the importance of action plan in business

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What is an Action Plan & How to Write One [With Examples]

By Danesh Ramuthi , Oct 26, 2023

An action plan is a meticulously structured strategy that pinpoints specific steps, tasks and resources vital to turning a goal into reality. It is extremely useful in any project management. 

Crafting an action plan is like plotting a route for a cross-country journey. It’s the strategic map that outlines every step, decision and pitstop needed to reach your ultimate destination.

With a well-thought-out action plan, you’re not just shooting in the dark; you’re making informed, purposeful strides towards your goals. Dive deep with our guide and witness real-world examples that will inspire and guide you.

Need a tool to kickstart your planning? Try out the Venngage business plan maker and explore their extensive collection of action plan templates .

Click to jump ahead: 

What is the purpose of an action plan?

When to develop an action plan, 7 components of a actions plan, 15 action plan examples.

• How to Write an action plan?

Final thoughts

An action plan serves as a strategic tool designed to outline specific steps, tasks and goals necessary to achieve a particular objective.

Its primary purpose is to provide a clear roadmap and direction for individuals, teams or organizations to follow in order to efficiently and effectively accomplish their goals. 

Action plans break down complex projects into manageable, actionable components, making it easier to track progress and stay on course.

Moreover, action plans play a crucial role in fostering accountability and coordination among team members. By assigning responsibilities and deadlines for each task or milestone, they ensure that everyone involved is aware of their roles and the overall timeline, reducing confusion and enhancing teamwork. 

Additionally, action plans help in resource allocation, budgeting and risk management by enabling stakeholders to identify potential challenges and plan for contingencies. 

Overall, the purpose of an action plan is to transform abstract goals into concrete actions, making them more achievable and measurable while ensuring that the resources and efforts are aligned with the desired outcomes.

Developing an action plan is crucial when you’re looking to achieve a specific goal or outcome. Here are instances when you should consider developing an action plan:

• Start of an organization : Ideally, an action plan should be developed within the first six months to one year of the start of an organization. This initial plan lays the groundwork for the future direction and growth of the entity.
• Project initiation : At the start of any project, an action plan helps to clearly define the tasks, responsibilities, and timelines.
• Goal setting : Whenever you or your organization sets a new goal. Action plans transform these goals from abstract ideas into concrete steps.
• Strategic planning : For long-term visions and missions, action plans break down the journey into manageable pieces, each with its timeline and responsible parties.
• Performance improvement : If there are areas where performance is lacking, whether it’s personal or organizational, an action plan can outline the steps needed to elevate performance.

An action plan is a detailed outline that breaks down the steps necessary to achieve a specific goal. Here are the typical components of an action plan.

1. Objective or Goal

The cornerstone of your action plan is the objective or goal. This should be a clear and concise statement outlining the desired outcome or result. Having a well-defined objective provides a direction and purpose to the entire plan, ensuring all tasks and actions are aligned towards achieving this singular aim.

2. Tasks or Actions

Once the objective is set, the next step is to list down the specific tasks or actions required to achieve this goal. These tasks should be broken down into detailed steps, ensuring no essential activity is overlooked. The granularity of these tasks can vary based on the complexity of the goal.

3. Set deadline

For each task or action, set a realistic and achievable deadline. This timeline ensures that the plan stays on track and that momentum is maintained throughout the execution. It also allows for monitoring progress and identifying potential delays early.

4. Resources needed to complete the project

It’s crucial to recognize and list the resources you’ll need to complete the tasks. This can encompass financial resources, human resources, equipment, technological tools or any other assets. Identifying these early ensures that there are no bottlenecks during execution due to a lack of necessary resources.

5. Person responsible

Assign a person or a team for each task. This designation ensures accountability and clarity. When individuals are aware of their responsibilities, it reduces overlap, confusion and ensures that every task has someone overseeing its completion.

6. Potential barriers or challenges

Every plan will face challenges. By anticipating potential barriers or obstacles, you can be better prepared to address them. This proactive approach ensures smoother execution and less reactionary problem-solving.

7. Measurement of key performance indicators (KPIs)

Determine how you’ll measure the success of each task or the plan overall. KPIs are tangible metrics that allow you to gauge progress and determine whether you’re moving closer to your goals and objectives. They offer a quantifiable means to evaluate success.

Action plans serve as blueprints, guiding the steps and resources needed to achieve a specific goal. 

They come in various formats, tailored to different scenarios and objectives. Here, we present a range of action plan examples that cater to diverse purposes and situations. 

From business strategies to simple task lists, these examples illustrate the versatility and importance of well-structured planning.

Business action plan example

A business action plan is essentially a strategy roadmap, meticulously tailored for realizing broader business objectives. By crafting a solid action plan, businesses can channel their resources, manpower and strategies in a direction that harmonizes with their larger vision.

Key to this plan is the identification and alignment of steps that resonate with the company’s comprehensive strategy, ambitions of growth and aspirations for operational enhancements. 

While this might entail a myriad of specific steps based on unique business goals, some common elements include setting clear key performance indicators (KPIs), undertaking a thorough SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis to grasp the current business landscape and establishing a timeline to keep track of progress.

Furthermore, allocating responsibilities to team members or individuals ensures that every aspect of the strategy has a dedicated focus. Budgeting, essential to the success of the action plan, ensures that every initiative is financially viable and sustainable. 

Regular reviews and iterations based on feedback and changing market dynamics keep the action plan agile and relevant.

Related: 5 Steps to Create an Actionable Employee Development Plan [with Templates & Examples]

Company action plan example

A comprehensive company action plan serves as the strategic linchpin, ensuring a coherent and coordinated approach to realizing organizational goals. Central to this plan is the incorporation of rigorous market research and analysis, which provides insights into consumer behaviors, market trends and potential opportunities. 

Equally vital is the focus on product development and procurement, ensuring that the offerings align with market demands and stand out in terms of quality and relevance. 

Alongside, adept legal and financial management safeguards the company’s interests, ensuring compliance with regulations and prudent fiscal oversight.

Moreover, the essence of any successful company action plan lies in its sales and marketing strategies. These define how the products or services are positioned and promoted in the market, ensuring visibility and engagement with the target audience. 

However, while acquisition is crucial, retention plays an equally significant role. Hence, impeccable customer service and nurturing relationships become indispensable components, fostering loyalty and ensuring that clients remain ambassadors for the brand long after the initial transaction.

Related: 30+ Project Plan Examples to Visualize Your Strategy (2023)

Sales action plan example

A well-structured sales action plan serves as the backbone for systematic and efficient progress. Central to this plan is the identification and utilization of the most effective sales channels, whether they are direct, online or through third-party avenues. 

Clarity on the products and services on offer, combined with their unique selling propositions, facilitates tailored and resonant sales pitches. 

Budget considerations ensure that resources are judiciously allocated, balancing the act between expenditures and potential returns. This financial prudence is complemented by setting realistic sales projections, which act as both a motivational target and a yardstick for success.

Timelines, or proposed deadlines, infuse the process with a sense of urgency, ensuring that the momentum of the sales drive is maintained. 

However, the true measure of the action plan’s efficacy lies in its key performance indicators (KPIs). These metrics, be it lead conversion rates or customer retention figures, serve as tangible markers, highlighting the plan’s strengths and signaling areas that might require recalibration to increase sales.

Corrective action plan example

The essence of a corrective action plan lies in its meticulous structure, tailored to address and rectify deviations or inefficiencies identified within an organization. At its core, each action item serves as a focal point, detailing specific areas or processes that require intervention. 

Accompanying each action item is a clear description that provides a comprehensive understanding of the issue at hand. 

However, merely identifying a problem isn’t enough; delving deep into its origins through root cause analysis ensures that solutions target the fundamental issues, rather than just addressing superficial symptoms. 

This analysis then paves the way for defining the corrective action, a tangible step or series of steps designed to mitigate the identified problem and prevent its recurrence.

Besides, to ensure the plan’s effectiveness, assigning a responsible person to each action item is paramount. This individual or team is entrusted with the task’s execution, ensuring accountability and focus. 

The status of each action keeps stakeholders informed about the progress, be it in the planning phase, ongoing, or completed. 

Lastly, setting a due date for each corrective action introduces a sense of urgency and purpose, ensuring that issues are addressed in a timely manner, minimizing disruptions and maximizing operational efficiency.

Simple action plan example

A simple action plan strips away the layers of complexity, offering a concise and direct approach to achieving a goal or addressing an issue. This type of plan is characterized by its straightforward structure, devoid of extraneous details, yet powerfully effective in its clarity. 

It is specifically designed for tasks or objectives that don’t necessitate elaborate strategies or multi-layered approaches.

The core components of a simple action plan usually include a clear statement of the task or objective at hand, followed by a sequence of actions or steps to be taken. 

Each step is described succinctly, ensuring that anyone involved has a clear understanding of what is expected. Responsibilities are defined clearly, with each task allocated to an individual or a team, ensuring accountability. Timelines might be integrated, providing a clear framework for completion, even if they’re just broad milestones. 

Regular check-ins or assessments, although minimal, might be incorporated to monitor progress. 

The beauty of a simple action plan lies in its agility and adaptability, making it particularly suited for individual projects, short-term tasks or situations where a rapid response is required.

How to write an action plan?

Creating an effective action plan is a foundational step towards turning aspirations into tangible results. It provides a clear roadmap, ensuring that each step taken aligns with the overall objective.

Whether you’re aiming to enhance a business process or achieve a personal goal, a well-drafted action plan can be your guiding light. Here’s key steps on how you can craft one:

• Step 1: Establish SMART goals: Initiating with a goal that is specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound ensures you have a clear and focused endpoint in sight. Smart goals serves as the cornerstone for your entire strategic blueprint.
• Step 2: Determine necessary tasks: Decompose your overarching objective into smaller, actionable tasks. This modular approach not only makes the mission less daunting but also provides a sequential pathway to goal attainment.
• Step 3: Assign essential resources: Depending on the tasks at hand, designate necessary resources, be they human, financial or technological. This ensures that every activity has the backing it needs for successful execution.
• Step 4: Prioritize tasks by importance: Not all tasks hold equal weight. Determine the hierarchy of tasks based on their impact on the goal and their time sensitivity. This allows for a systematic progression.
• Step 5: Outline timelines and key markers: With tasks in hand, set clear deadlines for each. Introduce milestones, which act as periodic check-ins, ensuring you’re on track and allowing for celebrations of smaller victories.
• Step 6: Oversee and modify your strategy blueprint: As you progress, there will invariably be learnings and challenges. Regularly review your plan to make necessary adjustments, ensuring its relevance and effectiveness.
• Step 7: Consider ready-to-use templates: If starting from scratch feels overwhelming, lean on structured templates to guide your planning. There’s plenty of business plan softwares and platforms such as  Venngage that offer a plethora of action plan templates , tailored to various needs, which can significantly streamline the process.

