportunities to put them in place. Including actions, or options, from your Acts to Enhance increases the possibility of better long term outcomes, and avoid being stung by success. When you achieve a welcome but unexpected result it helps to have options.

When an action needs something else to be completed first, we can still look at what would be helpful now. This can include relationship building, negotiation, or conducting learning experiments or ventures – building the foundations for your long-term goals.

Example:

• If you’re selling cookies, and plan to sell 1000 a week, but sell 3000 in week 3, you’re likely to run out of ingredients. It does not make sense to carry three times the inventory before understanding demand. However, you could make sure you know how to access more chocolate chips at short notice.