POLC Framework in Management: Planning, Organizing, Leading, Controlling

by Venchito Tampon | Last Updated on October 31, 2024

POLC framework is a long-held effective management framework that has evolved over time. Companies, especially those in the L&D department, practice it to develop their current and succeeding leaders.

While it’s been popular for decades in the talent development industry, many beginning trainers, speakers, consultants, and company leaders still struggle to grasp its true importance. 

Today, we’ll examine the fundamentals of the POLC framework and how you and your leaders can apply them to effectively lead your team to the next level of growth and significance. 

Let’s get started. 

POLC As A Framework 

POLC stands for Planning, Organizing, Leading, and Controlling, and it is often attributed to the work of Henri Fayol, a French mining engineer and management theorist who is widely recognized for his contributions to modern management theories. 

Henri laid the groundwork for the classical management theory, presenting 14 management principles (including the 5Ms of management) and introducing the four primary functions of management—we now know them as POLC. 

Let’s dive into each of these management functions.

Planning: Setting Clear Objectives 

Planning is the cornerstone of the POLC framework. In the initial phase, team leaders set clear objectives, develop strategies, and allocate resources to achieve individual and organizational goals.

One best practice when planning is having a good grasp of your organization’s MVV (Mission, Vision, and Values). Without these three organizational core elements, any leader would have difficulty aligning and adjusting their plans to impact the organization’s objectives. 

Actionable Tips To Apply Planning as Managers:

• Consider planning as part of the manager’s job. Most do not include it as their weekly tasks, given it’s not explicitly included in their job roles and responsibilities. By letting it become part of your duties, you’ll manage processes and lead your team more effectively than before.
• Schedule plans in your calendar. As scheduled, you plan with your team (or whoever must be included in the planning sessions).
• If you’re at the top of management, revisit your mission and values and ensure you align the plans of your business units and departments to pursue your mission. 
• Involve key stakeholders to ensure plans are comprehensive. 

Planning should always be considered. The better you plan as a manager, the more you’ll be ahead of your competitors and become more relevant to the industry and community you’re engaging with. 

Organizing: Executing Plans Effectively 

Once plans are set, the next step is organizing and structuring resources as needed to execute them effectively. 

Now, organizing involves assigning key roles and responsibilities, prioritizing major tasks from minor tasks, delegating authority, and coordinating all efforts across teams or departments you’re involved with. 

Execution isn’t easy and may require abilities to manage tasks effectively. 

Actionable Tips To Apply Organizing as Managers:

• Create a well-structured environment as supervisors, where staff members know what is expected of them.
• Foster collaboration in your culture to get feedback from people so you can improve specific processes and systems. 
• Streamline processes and remove inefficiencies that only consume time and waste resources.
• Revisit your plans when things go wrong and your actions don’t align with what you want to accomplish as a team.
• Break down any big projects into meaningful, small tasks. Let small wins build momentum, inspire your team to improve, and accomplish more significant goals and objectives. 
• Practice decision-making skills to become a great leader. In most situations, be ready to make major decisions on tasks and projects. 
• Use project management tools to help organize resources, workflow, and team initiatives. By seeing it from a tool, you’ll be able to track every phase of your project. 

Leading: Inspiring and Motivating 

Leading is the heart of the POLC framework and one of the five functions of management, which involves inspiring and influencing teams to achieve extraordinary results. 

Given that management requires people to work on processes, it is essential for managers to learn how to handle people to the best of their abilities. 

Over a decade of entrepreneurial experience handling teams and being a consultant and trainer for many local companies in the Philippines, I’ve had the privilege of learning (and still developing) lists of actionable tips for anyone to improve as a leaders. Here are some tips you can adapt to your style: 

• Build your credibility as a leader. Staff members want to follow someone who talks their talk. If you’re doing what you’re already telling or instructing them to do, you need a few words to get them into action. Otherwise, your example won’t easily inspire staff if your character doesn’t speak of your promises.
• Invest in your personal leadership by discovering your own leadership training objectives. The key is to aspire to be better leaders every day. As the world is changing so fast, so does the new generation of workforce we’re currently leading. 
• Develop business acumen as leaders. Know the industry trends and changes and perhaps predict what’s to come based on historical data and observation. You’ll become better managers if you can teach your team to adapt to the ever-changing needs of the market and the industry. 
• Do not let your ego consume you; you need feedback from peers, superiors, and associates. This will increase your self-awareness of areas where you need to improve more—knowledge, skills, and attitude (core elements of competence). 
• Improve emotional intelligence. As you manage your emotions, you’ll be more sensitive to the feelings of other people, which creates a warm and inclusive work environment for your teams. 
• Be founded on your values. Demonstrate the values and behaviors you expect from others. 

Controlling: Monitoring and Adjusting 

The fourth pillar of the POlC framework is controlling. This is where monitoring and evaluating performance management comes in. 

You’ll have better chances of achieving your goals by making necessary adjustments.

Effective control isn’t about the people you lead but about the work itself, as you need to identify potential issues or deviations from the plan early on. 

Here are a couple of tactics you can apply as leaders in the controlling phase of management:

• Establish clear performance metrics – this is where you’ll measure performance as you achieve your goals. 
• Implement corrective actions when necessary if you see any changes or are behind-the-scenes in projects.
• Keep a close eye on key performance indicators and regularly communicate them with your team. 
• Use immediate feedback instead of waiting for the annual feedback so you can help your associates or staff members perform better at work by addressing their latest concerns and challenges. 
• Utilize resources efficiently by continuously monitoring performance. The goal isn’t just to save resources, but to maximize them so you can achieve your goals. 

Mastering POLC Framework Never Ends

Mastering the POLC framework is a continuous journey for leaders. The business landscape has changed, so leaders must constantly adapt and refine their approach to meet the changing demands of our time.

Embrace these four pillars of the POLC framework as one of your functions as managers to achieve your goals through performance management and inspire people through better collaboration and healthy work culture.