An action plan is more than just an action steps, it’s a strategic blueprint that bridges the gap between aspirations and realizations. 

Through this comprehensive guide, I’ve walked you through the purpose, ideal timings, core components, and practical examples of action plans across various domains. 

Leveraging tools of project management , you can track progress, assign tasks and ensure every team member stays on the same page. 

It’s not just about setting goals, but about strategically planning every step, ensuring tasks completed align with the larger project goals. 

Remember, success isn’t just about having goals but about charting the right course to achieve them

And if you’re looking to supercharge your planning efforts, don’t miss out on the Venngage business plan maker. 

Dive into their extensive collection of action plan templates and make your strategic planning both efficient and effective. 

The importance of action plans and why your business needs one to grow

Nov 16, 2020

If you own or run a business, it’s important to have some idea of where you want it to go. How do you want it to develop? How do you plan on making sales? Will you be hiring people or expanding your team? There are many questions to be answered! As a result, it can be hard to know where to start. You probably have some idea about where you want your business to go in the next few months, a year, or even the next few years. But how do you make sure that you’re doing everything possible to make it happen? That’s where the idea of an action plan comes in. In this post, we’ll be discussing the importance of action plans and why your business needs one to grow to its full potential. But what is an action plan? We will be talking about that, too. So, if you want to know more about this topic and how it can help your business, keep on reading.

What is an action plan?

Essentially, an action plan is a plan that sets out what you’re going to do with your business, and how you aim to operate and manage it going forward. How this document looks is up to you, as there are many forms that it can take. However, one of the most popular forms for an action plan to take is a checklist of steps that need to be completed in order for you to reach your business goals. And, you don’t just need to have one action plan! Yes, it is a good idea to have a centralised plan for the business as a whole. But, if you wish, you can have multiple plans for different areas of the business. Or, different plans for different people to follow. It’s all about what works best for you and your business, as there are definitely no set rules!

Having an action plan is a really essential step when it comes to moving your business forward. Without a clear plan set out, things can get messy and confusing, quickly! So, it’s always a good idea to have an action plan set out for yourself and the rest of your business to follow, to help you get where you want to go in the most efficient way. Next, let’s look at how important it is to have an action plan, and some of the benefits that come with them…

The importance of action plans 

So, now we have clearly set out what an action plan is, just why are they so important? Well, there really are many benefits, in fact, far too many than what we can talk about in just one article! No matter what your business does, the sector you operate in, the size of your business, and more, you will likely benefit greatly from having a great action plan that is clear and actionable. Here are some of the tip benefits of having a solid plan for most, if not all, businesses. 

Clear direction

Have you ever felt like you know where you want your business to go, but you’re just not that sure on how exactly you can work to get it there? If so, you may be lacking the clarity and direction that can come from having an action plan. Everyone has to start somewhere, but it can be difficult to know where that somewhere is. So, having a clearly defined plan of action, either written on your own or with outside help, can really push you along and give you that clarity you need to focus on building your business. Think of all the time you may have wasted in the past wondering or worrying about how to get started. Well, with an action plan there are no excuses not to get going, because all of the steps are laid out there for you to get to grips with!

The importance of action plans should already be clear, but there are still plenty more benefits to come. One thing that a lot of business owners tend to struggle with is motivation. The lack of motivation can especially strike when you’re feeling lost or lacking clarity, as we discussed above. But, an action plan is here to help you. On those days or weeks where you feel a lack of motivation looming, you can always refer back to your trusty plan. You’ll be able to see how far you have come already, and the clear next steps that you need to take. Everyone struggles with a lack of motivation from time to time, but having a clear and concise plan can really help get you back on track. 

Learn about your priorities

In business, often everything feels like a top priority! This can lead to feeling overwhelmed and frustrated because you just don’t know where to begin or how to manage it all. Again, this is where having a good action plan will help you. By going through all the steps you need to take to meet your business goals, it will become clearer what your priorities are. What is really going to help you meet those goals? What is important, but could perhaps be passed onto someone else? And what is of the least importance that you might not have considered that way before? An action plan will give you the clarity you need to help discover this. Even if it doesn’t happen straight away, with time it will become far clearer what you need to work on urgently, and what is perhaps not quite as important. 

It brings your team together

While it is important to have an action plan even if your business is just you for now, it is perhaps even more important when you have a team or partners. But why is this? Well, part of the importance of action plans is that they set out a clear and specific goal. So, if everyone knows that goal and what they have to do to make it a reality, you should find that your team can work a lot more closely and better together. This is because it will be clear what each person needs to do, so everyone will be on the same page. When it comes to building your business, making sure that you have a great team behind you is really important. And, having an action plan set out means that everyone can play to their own strengths, and help get the best results for the wider business!

It gives you an opportunity to reflect

When it comes to action plans, you probably won’t need just one over the course of your businesses’ lifetime. After all, your goals, ways to measure success, and structure will probably change drastically from when you first started! So, be prepared to create multiple action plans and possibly even change them along the way if your objectives change. When devising your plans, this is the ideal opportunity to reflect on what has happened in the past and what you want to happen in the future. Thinking carefully about where you might have gone wrong, and what you have done well, is very helpful when planning for the future of your business, as it helps to ensure that you don’t make the same mistakes again while also taking full advantage of your strengths.

Increase efficiency and productivity

Who doesn’t want to do this and thus help grow their business at the same time? In essence, the importance of action plans all comes down to helping avoid confusion and feeling lost. When this happens, you should find that your efficiency and productivity increases. When you have a defined set of goals and steps, you will waste less time on the things that don’t really matter. Instead, you will spend more time on the things that actually help you reach those goals that you set out to achieve! Furthermore, having a clearly defined plan will help stop you from missing things or making common mistakes, to the detriment of your business. Your plan should be at the heart of everything you do, to help ensure that nothing gets overlooked when it comes to growing your business. 

So, the importance of action plans for any business is clear to see! There really are so many benefits. If you don’t have an action plan, just think about what more you might be able to do if you did have one? And, if you do already have one, how could you work on it to make it even better and help you grow your business even further? They really are a key component when it comes to business growth that no business can afford to miss out on. 

Here at Chrysalis Growth , we are passionate about helping the owners of small and medium businesses reach their goals. Do you struggle to find the time to take a step back and look at the bigger picture when it comes to your business? If so, we can help! Why not get in touch today and see how we can support you? 

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What is an action plan? Steps, template, and examples

Editor’s note : This blog was updated 27 June 2023 to add more information about action plans, including examples of the types of organizations that can use action plans and an in-depth example study. The action plan template was also updated.

Have a thoughtfully laid-out product roadmap? Great! What’s next?

It’s time to make things happen and turn your product vision into reality.

As a product manager, you’re akin to an orchestrator, juggling multiple hats that need different levels of skill and communication — the glue that brings everything together. One of the most important things you need to get started is an action plan.

What is an action plan?

An action plan is a guiding document and work breakdown structure that outlines all the tasks that need to be completed so you can achieve your product goals.

An action plan is like a music sheet: if you have a defined set of notes, you know exactly what the music is going to sound like.

As the product manager, you need to be able to define the set of tasks in sequential order, considering dependencies and priorities, that will help you complete your project in the quickest, most efficient way possible.

What is an action plan example?

Action plans do not all have to be for complicated products or things — they can be for easy, short-term plans as well. For example, say a product team at a stationery company wants to introduce a new pen model. Their action plan could involve defining the new model’s design, sourcing materials, setting up manufacturing processes, determining marketing strategies, and setting a timeline for the product launch.

Another example could be a clothing brand apparel brand plans to launch a new, sustainable line. This action plan could include researching sustainable materials and manufacturing processes, designing the clothing line, determining pricing strategies, planning the marketing campaign to emphasize the sustainability angle, and coordinating the product launch across various sales channels.

As you can see, action plans don’t always have to be for complex software products. We’ll walk through an example later in the article more suited toward a digital tech product, but the point is that every team can use an action plan no matter what their product is!

How an action plan complements your product strategy

It’s important to note that an action plan and product strategy are not the same thing. Product strategy defines the high-level direction of what will make a product successful and a general idea of how to get there. An action plan is created from an execution standpoint and is not meant to define product strategy.

However, a good action plan should incorporate a long-term product strategy that aligns with business goals. Taking action that doesn’t ultimately lead to achieving your goals is simply unnecessary and a drain on your resources. A smart action plan embraces the fact that business goals and product priorities can change along the way, making it crucial to create a plan that is flexible and allows you to pivot with minimal disruptions.

All in all, an action plan (especially when finely tuned and strategic) complements your product strategy by providing an actionable roadmap to success. As mentioned earlier, while the product strategy paints the high-level vision for what will make a product successful, the action plan breaks this down into tactical steps — think of it as the bridge between the strategy and actual implementation. It’s important to clarify that a well-crafted action plan does not aim to redefine the product strategy but gives a path to execute it.

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How to create an action plan in 5 steps

Creating an action plan is a logical exercise, much like putting the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle together. It’s just that sometimes, you don’t have the jigsaw pieces readily available, so you have to do some digging to find them first.

Whether you’re using pen and paper or a more sophisticated project management tool such as Jira or Confluence, it’s important to write down your action plan so you can get everyone on the same page (literally) and reference it later.

The steps to writing an effective action plan are as follows:

• Define goals
• Build your framework and task list
• Define roles and responsibilities
• Communicate and get feedback
• Update your action plan

1. Define goals

The most important step in creating an action plan is to define the goals you want to achieve through that plan. This isn’t exclusively about launching a new product feature or enhancing user experience, you can equally use an action plan to reinforce security measures or diminish your product’s tech debt. The goals can be big or small, but defining them clearly is crucial.

To ensure these goals are robust and measurable, incorporate data metrics as your success indicators and set feasible timelines. The more precise and data-centric your goals, the more actionable they become. For example: Increase net-new users by X percent through the release of Y new feature by the end of Q3.

2. Build your framework and task list

Now that you have your goals defined, work backward from your goals and think about all the different pieces you need to reach them.

When dealing with so many moving parts, it’s important to create a structure for them. We call this the work breakdown structure.

