78. Maintain control through management tools64

You probably have several management tools that you can use to supervise the work of your staff. These tools allow you to focus attention on activities that have been or need to be done. Use them to keep staff focused on work priorities.

• Budgets: A good budget is a specific, itemised plan. Use it to keep your programme plan on track by reviewing the status of the budget with your staff on a regular basis.

• Expense records: Good expense records provide documentation of expenditures. Use them to review important activities with your staff.

• Gannt charts: A good Gannt chart provides a visual description of the major activities planned for a programme and their schedule. Review these periodically with your staff to make sure that your programme remains on schedule.

With the increased availability of computer programs for management, you have a ready source of many other control devices that can now be prepared and updated much more quickly than in the past. See the Computer guide for suggestions.