An action plan is a list of specific, measurable goals you hope to achieve. It includes specific actions you intend to take to meet the overall goals. You might create a personal action plan, or you might write one as a work assignment with a number of team members within an office. It’s possible to write action plans that include multiple offices as well.
Any action plan you create needs to have similar components. You need to establish goals, which are the overall items you hope to achieve. Once you list goals, you should prioritize them in order of importance. This helps to prevent you from spending too much time on the less-important goals and focusing on the major items. Each goal should have measureable objectives for it. By putting a quantitative amount on each objective, you create a target that you can reach. These objectives become action steps in the plan that you further quantify by setting a deadline for completion. You may complete some objectives in a short time period, while others may be ongoing for years. You must periodically evaluate how close you are to meeting your objectives. At the time of evaluation, you might opt to add more goals and objectives to the action plan.
An individual plan might encompass your professional work goals. Within those goals you might list several objectives you hope to meet within a designated time. For example, if you are doing an action plan with the goal of earning a graduate degree so you can advance professionally, you would first set objectives. The objectives might include taking graduate school entry exams, taking a specific number of courses with a set amount of time or maintaining a particular grade point average, or GPA. Periodically, you would evaluate whether you are meeting target dates you set in your timeline and whether you are meeting your objectives.
A small-group action plan involves staff members within one office. It helps them work collaboratively toward meeting the goals, yet enables the workers to focus on tasks that are within their specific skill set. Because participants are working within their comfort level, the task of completing the project seems less overwhelming. As the team meets to establish goals and objectives, it should keep the acronym SMART in mind. “S” stands for the objective being specific, “M” means it is measurable, “A” indicates the objective is achievable, “R” shows you can achieve the objective in a reasonable time frame and “T” sets a specific time frame for you to meet the objectives. The group needs to hold periodic meetings for status reports. It’s a good time to check objectives against their original timeline. As the group evaluates whether they are meeting their objectives, group members can determine if they need to modify the original plan. They can also schedule rewards if the group is meeting objectives in a timely manner.
A corporate action plan is similar to a smaller-group action plan, except it might encompass multiple offices in different locations. Managers meet to set goals and objectives. They periodically meet to determine if the timeline is viable and if they are meeting objectives. Once the corporate leaders write the action plan, they take it back to their respective headquarters. Quite often, local offices write small-group action plans to implement the larger corporate plans.
- reviewing the plan image by Shaun Kurry from Fotolia.com