Essentially, this involves dissecting the project into smaller, manageable tasks. Organize these tasks into groups and create dependencies and communication links between them. This forms the framework you can use to fully build out your action plan.

The framework will help you create a holistic execution plan and force you to think about the things that you possibly could have missed. No two companies are alike, so create a detailed framework that works for you and your company.

Example action plan framework

Here’s an example of a simple, high-level framework for a process-oriented action plan that’s ideal for software companies:

• Product scoping
• Technical scoping
• UI/UX design
• Development
• Release and review

Product scoping — Gather product requirements through product analytics, customer discovery, cross-functional collaboration and internal feedback, competitive and market trends, and any other source that brings insights into the product you’re building. Consider how your product will impact existing customers, other products, teams, revenue streams, etc. within your company.

Technical scoping — Once you have the product requirements nailed down, having technical scoping discussions helps to understand technical feasibility and dependencies better.

UI/UX design — Create prototypes according to user experience and design best practices. This will help validate technical feasibility, customer usability, and alignment with product strategy.

Development — Now that we have a solid set of requirements that are ready to be developed, you can create further action plans specifically for development in collaboration with your engineering manager(s) . Together with your engineering leaders, break down the development phase into manageable chunks of work, taking into account technical dependencies and the sequential order of how the tasks must be developed.

Testing — Once your product is developed, it’s time to test it. Engage a variety of stakeholders to test your product. More feedback means more insights into how customers will perceive and use your product.

Release and review — Releasing a new product feature can be nerve-wracking. Having a release checklist to go with your action plan can be helpful. Think about all the things that need to be put in place before the release, including communicating with other stakeholders (e.g., support, marketing, sales, leadership, etc.). Once you release, review customer feedback to find ways to improve your product.

Once you have your framework, create a detailed list of tasks for each stage. Support each task with a written description of what the task entails and what defines it as completed . Reach out to your team members to help you understand each task better and include any other details that you think are relevant.

3. Define roles and responsibilities

Use the framework as a point of reference to manage your resources. Resources can make or break your project, so it’s important to manage them as efficiently as possible.

In collaboration with your engineering manager, establish the team that will be working on the specific project. Define the roles and responsibilities of each team member and make sure everyone understands how they are expected to contribute to the project.

Assign tasks to team members accordingly and help them understand the scope of their tasks. It’s also important to collaboratively set up deadlines for tasks and then hold them accountable to those timelines.

4. Communicate and gather feedback

You now have a well-established action plan. You know who is doing what, when, and how it all leads up to achieving the goals of your action plan. But there are always caveats.

For instance, sometimes you make assumptions before validating, or you’re just not aware of something that can become a problem later on. The list of potential nags is literally endless.

To avoid this, communicate your action plan to your core team, management, cross-functional stakeholders, and other team members to gather feedback. Being open to feedback is critical to learning and growing. Incorporating feedback will build your own credibility and will help evolve the process of creating action plans.

5. Update your action plan

The only constant is change. As market trends and business strategies evolve, you have to be ready to pivot. This can put a damper on your well-established action plans.

Acknowledging this and building flexibility into your action plans will help you keep projects on track. Create milestones or checkpoints in your action plans; this will enable you to make informed decisions on how best to pivot when the need arises.

As things change, update your action plan and communicate at the earliest possible to the project team, as well as any other stakeholder that needs to be in the loop.

Action plan in-depth example: Improving user engagement with a new feature

Let’s walk through a specific (and realistic) example product managers may face — improving user engagement by releasing a new feature. Specifically, let’s say you’re working on a news app and have been seeing declining user engagement recently. You’re not exactly sure why, but think that introducing a personalization feature might increase engagement. Following the steps outlined to create an action plan, the process would look like this:

The primary goal is to increase user engagement by 20 percent over the next two quarters. You’ll do this by introducing a personalization feature that tailors content to the individual user’s interests — something that we believe our competitors are doing already.

This will be measured by tracking metrics such as session duration, number of articles read per session, and click-through rates on personalized content suggestions.

You’ll use the simple, high-level framework we outlined to build the task list.

Product scoping — Conduct market research to understand user preferences for personalized content and see how our competitors are currently doing it.

Technical scoping — Collaborate with the technical team to assess the feasibility of implementing personalization algorithms, dependencies, and any potential challenges. This step may include meetings with data scientists and backend developers.

UI/UX design — Design the user interface for the personalized content feed. It could include the location of the personalized feed on the home screen, a section for users to choose their interests, etc. This step will involve creating wireframes, developing prototypes, and conducting user testing to validate the design.

Development — Implement the personalization feature, including the development of the algorithm, changes to the backend to handle user data securely, and the frontend changes to display personalized content.

Testing — Extensively test the new feature for usability, security, learning curve, etc.

Release and review — Plan the release of the new feature, and consider a soft launch with a small user group to collect early feedback. After the release, continue to collect user feedback to identify any needs for improvement.

For the sake of our example, let’s assume all of the team members have availability to help. The product manager will work on the product scoping phase and coordinate with the technical team for technical scoping, UX designers will handle the UI/UX design phase, developers and data scientists will work on developing the personalization algorithm and integrating it with the app during the development phase, etc.

4. Communicate and get feedback

The plan is then shared with all stakeholders — the core team, senior management, executives, and other teams impacted by this feature. You’ll get their feedback and make the necessary amendments. You’ll also use project management tools to ensure everyone has a clear understanding of the action plan and their roles.

Lastly, you’ll set up regular reviews to monitor progress and make necessary changes in the plan as we encounter new information or challenges.

Action plan template

Now that you have a foundational understanding of what to include in an action plan and how to write one, where do you start?

This action plan template is designed to help you keep track of tasks, resources, dependencies, and progress in a single, easy-to-read, and even easier-to-update spreadsheet:

To customize the action plan template for your next project, click here and select File > Make a copy from the main menu at the top of the page.

5 tips to build an action plan that drives value

A rushed or incomplete action plan will lead to stress and frustration down the road. Here are five best practices to help you create an effective and efficient action plan:

• Create multiple action plans
• Identify milestones and critical tasks
• Communicate early and often
• Embrace technology
• Continuously improve your processes

1. Create multiple action plans

Action plans can get pretty daunting for bigger projects. Don’t overwhelm yourself; use the same concept as the work breakdown structure.

Start by creating a holistic, high-level action plan that encompasses the entire project. Then, take each part of that plan and break it down further, and so on.

You can create individual action plans for each part of the high-level action plan. You may also need to do this for specific parts of the project if they have a lot of dependencies or require many people to collaborate with each other.

2. Identify milestones and critical tasks

When you have numerous tasks, you might have trouble managing them all.

Identifying milestones and critical tasks can bring visibility to the most important parts of the action plan. Make sure you have the right stakeholders in the room when discussing these.

Celebrating milestones is also a great way to improve the morale of the team.

3. Communicate early and often

No matter how detailed your action plans are, if you are not able to communicate them properly to the project team, it will be difficult to achieve your goals.

Keep the communication continuously flowing and keep an eye out for blockers. As the product manager, you need to work with the team to remove obstacles and keep things moving along.

Communication also goes a long way to align the team during change management .

4. Embrace technology

Technology can make our lives so much easier when we know how to apply it in the right ways.

There are many software tools that can help you create, document, and manage your action plans. Assess your needs and experiment with free trials to gauge which tool suits your process the best.

If paid software is too far out of the picture at the moment, you can simply use Google Sheets/Docs or Microsoft Excel/Word to create your action plan. Click here for a simple action plan template in Google Docs.

5. Continuously improve your processes

Small things that are done to better the process eventually add up and create drastic efficiencies over time.

Make time for feedback and introspection loops. Find ways to incorporate relevant feedback and distribute the knowledge. Monitor for process patterns and areas that need improvement and discuss with the team how you can make the overall process better for everybody.

Collaborate with the team to make improvements incrementally and continuously .

The framework and process for creating and managing action plans can vary based on the project and team. As long as you have action plans documented and communicate regularly with relevant stakeholders, you will be able to get things done efficiently.

Remember, as the orchestrator (product manager), you need your music sheet (action plan) and your orchestra (project team) to align, and you’ve got yourself a fantastic concert (product)!

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How to Write and Develop an Action Plan for Your Small Business

6 min. read

Updated October 29, 2023

Taking action at the appropriate time is critical to turning your visions into a viable reality. However, doing so without a proper strategy can be a recipe for disaster. 

A well-designed and concrete action plan that weighs all the benefits and possible challenges is the key to executing your vision successfully. Furthermore, it makes tracking progress easier, which in turn helps you attain your goals. 

Whether it’s a business, personal, or career goal you are going after, the right action plan can be your roadmap to success. A comprehensive plan details all the information regarding your objectives and projects, such as the resources required, the complexity level of tasks, etc.

Let’s figure out how you can build one to achieve your goals successfully and efficiently.

• What is an action plan and why is it important?

An action plan serves as a trajectory for the tasks or steps you need to accomplish to reach your goals and objectives. It is a crucial part of your strategic process that helps you improve teamwork planning significantly. Also, a proper action plan allows you to manage projects efficiently.

You have all the essential information in a centralized location that your team can access, making it easier for everybody to monitor progress and plan things successfully. As your company grows and circumstances change, you can revisit and make modifications to meet your latest requirements.

Planning of action items helps you prepare for any obstacles ahead. You’re your teams on track while ensuring impactful results. Furthermore, it also boosts your productivity and keeps everybody focused on urgent tasks.  

Here are some of the reasons why an action plan is vital for you:

• It gives you a clear sense of direction by highlighting precisely the steps you need to take when you need to take that and what it will help you accomplish 
• Having your objectives and goals on paper with structured steps keeps the team members motivated and dedicated throughout the project
• You can gauge your and member’s progress and contribution toward the collective goals
• You can turn your visions into reality, increase accountability and efficiency within your organization

How to create an effective action plan 

When it comes to creating an action plan, various practical methods and tools can help you develop a robust action program. Begin by following this straightforward 7-step strategy.

Following these steps for structuring your action plan incidentally also acts as a brilliant roadmap for your idea’s overall presentation and can effectively create a clear goal.

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1. Define your scope

It is essential to define your scope, create a roadmap, and align it with your strategic planning . Make sure your actions guide you toward company goals. Start by gauging how your team members can contribute and help you achieve your objectives.

If you don’t have a clear understanding of what you want to achieve, it might be challenging for you to plan a new initiative. Defining your current status and where you see your company helps you analyze the situation, explore potential solutions and implement strategies successfully.

2. Set S.M.A.R.T. goals

S.M.A.R.T. (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound) objectives or goals is a method of objective setting that enables employees and managers to set, monitor, and achieve their long-term and short-term goals. This approach brings tractability and structure together.

Once you map out your plan, scope, and aim to accomplish, the next step requires you to set well-defined goals and measurable tools. Create a template to highlight all the tasks that your team needs to perform and deadlines.

It is vital to make sure that your entire team is on the same page, involved in the process, and has access to the document. This way, the projects become manageable while also boosting team productivity.

Furthermore, ensure that the tasks are attainable. If you have more complex tasks, it’s essential to break them down into manageable parts for easy execution. 

3. Visualize your plan

Once you plan on the action items, prioritize tasks, and set milestones, the next step is creating a visual representation of your action plan. This visualization helps you engage your team and allow everyone to follow through to carry out activities.

A graphical presentation also makes it easier to get a bird’s eye view of your project. This way, you can identify your objectives and tasks that you weren’t able to execute or reach, allowing you to prioritize them to accomplish them.

You can elaborate your action plan with the help of a concept map that can help you explicitly communicate all the essential elements and information — task owners, tasks owners, resources, goals, objectives, deadlines, etc. Also, make sure the document is easily accessible to all. 

Additionally, you can also leverage online visual collaboration platforms to help you seamlessly visualize and structure your simple and complex concepts.

4. Prioritize your tasks

It is imperative to align all your activities with specific goals and assign them to relevant team members. When you list and prioritize all your tasks, it helps keep track of your projects’ status, progress, and completion. 

You could also structure your task list by importance. This way, everyone knows what needs to be done first to meet your deadlines effectively while ensuring that your employees can manage those tasks. That way, your team will also know their responsibilities and tasks to get done and engage them with a clear vision.

5. Set milestones 

Milestones are the objectives that your team aims to achieve to keep a specific project progressing at a steady pace. Your work will have a lot smoother flow when everybody is clear with goals.

When you set milestones , it serves as mini-goals that help you achieve your central goal towards the end. Adding milestones to your action plan is crucial to give your team members something to look forward to and encourage them to stay motivated throughout.

6. Identify your resources

Before starting your project, it is imperative to ensure that you have the critical resources to complete the tasks successfully. And if you don’t have adequate resources, devise a strategy to leverage what you have effectively. Include all the essential components such as the number of projects, budget, timelines, etc., to make sure you don’t miss out on vital aspects.

Knowing what you have to work with will ensure that any tasks or projects you set out to accomplish have a better chance of succeeding. If you don’t have enough cash, a large enough team, or even enough time to manage every project, you’ll soon find yourself struggling to meet milestones and deadlines.

7. Monitor, gauge, and update

It is pivotal to allocate time and resources to evaluate your projects’ and teams’ progress. Make sure you conduct frequent follow-ups with team members to see if everybody is on track. 

For this reason, you need to elaborate on the follow-up and assessment of teams in your action plan. This will help you implement the strategies that work well and eradicate the ineffective ones.

• A guide to reaching your goals

An action plan is an indispensable tool that helps you guide your way to realizing your goals. It turns your visualization into actionable steps and milestones. 

From larger departments in an organization to individual employees, an action plan is a defined methodology that helps you outline your activities, tasks, resources, budget, objectives, etc. This, in turn, allows you to achieve desired outcomes.

See why 1.2 million entrepreneurs have written their business plans with LivePlan

JT Ripton is a business consultant and a freelance writer out of Tampa. JT has written for companies like T-Mobile and others.

Table of Contents

• How to create an effective action plan 

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What is an Action Plan? Learn with Templates and Examples

Planning on turning your vision into reality? And what’s your best way to avoid challenges and problems during this journey? A solid action plan.

We have outlined 6 steps explaining how to write an action plan. Once you familiarize yourself with them, go ahead and use the editable templates below to start planning right away.

What is an Action Plan?

Why you need an action plan, how to write an action plan, action plan templates.

An action plan is a specific list of tasks in order to achieve a particular goal. It can be regarded as a proposed strategy to execute a specific project to achieve a specific or general goal effectively and efficiently. It outlines steps to take and helps stay focused and organized, whether it’s personal or work-related. Breaking down the goal into smaller, manageable steps, makes it easier to stay motivated and track progress.

It’s an essential part of the strategic planning process and helps with improving teamwork planning Not only in project management, but action plans can be used by individuals to prepare a strategy to achieve their own personal goals as well.

Components of an action plan include

• A well-defined description of the goal to be achieved
• Tasks/ steps that need to be carried out to reach the goal
• People who will be in charge of carrying out each task
• When will these tasks be completed (deadlines and milestones)
• Resources needed to complete the tasks
• Measures to evaluate progress

What’s great about having everything listed down on one location is that it makes it easier to track progress and effectively plan things out.

An action plan is not something set in stone. As your organization grows, and surrounding circumstances change, you will have to revisit and make adjustments to meet the latest needs.

Sometimes businesses don’t spend much time on developing an action plan before an initiative, which, in most cases, leads to failure. If you haven’t heard, “failing to plan is planning to fail” said Benjamin Franklin supposedly once.

Planning helps you prepare for the obstacles ahead and keep you on track. And with an effective action plan, you can boost your productivity and keep yourself focused.  

Here are some benefits of an action plan you should know;

• It gives you a clear direction. As an action plan highlights exactly what steps to be taken and when they should be completed, you will know exactly what you need to do.
• Having your goals written down and planned out in steps will give you a reason to stay motivated and committed throughout the project.  
• With an action plan, you can track your progress toward your goal.
• Since you are listing down all the steps you need to complete in your action plan, it will help you prioritize your tasks based on effort and impact.

From the looks of it, creating an action plan seems fairly easy. But there are several important steps you need to follow with caution in order to get the best out of it. Here’s how to write an action plan explained in 6 easy steps.

Step 1: Define your end goal

If you are not clear about what you want to do and what you want to achieve, you are setting yourself up for failure.

Planning a new initiative? Start by defining where you are and where you want to be.

Solving a problem? Analyze the situation and explore possible solutions before prioritizing them.

Then write down your goal. And before you move on to the next step, run your goal through the SMART criteria . Or in other words, make sure that it is

• Specific – well-defined and clear
• Measurable – include measurable indicators to track progress  
• Attainable – realistic and achievable within the resources, time, money, experience, etc. you have
• Relevant – align with your other goals
• Timely – has a finishing date

Use this SMART goal worksheet to simplify this process. Share it with others to get their input as well.  

• Ready to use
• Fully customizable template
• Get Started in seconds

And refer to our easy guide to the goal-setting process to learn more about setting and planning your goals.

Step 2: List down the steps to be followed

The goal is clear. What exactly should you do to realize it?

Create a rough template to list down all the tasks to be performed, due dates and people responsible.

It’s important that you make sure that the entire team is involved in this process and has access to the document. This way everyone will be aware of their roles and responsibilities in the project.

Make sure that each task is clearly defined and is attainable. If you come across larger and more complex tasks, break them down to smaller ones that are easier to execute and manage.

Tips: Use a RACI Matrix template to clarify project roles and responsibilities, and plan projects

Step 3: Prioritize tasks and add deadlines

It’s time to reorganize the list by prioritizing the tasks . Some steps, you may need to prioritize as they can be blocking other sub-steps.

Add deadlines, and make sure that they are realistic. Consult with the person responsible for carrying it out to understand his or her capacity before deciding on deadlines.

Step 4: Set milestones

Milestones can be considered mini goals leading up to the main goal at the end. The advantage of adding milestones is that they give the team members to look forward to something and help them stay motivated even though the final due date is far away.

Start from the end goal and work your way back as you set milestones . Remember not to keep too little or too much time in between the milestone you set. It’s a best practice to space milestones two weeks apart.  

Step 5: Identify the resources needed

Before you start your project, it’s crucial to ensure that you have all the necessary resources at hand to complete the tasks. And if they are not currently available, you need to first make a plan to acquire them.

This should also include your budget. You can assign a column of your action plan to mark the cost of each task if there are any.  

Step 6: Visualize your action plan

The point of this step is to create something that everyone can understand at a glance and that can be shared with everyone.

Whether your action plan comes in the shape of a flowchart , Gantt chart , or table , make sure that it clearly communicates the elements we have identified so far – tasks, task owners, deadlines, resources, etc.

This document should be easily accessible to everyone and should be editable.

Step 7: Monitor, evaluate and update

Allocate some time to evaluate the progress you’ve made with your team.

You can mark tasks that are completed as done on this final action plan, bringing attention to how you’ve progressed toward the goal.

This will also bring out the tasks that are pending or delayed, in which case you need to figure out why and find suitable solutions. And then update the action plan accordingly.

Business action plan

You may like to read: The Easy Guide to Making a Business Plan for Presentations

Marketing action plan

Strategic action plan, corrective action plan template.

Learn more about: Corrective Action Plan template .

Additional resources: The Easy Guide to Creating a Business Contingency Plan

Simple action plan template

Any more tips on creating an action plan.

An action plan is designed to guide your way to accomplishing your goals. It turns your vision into actionable goals and steps. And it helps you stay focused and motivated.

From an individual employee in an organization to larger departments can make use of action plans to steer their way towards completing their goals.

Maybe you are about to create your very first action plan, or you are already a pro at writing them. Either way, we’d like to hear your opinions on how to write an action plan. Do share them with us in the comments section below.

Join over thousands of organizations that use Creately to brainstorm, plan, analyze, and execute their projects successfully.

FAQs About Action Plan

Lack of clarity on goals: Make sure the team understands the goals and objectives of the action plan. The goals should be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART).

Unclear responsibilities: Assign clear roles and responsibilities for each team member to avoid confusion and ensure accountability.

Overcomplicating the plan: Keep the action plan simple and easy to understand. Avoid adding unnecessary complexity or detail that may confuse the team.

Failure to prioritize tasks: Prioritize tasks based on their importance and urgency. This will ensure that the team focuses on the most critical tasks first.

Inadequate resources: Ensure that the team has access to the necessary resources such as time, budget, and equipment, to carry out the action plan successfully.

Lack of communication: Effective communication is crucial to the success of any action plan. Ensure that team members are regularly updated on progress and any changes to the plan.

Failure to monitor progress: Regularly monitor progress and adjust the action plan as needed to ensure that it stays on track and achieves its goals.

Strategic action plan: This type of plan outlines the long-term goals and objectives of an organization, and the actions that will be taken to achieve them. It typically covers a period of several years and includes high-level strategies and initiatives.

Operational action plan: This plan focuses on the day-to-day operations of an organization, outlining the actions that will be taken to achieve short-term goals and objectives. It typically covers a period of one year or less and includes specific actions and timelines.

Project action plan: This type of plan is used for individual projects and outlines the actions that will be taken to achieve specific project goals and objectives. It includes a detailed breakdown of tasks, timelines, and responsibilities.

Sales action plan: This plan focuses on the actions that will be taken to increase sales and revenue. It includes specific strategies for marketing, sales, and customer service.

Marketing action plan: This plan outlines the actions that will be taken to promote a product or service and increase brand awareness. It includes strategies for advertising, social media, public relations, and other marketing initiatives.

Crisis management action plan: This type of plan outlines the actions that will be taken in the event of a crisis, such as a natural disaster or security breach. It includes specific protocols for communication, evacuation, and other emergency procedures.

An action plan can be used by anyone who wants to achieve specific goals or objectives. It is a useful tool for individuals, teams, and organizations in a variety of contexts. Here are some examples:

Individuals: An individual can use an action plan to achieve personal goals such as losing weight, completing a degree, or starting a business.

Teams: A team can use an action plan to achieve goals related to a specific project or initiative. For example, a marketing team may use an action plan to launch a new product.

Small businesses: Small businesses can use an action plan to achieve goals related to sales, marketing, operations, or finance.

Non-profit organizations: Non-profit organizations can use an action plan to achieve goals related to fundraising, volunteer recruitment, or program implementation.

Government agencies: Government agencies can use an action plan to achieve goals related to policy implementation, disaster response, or public safety.

Educational institutions: Educational institutions can use an action plan to achieve goals related to improving student outcomes, increasing enrollment, or expanding programs.

More Related Articles

Amanda Athuraliya is the communication specialist/content writer at Creately, online diagramming and collaboration tool. She is an avid reader, a budding writer and a passionate researcher who loves to write about all kinds of topics.

How to write an action plan: definition, best practices

• Productivity
• Uncategorized

The great Benjamin Franklin once said, “by failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail,” and it cannot be truer in business. It is a war out there and the only way you can win is to have a solid action plan in your arsenal. 

With research numbers revealing that 20% of new businesses fail during the first two years, 45% during the first five years and 65% during the first ten years, creating that action plan has become a must today. 

The first step to do is understanding what is an action plan, why you need it and how you can get it right. 

What is an action plan?

In essence, an action plan is a checklist or a series of lists that contain the tasks or steps needed to complete or achieve a goal. 

Forming one of the foundations of any business strategy, an action plan breaks down your goal into attainable tasks that you must achieve within a specified timeline. So you have a clearer picture of what needs to get done to get to where you want to be.

But an action plan doesn’t just provide you with the steps to achieving your goals. It also goes into detail about when each task should be done, who will be involved in these tasks and how you should manage and follow up on them to make sure nothing gets neglected or skipped because that will affect your end goal. 

Having an action plan also helps you minimize and mitigate risks, avoid costly errors and make the most of your time, money and resources.

Why an action plan is essential?

If you’re already in business and you still don’t know how to write an action plan, you’re actually not the first. 

In fact, a lot of businesses get so caught up with the pressures of developing a great product, preparing for a successful launch and running a marketing campaign that they forget to develop an action plan. They only realize that mistake when it’s already too late.

Developing a concrete action plan is essential for the following reasons:

It helps you stay on track

It’s very easy to get distracted when you have too much on your plate. But when you have a concrete action plan that tells you exactly what to do and when it should be done, you can focus your efforts on achieving your goals and not get sidetracked by other tasks that are not central to what you’re trying to accomplish. 

You can also make sure that no important details or steps are missed to avoid mishaps that could lead to failure.

It keeps you motivated

You need commitment and motivation to run a successful business, but that’s not always easy to maintain. Paper writing down your goals and the steps on how to achieve them will keep you committed to following all the tasks that you need to hit your targets. 

Knowing where you’re going is also one of the best ways to keep yourself motivated even during the toughest times.

It helps you prioritize

If you want to accomplish anything in business, you need to know how to prioritize tasks. With an action plan, it would be easier for you to determine tasks that should be on top of your list because they have the most impact towards your goals. 

It would also help you know who should be working with you on certain tasks so you can delegate well within your team and maximize everyone’s capabilities, talents and resources.

It allows you to improve your business

Here’s the reality: you don’t have control over everything in your business, but what you can control, you have to take advantage of. 

With a written action plan, it’s easier for you to know your strengths and weaknesses as a business, so you can improve any loopholes that could hinder you from reaching your goals. 

An action plan also helps you build a certain level of credibility for your business because it projects a sense of organization in your business.

The right people and time to create an action plan

Every business needs a concrete action plan, but it can also be used in different situations. You can create your own action plan as an entrepreneur and so can your managers, leaders and supervisors to make sure that they achieve their own goals that will ultimately lead to what you’re trying to achieve as a business.

Ideally, you should put an action plan the moment you build your business. Some experts also say that you should give yourself the first six months from starting to create an action plan since by this time, you should have your goals, objectives , mission and vision in place. 

But if it’s been a year or two years since you started your business and you still don’t have an action plan, you can always begin now. 

This will still give you the opportunity to get back on track with your goals, correct any mistakes and have a clearer path where you can navigate your business more smoothly. 

The best practices in creating an action plan

Whether you’re a startup or you’ve been in business for years, these action plan best practices will help you create a smart, actionable and consistent action plan that will guide you towards achieving your goals:

Define your goal

This is a no-brainer. What do you want to achieve by the end of this action plan? You have to know what you want to achieve and where you want to be or else, you’re just setting yourself up for failure. 

Although it’s every entrepreneur’s goal to earn well and grow, you have to be more specific with smaller goals in order to achieve those bigger, grander goals. 

Whether it’s solving a problem, starting a new idea or just improving what you already have, it’s very important to define your goal because it will form the foundation of your action plan.

Determine your tasks

Now that you have an end goal in mind, you can start brainstorming the specific tasks that need to be done in order to reach that goal. To avoid feeling overwhelmed, focus on the first task first and work your way from there. Involve your team in identifying your tasks so you don’t miss anything that needs prioritizing.

Work on the details

It’s not enough that you make a list of all the tasks that need to be accomplished to reach your goal. 

To make sure that you really tick of those lists, you must be specific with them by creating a timeline, describing each task and delegating the right people to complete them. This will make it easier for you to follow up on the process and make sure that no tasks are left undone.

Communicate your plan

You can’t accomplish your goals alone, so it’s very important to communicate your plan with the rest of your team so that everyone is on the same page. 

Explain how each team member will play a role in your action plan and how each task will fit into achieving your end goal. This will make it easier for you to ensure that everyone knows exactly what they need to do to contribute to the success of your business.

Create a follow-up process

You can’t just get the ball rolling your action plan and let it do its work. If you want to accomplish something, you have to be consistent in following up and measuring your progress. 

That is when a follow-up process becomes beneficial because it allows you to know which areas are performing and which are falling behind. This way, you can make improvements before things get out of control and recognize people who are doing more than expected to help you reach your goals.

Visualize your action plan

Visuals are so much more meaningful for human eyes than words. When you take time, sit down in front of a laptop or take a notebook and pen in your hands, start outlining plans, and enhance them with drawings, you get this mind-body connection and a feeling of control over the situation. You can set more clear objectives, work out further steps, and reduce the risk of falling into procrastination. So, to stay focused on your goals and achieve them faster, map your action plan out:

Even though you may need an action plan for business purposes, don’t ignore bringing a little piece of design into it. You’ll see how more self-explanatory and inspiring it will appear for both you and the team.

To create a visualized, still, formal action plan, think about adding pie charts, schemes, flowcharts, and matrices. Use colors, arrows, and overlays – to build interrelations or show spans. Also, add icons, simple geometric shapes, borders, and other designs so that the big picture will look self-explanatory and less verbose.

If you can include even more visualization – go ahead, do it. Sometimes, photography or GIF may be straight into the bowl and worth a thousand words. For a modern twist, consider using an online GIF maker to create animations that can make your action plan more interactive and informative, ensuring complex information is digested at a glance.

Re-evaluate your action plan

No matter how meticulously done an action plan is, you may still need to improve it along the way. To re-evaluate what you already created, try to use the SCHEMES acronym, which stands for Space, Cash, Helpers, Equipment, Materials, Expertise, Systems. 

This guide will help you determine if you have everything that you need to reach your end goal in the most efficient way possible.

An action plan is essential, whether you’re a huge company, an organization, a small group or even as individuals. With an end goal in mind, it’s easier to navigate your way through all the challenges, tasks and milestones in the business.

You can also create a more cohesive system within your team since everyone knows exactly what they need to do to contribute to what you’re trying to accomplish.

At the end of the day, it’s all about being smart with your choices as a business and organization. 

Creating a solid action plan is definitely one of the best decisions you’ll ever make not only for yourself but for the success and growth of your entire business.

Action plan example

When building both personal and work-related action plans, always start with the goal. For a simplified version, it’s better to use flowcharts because they’re more neat and representative. But if you need a detailed action plan, it’s better to proceed with a ready-made Weje template.

Make sure your action plan consists of not only tasks but also includes resources and assignees’ names. Also, add time estimates and expected outputs for each step. This will allow you to assess ongoing progress and see when you fall behind the schedule. 

And make it easy on planning. Don’t invest too much time in the action plan building and use tools that can help. Here’s how you can create the action plan with Weje – in 6 steps and with less than 6 minutes:

• Sign up with email, log in, and navigate to the user dashboard
• Click “+” to create a blank whiteboard or pick up a template, e.g. “Workflow”

• If you started with a blank canvas, create a card and name it as to your goal. Then – create distinct cards for every step and place them in order on your online board. If you started with a template, edit it, accordingly.
• When the plan’s layout is ready, start filling it in. You can create more cards for notes and correspond them to respective steps through dragging and dropping. Or – you can write down ideas using online sticky notes or mind map maker .
• If you need visuals, e.g. icons or pictures, upload them on your whiteboards or copy and paste from the Internet
• After your action plan is ready, you can download it and print, or email it to somebody for discussing or reviewing. If you have collaborators, share the board with them so that the team can contribute to the plan.

Egor Okrepilov

Avoid people who didn't make mistakes, as they just got lucky with the circumstances. Appreciate those who have made hundreds of them and learned how to find solutions to any situation.

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Last Updated on March 27, 2024 by Owen McGab Enaohwo

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Set a goal for your next project and watch it materialize if you take the right step.

Everyone has goals, but some people will be more successful than others in realizing them. People who accomplish goals better and faster are those who have developed an action plan and work to execute it. 

Executing an action plan is as important as creating it. This guide will walk you through the steps of documenting and implementing an action plan. Also, watch out for insights shared by founders and managers on how they built and implemented their most successful action plans.

Sign up for a free trial of SweetProcess now to create a successful action plan in minutes without a credit card.

Table of Contents

What Is an Action Plan?

How to Create an Action Plan for Your Business in 7 Steps

How to write an action plan for your business using sweetprocess, why you need an action plan to achieve your company’s goals, action plan examples from which you can learn, 8 core components of an action plan, types of action plans, how to implement an action plan successfully: tips and best practices, action plan templates you can swipe for your business, action plan vs. strategic plan: how they differ, action plan vs. implementation plan: how they differ, action plan vs. project plan: how they differ, action plan vs to-do list: how they differ, build your company’s action plans using sweetprocess, what is an action plan .

An action plan is a document that outlines the processes, tasks, and steps you need to cover to achieve a goal. A good action plan document will include actionable steps and procedures to follow, with a timeframe for each step. 

An example of this is Ling’s EAT (expertise, authority, and trustworthiness) action plan, which helped them boost their SEO with about 489% website traffic. Ling is a gamified language learning app, and the goal of this action plan was to boost the app’s download rate. This goal was achieved in one year. 

According to Simon Bacher, co-founder of Simya Solutions who is the creator of Ling, “We created a unique SEO strategy to EAT our way to the top with the following action steps:

• Analyze on-page inventory 
• Improve SEO content by optimizing keywords
• Improve on-page SEO by optimizing images
• Build topical authority with supporting content
• Improve our internal and external link-building strategies through media outreach
• Ensure our website is technically sound by improving our on-page SEO.” 

With these listed action steps, the Ling team was able to assign tasks and allocate resources, and the goal was reached within one year.

A well-structured action plan can make it easier for you to track and realize your goals. Whether you have a career, business, or personal goal, you can use an action plan to create a clear path to success. 

Creating an action plan is not as complex as it is made to look. Once you have your goal in mind, planning how to get there will be less challenging. Regardless of the different goals you plan to achieve, you will have to follow a similar pattern while creating your action plan. 

Meanwhile, the amount of detail in your action plan can vary based on the resources you have and the complexity of your project or goal.

There are three stages in the process of developing an action plan. They are the goal-setting stage, the planning stage, and the action stage. 

These stages are executed in seven steps, and they are discussed in detail below. 

Step 1: Define your goal

“When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached, don’t adjust the goals, adjust the action steps.” —Confucius

The above quote by Confucius made it clear that every goal can be achieved if your action plan has the right action steps. 

The success of an action plan starts with setting a clear goal. Having a goal makes it easy to have clarity of every other thing in between. You can determine the possible setbacks, the required resources, the feasible timeline, and so on. 

The first step in creating an action plan is to determine your goal. An important consideration at this stage is to ensure that you are setting SMART goals . 

SMART stands for specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound.

Setting SMART goals will help you clarify your purpose and process and give your project a clear direction. Specific and measurable goals will make it easy to track your progress and make necessary modifications in the process. 

Step 2: Create objectives

When you have your SMART goal established, the next step is to choose your objectives. Your project objectives are the deliverables and milestones that must be completed to achieve your project goals.

You must ensure that such objectives align perfectly with your smart goals. Make sure you are not doing this alone but involving other team members to understand different perspectives and needs. 

At the end of your deliberations, you should choose objectives you can realistically achieve based on your budget, time, and resources.

Example of an objective: To produce and distribute an information pack on malaria diagnosis and management to all health clinics in the district within the next three months.

Step 3: Highlight the tasks needed to get it done 

To produce the deliverables required, you have to identify the tasks that need to be done. Once identified, it’s important to prioritize which task comes first and which one depends on another. 

Step 4: Identify the team responsible for doing it 

After listing out and prioritizing the required tasks, merge each of these tasks with the appropriate team and team members. This will help you know whether you have enough hands to get the job done. 

Step 5: Identify the needed resources

When you have identified the tasks required to succeed on the project, it will be easy to identify the resources needed for each task and at each stage. Figure out those resources and ensure you have them readily available. 

One of the best resources you should have in place is SweetProcess, a process standardization tool that makes your action plan easily executable. You can use SweetProcess for free here .

Step 6: State the indicators of success

Success is not only defined by reaching your goal. It’s important also to have varying metrics and milestones that can be used to determine whether your team is making progress. 

Will Yang, the head of growth and customer success at Instrumentl , an all-in-one grants platform that helps nonprofits find, track, and manage their grants in a single place, talked about the company’s action plan on building a customer-centric culture in the company . He said, “One of the initial steps taken was to rigorously define the success metrics for growth—this ranged from user acquisition targets to retention rates and customer lifetime value. We then worked backward from these goals to establish the necessary action steps, using Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) to assign accountability and ensure alignment across the company.”

Step 7: Monitor and review your action plan

With your measurable goals and success metrics, it is easy to monitor and review your action plan. As the project execution progresses, you can check which action steps work perfectly and which need to be modified. 

An action plan requires that you have your standard operating procedures (SOPs) documented in one place. This will guide your team members on how each task is handled. A stack of different tasks will also need to be brought together as a process, and you must be able to assign different parts of the process and procedures to the concerned team members. 

A tool that has all these moving parts of an action plan in one place is SweetProcess . With SweetProcess, you can document your procedures, combine them to form a process, assign tasks to team members, and track progress execution. 

Thus, you have all the burdens lifted off your shoulders as a project manager, and it’s easy for all team members to know their assignments.

Without any learning curve and the need to break the bank, you can execute your action plan and make your next project a success. Start using SweetProcess for free without a credit card.

How to Create Procedures Using SweetProcess

If you want to create a new procedure in SweetProcess, you have the option of writing it from scratch, importing it from an existing document, or having SweetAI do the magic for you. 

• Here’s a guide on how to create a new procedure in SweetProcess from scratch .
• If you have existing procedures and would like to bring them over to SweetProcess, you can achieve that with a few clicks. Here’s how . 
• If you want to make things happen fast and would like your procedure creation done for you, SweetProcess’s AI can do this for you in a few seconds. Here’s how to write your process with SweetAI .

How to Create Processes on SweetProcess

A process is a combination of different procedures. All the steps and procedures planned in your action plan can be put together in one place by creating a process in your SweetProcess account. 

Here’s how to create a process from existing procedures . You can also import your existing process and have SweetAI create your process for you. 

How to Create Company Policies Using SweetProcess

Your action plan will sometimes require that you embed certain company policies in your processes and procedure flow. SweetProcess helps you do this without a hitch. All you need is to document your company policies or import them over to SweetProcess. Once you have them over, you can easily attach any named policy to any part of your action plan in the process flow. 

Here’s how to create a policy in SweetProcess:

• If you want to create your company policies from scratch, follow this guide . 
• Here’s how to import an existing policy to SweetProcess .
• Create your company policy with SweetProcess’s artificial intelligence function, SweetAI, following this guide . 
• Here’s how to attach a policy to a process or procedure . 

How to Assign and Manage Tasks on SweetProcess

When you have all your processes, policies, and procedures documented in SweetProcess, you would want to bring your action plan to the limelight by delegating tasks to team members. In addition to delegation, you can also monitor the progress of each team member.

Here’s how to delegate and keep track of team members’ progress in SweetProcess .

If you’re on your way to picking a tool to aid the execution of your action plan, you may want to check out SweeetProcess . Companies like ShipCalm and Stone & Wood have success stories of how they reached their smart goals with the help of SweetProcess. 

Ted Fogliani, CEO of ShipCalm , had a goal of minimizing the stretch on their systems, employees, and facilities during their growing customer base amidst COVID-19. SweetProcess happens to be the tool that brings their dream to life. Features like easy process documentation, different knowledge bases for employees and customers, task assigning and tracking, employee sign-off, and much more are what make the process a walk in the park for the ShipCalm team. 

The fact that SweetProcess has no learning curve and allows access to different document versions and allows easy employee onboarding helped make it a top pick and a great fit for ShipCalm during its expansion phase.

According to Thomas Parker, the quality assurance and sensory coordinator at Stone & Wood, SweetProcess helped the company execute the action plan to comply with regulatory standards . They were able to achieve this with proper process documentation, simplified employee orientation, centralized knowledge base, and process customization, among other features offered by SweetProcess. 

Without a credit card, you can also access all the features in SweetProcess for 14 days to execute your next action plan.

If you’ve never used one before, you may want to ask why you need an action plan before you start working on a project.

It provides clarity of objective and direction

With a well-laid-down action plan, you have a clear roadmap to achieve your smart goals and objectives.

Aids task prioritization

Since each of the tasks in the plan will have different levels of priority, your action plan will help you create a realistic order of priority during the action planning phase.

Enhances proper resource allocation

The resources, tools, and manpower required to carry out your project can be easily accounted for. This way, you can easily avoid shortages or excess resources. 

Leads to focus and motivation

Each team member will be on the same page regarding the execution of the action plan. This will keep everyone on their toes in taking care of their assignments to achieve the objectives and deliverables.

Fosters team alignment

With a documented action plan, all your team members are always on the same page regarding who does what. This will foster cooperation and productivity .

From the real-time insights shared with us by Fortador and Bybrand, you can learn more about how developing and implementing action plans has contributed significantly to their business success.

Lev Tretyakov, the CEO and head of sales of Fortador, revealed how the successful implementation of action plans has been the driving force behind Fortador’s success. Fortador is a company that specializes in distributing sanitation and cleaning steam equipment. 

Lev talked about the action plan that was developed and implemented toward the launching of the company’s new product line of eco-friendly steam cleaners. They had to come up with a comprehensive action plan that outlined the details from conceptualization to the market launch.

Action Plan Goal

To launch a new product line of eco-friendly steam cleaners.

Action Plan Objectives

• To source sustainable materials that conform to eco-friendly standards from suppliers. 
• To produce the steam cleaner in a way that minimizes the environmental impact.
• To revamp their assembly line and ensure reduced energy consumption.
• To ensure the market acceptance of the new product and optimize sales.

Here’s what Fortador’s product launch action steps looked like according to Lev Tretyakov: 

• Conceptualization: Identifying a gap in our product range, brainstorming how to fill the gap, factoring in market trends, customer needs, and Fortador’s strengths.
• Design and development: After getting a concept, our design team came up with prototypes, which we tested and refined depending on the feedback.
• Production: After working on the optimal design, we followed strict quality control measures in production to ensure the product matched our standards.
• Marketing and promotion: As the production continued, our marketing team was actively working to develop a strategy to promote the product. They worked on social media campaigns, press releases, and email marketing.
• The launch: We launched the product through in-store and online promotion events, and it was a success.

From his experience in executing this product launch action plan, Lev highlighted how implementing action plans has been of great influence on the company’s success. 

“An action plan serves as a clear outline of how to achieve a goal, what to anticipate, and what to do. It ensures everyone understands the end goal and their role and contributes towards it, which creates a sense of direction. It has helped the Fortador team navigate challenges, remain organized, and get through challenges better as everyone is working towards a common goal . ” 

—Lev Tretyakov, CEO and Head of Sales of Fortador

Bybrand is another company that developed an action plan to improve its strategic marketing goals by tapping into the boom of generative AI. 

Bernardo Castro, founder of Bybrand (a company that sells B2B email signature software), shared how implementing the action plan has helped them drive this vision. 

According to Bernardo, “The key to an action plan is to use a project management software. We created three goals using the SMART method of defining them. One of our goals is to implement the use of generative AI as a chatbot in the first few months of 2024. We had a specific aim, and it is measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound.”

Bernardo explained that while building the action plan, the company assigned tasks to the marketing and IT teams that are mostly in charge of the chatbot deployment. 

“We looked at managed services, the benefits of developing our chatbot, and the limitations of the technology. We looked at the costs involved with launching a chatbot. We prioritized researching generative AI because a website chatbot would directly affect our sales. So, over the last few months, we have looked at the limitations of our current chat tool. And we have begun testing the AI chatbot for its launch in early 2024.”

—Bernado Castro, founder of Bybrand

SweetProcess is a standard operating procedure software that can help you create an executable action plan without prior experience. Sign up for free —no credit card is required.

The components of an action plan can vary slightly depending on the type of project and company. Meanwhile, some core components are indispensable in any action plan document, and they are discussed below.

These are deliverables that the plan should help you accomplish in working toward your goal.

Action Plan Steps

These are the set of activities that need to be carried out to reach your goal. Your action plan steps should be detailed and follow a specific order.

Action Items

The action items are the specific, small tasks that make up the action plan steps. The action items help you execute your action plan steps.

Action Plan Timeline

An action plan timeline is the time allocation meant for each of the action plan steps. This will help to know the required duration of the whole project, each step with its start and end dates.

Action Plan Resources

These include any item that will be required to execute the action plan at each step. Action plan resources can include employees, materials, equipment, and action plan software, among other things. 

Action Plan Matrix

An action plan matrix is a tool that can be used to represent your action plan document, giving you all the details of the plan in just one glance. You can get samples of the action priority matrix here .

Action Plan Report

At the execution stage, you need to track the progress of your project with the anticipated progress. Having the preplanned parameters side by side with the actual ones will help you make modifications where necessary. 

Assignments

You should assign tasks to your team members and communicate with them so that everyone knows the tasks they’re saddled with. 

A process documentation tool like SweetProcess will help you assign tasks to your team members with all the needed details while also tracking the progress of the tasks. 

Action plans have different types depending on the purpose each is meant to serve. They, however, follow a similar pattern, albeit with different goals. The three types of action plans we’ll highlight here are business, project, and personal action plans. 

Business Action Plan

A business action plan is meant to set goals and assign tasks when you want to start a business or execute a new plan in an existing business. It outlines the vision for the business or new goal and the actions needed to bring it to life.

Project Action Plan

A project action plan is tailored toward individual and specific projects within an organization. This project might be a subdivision of a major strategy being executed by a company. An important component of a project action plan is the deliverable that is expected to satisfy the objective of such an action plan.

Personal Action Plan

A personal action plan may not be as complex as other types of action plans. The components are not always complex because they are mostly tasks you need to carry out yourself. Goals in a personal action plan can be as big as changing careers and as small as drinking enough water daily. The goal will determine what the action steps and other components will look like.  

Creating an effective action plan is not the end of it—it is just the beginning. When it is time to act on implementing the plan, here are some of the best practices that guarantee the success of the action plan. 

Involve your team

From the planning stage to the implementation stage, working on your action plan shouldn’t be a one-person show. If you plan with all your team members, it helps to ensure that everyone will be on the same page. Understanding the relevance of each assignment will motivate everyone so they don’t fall short in their duties. 

Set SMART goals

It’s important that you set goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound. Setting ambiguous goals will take you nowhere because you won’t be able to define your success metrics. 

Use task management software

An action plan document written with pen and paper may die right on the spot. You should consider adopting task management software that will document your processes, procedures, and templates and allow you to assign tasks and monitor and collaborate with your team members. Whether you manage a physical or virtual team, having everything in one place will prevent tasks from falling through the cracks and ensure prompt implementation of the action plan.

Check out SweetProcess for free and use all the features without hand-holding.

Create an action plan template

When you have a lot of projects to execute, it’s helpful to have an action plan template that works best for your team. When you implement an action plan, it is easy to tweak the plan during implementation until you have a perfect one that works for you. This will provide the best template for your team and future projects. 

Set up real-time alerts and assign dependencies

Each action step and item is expected to have a duration. To ensure that your action plan is executed within the allotted timeline, you should set reminders to know when each task completion is due. SweetProcess automatically does this for you by notifying all concerned team members of the progress and completion of each individual task.

Check action items off as you complete them

Checking off each action item on completion will help you know what is done and what is left in the action plan implementation.

Discuss late or pending tasks

Always keep in touch with your team members to encourage everyone to complete the assigned tasks within the time allocated. You should also not overlook late or pending tasks, rather communicate about them to know when they genuinely feel stuck so you can help.

The goal of your action plan will mostly determine the best template to use. Even though some of the action plan templates will have a similar pattern, you can check out which one best fits your project and swipe it right here for free. 

Blank Action Plan Template

The blank action plan template outlines a series of stages or activities that must be done to complete the work or task correctly. It helps you keep track of specific task accomplishments and the resources and equipment needed to execute the action. 

Click here to download the Blank Action Plan Template

Sales Action Plan Template

A sales action plan template outlines what you’ll do to meet your sales objectives with an emphasis on the transactions and relationships you can build with clients.

The major components of the sales action plan template are:

• Your revenue target
• Who your top customer segments are
• How to structure your teams for success 

Click here to download the Sales Action Plan Template

Maintenance Action Plan Template

A maintenance action plan template is a document that outlines what must be done to keep assets in a facility in good working order. The information in the template will guide you on how to use each asset to its full potential. You can keep track of maintenance schedules using the estimated time column, and check and record accountability when the task is complete.

Click here to download the Maintenance Action Plan Template

Startup Action Plan Template

This startup business plan template includes the essential elements you’ll need to pitch investors and stakeholders on your business idea and strategy. 

An executive summary, a financial overview, a marketing plan, specifics on product or service offerings, and more are all included in the template.

Click here to download the Startup Action Plan Template

Personal Development Action Plan Template

The personal development action plan template provides you with an assessment for personal growth. It is presented in the context of professional goals, education, relationships, or self-improvement. This is usually based on awareness, values, reflection, goal setting, and planning.

Click here to download the Personal Development Action Plan Template

Simple Action Plan Template

The simple action plan template allows you to keep track of the tasks that must be accomplished daily to achieve a larger goal. You can document your objectives, task list, success criteria, timeframe, and available resources. Each page has a label where you may enter information about your firm in addition to tables and images.

Click here to download the Simple Action Plan Template

Even though strategic plans and action plans are sometimes used interchangeably, they are not the same. 

Think of your strategic plan as your destination and your action plan as the details on how you plan to get there. 

Simply put, a strategic plan is meant to determine what we intend to do over a specific period, considering our main goals, resources, opportunities, challenges, and limitations.

The action plan refers to the specific steps to be taken to achieve this strategic plan. It comes with outlined objectives, timelines, assigning roles, and identifying the needed resources. 

An action plan refers to the scheduled proposition for implementing required activities to achieve a desired goal. An implementation plan, on the other hand, comes with a broader view. It covers the identification of required resources, developing assumptions, forecasting short and long-term outcomes, budgeting, allocating responsibilities, and scheduling of activities in a bid to achieve the desired objectives.

An action plan is usually a subset of a project plan. It describes how to accomplish a particular objective within the bigger project. The project plan outlines everything about the whole project, from its initiation to its completion. It includes objectives, scope, budget, timelines, risks, and stakeholders.

An action plan breaks down a specific goal into tasks, allocates resources, and sets deadlines and priorities, while a to-do list is only a list of things that need to be done in no particular order and without regard to the needed resources and timelines.

If you’re now looking to make and implement an action plan, you’ll be more concerned about executing, monitoring, and reporting throughout the project execution. SweetProcess is a tool that lets you achieve these and many more, ensuring you have everything in one place. 

This SOP documentation and management tool helps you realize your goals with great built-in features and intuitive interface. Features such as procedure standardization, process documentation , policy creation, and artificial intelligence assistance will help you set the pace for your action plan. While implementing your action plan, you will be able to tap from features like task assigning, progress tracking, team collaboration, and version histories. 

SweetProcess is a top pick among other similar tools because of its intuitiveness and favorable pricing, which helps you save time and cost. 

Without a credit card or any technical knowledge, you can use all the features in SweetProcess for 14 days for FREE .

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What is an Action Plan and Why it is Important for Your Project?

In project management, every activity counts; big or small. But then, how do you ensure that no tasks are left behind, especially on larger projects? Large projects involve collaboration between multiple parties and synchrony between activities that often have a dependency relationship.

Without an action plan, it can be difficult to track everything that is being done and ensure that nothing gets in the way of project development. An action plan is not an exclusive project management tool, but it can be very useful for it.

What is an Action Plan and What are the Benefits of Using One?

An action plan is a tool that maps all activities and the order in which they must take place in order for an objective to be met. The action plan identifies those responsible for each task, the time when they should be carried out, and how they should be carried out.

In project management, the objective of the action plan can be the completion of the project — here, the action plan will cover the entire length of the project — or the completion of each stage, requiring the elaboration of an action plan for each stage.

The benefits of using an action plan in the development of a project are many. One of the main ones is the identification of all the resources that will be needed to complete a project so that there are no surprises along the way of what is required to efficiently complete it.

The action plan also gives management a better idea of ​​the time that will be spent for the project to be completed, since it allows breaking the actions necessary for this into smaller steps that are easier to be measured.

In addition, the action plan facilitates the manager’s work, since, based on the plan, it is possible to better allocate the available resources, ensuring that each activity is assigned to the most appropriate professional(s).

See also our article on project prioritization and learn how to select without making a mistake.

How to Put Together an Action Plan for Projects in 7 Steps

Creating an action plan is easier than you might think! However, you need to pay attention to some details first. An effective action plan should contain:

• The goal you want to achieve at the end
• The steps that you need to take to reach this goal
• The definition of the people responsible for each task
• The deadlines and milestones for the plan
• Other resources that might be needed to complete the tasks
• Measures to assess progress

See below for a step-by-step breakdown on how to elaborate on each one of these components.

1. Define Your Goal

As we said, your goal may be the completion of the project. Thus, the objective of the action plan will be the same as the final objective of the project itself. However, when thinking about long and complex projects, this may not be the best approach. You can break your project down into smaller steps and develop them separately.

These parts do not necessarily have to be the same as the stages of the project. The important thing is the definition of goals that make measuring the evolution of progress towards the achievement of objectives more tangible.

An interesting technique to be used for goal setting is known as SMART, an acronym, which defines what a goal should be:

• Specific: Well defined and clear
• Measurable: You must be able to apply indicators to measure it
• Attainable: It must be a realistic goal
• Relevant: It must be aligned with the project as a whole
• Time-based: It must have an end date

2. List the Tasks to be Performed

The objective is now clear. But what exactly do you need to do to achieve it? In this step, you must identify all the actions that will be necessary for the goal defined in the previous step to be achieved. Create a table with three columns, as follows:

ACTION | RESPONSIBLE | DEADLINE

Make sure that there are no complex tasks taking up a row. If so, divide large or complex tasks into smaller activities. Another important tip is to involve the whole team in this process so that the responsibilities are defined jointly and so that everyone knows their respective roles well in the pursuit of the goal.

3. Prioritize Tasks and Deadlines

Every task has different urgencies. Some may be more urgent than others, while some may depend on the completion of another task to be started. All of this must be defined in this step so that a schedule is put together.

Whenever possible, consult people with experience in the type of activity to be performed and also those responsible for the execution of each task so that realistic deadlines are set.

4. Define Milestones

Always think about defining milestones in your action plan, as they facilitate communication about the progress of activities.

In addition, setting milestones in action plans helps to keep the team motivated, as it gives them intermediate goals to achieve. In other words, when the milestones are reached, the progress of the project becomes more tangible, giving the team more courage to proceed.

5. Identify the Necessary Resources

In addition to human resources, other resources may be needed to complete an action plan. This can be materials, tools, outsourced services, travel, accommodation, software, even the necessary hardware. Your budget should also be included as a resource. After all, without money for investment, an action plan may not progress much.

With the resources identified, it will be possible to ensure that everyone has what they need at hand to carry out their activities.

6. Make the Plan Easy to View

You can create a schedule in MS Project, use your own tool or even put your plan on a digital whiteboard. The important thing is that everyone on the team can visualize the action plan in an easy, clear, and simple way. This document must be easy to access and must be editable as plans often change or need to be adjusted.

7. Monitor, Evaluate, and Update

One of the reasons why the action plan should be editable is that you need to keep a close eye on what is being done, what has already been completed, and still needs to be done. This will give you a clear view of the progress of the plan as a whole, allowing the necessary adjustments to be made so that the deadline is met.

The main goal of an action plan is to guide you so your project can be successful. It will help you stay focused and motivated while telling you what steps should be taken so you can get where you wanted.

Did you enjoy learning about the action plan? Get to know what an ideas program is and see how it can benefit your management!

What Is an Action Plan? (With Example)

30-sec summary:

What is the secret of transforming a vision into a reality ?

Is there a structured approach to breaking down complex goals into manageable tasks ?

How do businesses and individuals ensure they’re using resources effectively?

When faced with challenges , how can one make sure their plan remains flexible and effective ?

Read this article to find the answers and learn how an action plan really works.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

The Purpose of an Action Plan

Key components of an action plan, the process of creating an action plan.

• Differences Between Various Plans

Implementing an Action Plan Successfully

Examples of action plans.

• Use This HR Software To Manage Your Team ✅

People and organizations use action plans to get to where they want to go. It’s more than just planning; it’s about efficiency, clarity, and a systematic way to achieve goals:

Clarifying Resources Required to Reach the Goal

The action plan helps make sure there aren’t unexpected roadblocks in reaching the goal, whether it’s human, financial, or technological resources. It also fosters trust among stakeholders, since they can see a clear allocation of resources , making sure everything is on track.

Formulating a Timeline for Task Completion

A project’s time is often the most important thing. An action plan details when each task should start and end , so everyone knows what’s going on. If the timeline’s clear, it doesn’t just keep everyone on track, but also makes sure stakeholders know what’s going on. In the end, a well-defined timeline reduces delays and ensures tasks are done on time.

Breaking Down Larger Projects into Manageable Steps

Creating an action plan allows you to break down big projects into smaller , more manageable tasks. This step-by-step approach makes sure that each task gets the attention it deserves , and complexities are handled easily. Additionally, it makes sure each phase of the project goes smoothly and efficiently.

Using an action plan, you can turn your vision into actionable tasks , ensuring systematic progress towards your goals. Here’s what it looks like:

Clear and Specific Goals

Any action plan’s goal needs to be clear and specific , so it gives you a direction to follow. Ambiguity can lead to confusion, so it’s important to define these goals clearly, so there’s no room for misinterpretation.

Detailed Tasks or Steps

Having set the goals, it’s time to break them down into actionable steps. These steps are the building blocks for the action plan, ensuring everything is covered. Individuals and teams get a clear roadmap on what to do and when, so they know what to do.

Allocation of Resources (team members, budget, equipment)

Tasks need resources to be executed effectively. This part of the action plan shows how to allocate them . This section makes sure that every task has everything it needs to be successful, whether it’s assigning team members to specific tasks, setting budgets, or getting the right equipment.

Prioritization of Tasks

In order to manage time efficiently and ensure the most impactful tasks get the attention they deserve, prioritizing tasks ensures critical ones are addressed first.

Deadlines and Milestones

Timebound action plans are time-bound. Setting deadlines ensures each task gets done on time, and milestones make sure everything’s on track. Teams use milestones as a way to recognize and celebrate achievements and measure how far they’ve come.

Monitoring and Revision Mechanisms

During execution , there might be adjustments needed. This component makes sure there’s a way to keep an eye on the progress of the action plan and to make necessary changes. It keeps the plan relevant and effective , even if something unexpected happens.

Action plans are a systematic process that takes thought, research, and collaboration . It’s about turning abstract goals into concrete steps, ensuring a clear path to success.

Setting a SMART Goal (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound)

SMART criteria ensure that the goal is well-defined and realistic. They set out what needs to be done, how success will be measured, and when it needs to be accomplished.

Identifying Necessary Tasks

After you have a clear goal in mind, the next step is to identify the tasks that need to be done to accomplish it. Each task should be clear and specific , so there’s no ambiguity.

Allocating Resources and Assigning Responsibilities

It takes resources, whether they’re human, financial, or material, for every task. In this step, we determine what resources are needed and make sure they’re available. We also assign responsibilities , so everyone knows what their role is and what to expect.

Prioritizing Tasks Based on Importance and Sequence

In order to make sure resources are used efficiently and tasks are completed in the right order, prioritizing tasks ensures that critical activities are addressed first.

Setting Deadlines and Defining Milestones

Setting deadlines ensures accountability and timely completion of tasks. Also, defining milestones gives teams a way to assess progress, celebrate accomplishments, and stay motivated along the way.

Monitoring Progress and Making Necessary Adjustments

The action plan needs to be monitored as it gets executed. This involves checking how tasks are being done and assessing the quality of the work . In case there’s a discrepancy or a problem, we adjust the plan.

Difference Between Actions Plans & Other Plans

Various types of plans serve different purposes, but their objectives, structures, and applications can vary a lot. Here’s how they differ.

Action Plan vs. Plan B (Contingency Plan)

• Action Plan: The roadmap breaks down the goal into actionable steps, sets timelines, allocates resources, and defines responsibilities to accomplish the goal.
• Plan B (Contingency Plan): The backup plan is foreseeing potential risks and coming up with strategies to mitigate them.
• Key Difference: Contingency plans are reactive, designed for unforeseen challenges, while action plans are proactive and focused on achieving a goal.

Action Plan vs. Project Plan

• Action Plan: Describes how to accomplish a particular objective within the bigger project, and it’s a subset of the project plan.
• Project Plan: This document outlines everything about the project, from its initiation to its completion. It includes objectives, scope, budget, timelines, risks, and stakeholders.
• Key Difference: Action plans focus on specific tasks or objectives within the project, while project plans give an overview.

Action Plan vs. To-do List

• Action Plan: This document breaks down a goal into tasks, allocates resources, sets deadlines, and prioritizes.
• To-do List: It’s just a list of things that need to be done, with no breakdown of resources, timelines, or priorities.
• Key Difference: Action plans are comprehensive and strategic, while to-do lists are basic and lack the depth and structure of plans.

A well-crafted action plan is only half the battle; its implementation determines if you meet your goals. In order to execute an action plan successfully, you need a combination of tools, strategies, and proactive measures . Here’s how to do it:

Utilizing a Management Software

Teams can track progress, assign tasks, set deadlines, and collaborate in real-time with a management software , which allows them to establish goals, track progress, assign tasks, and set deadlines . With platforms like Factorial HR , you can help your team succeed.

Using Templates for Consistency and Efficiency

Templates provide a standardized structure for action plans. By using templates, teams can make sure every action plan keeps a consistent format, so they’re easier to understand and execute. Templates also save time , because teams don’t have to start over every time.

Setting Up Real-time Alerts and Dependencies

A real-time alert lets team members know when deadlines are , so they’re on time. Dependencies, on the other hand, make sure tasks go in the right order . For example, if Task B depends on Task A, team members will be reminded to finish Task A before moving on.

Checking Off Completed Tasks

Checking off completed tasks gives you a sense of accomplishment. Not only does it boost morale, but it gives you a clear visual representation of your progress. You should update your action plan regularly to make sure everyone knows what’s been accomplished and what still needs to be done.

Addressing and Discussing Any Delays or Issues Promptly

It’s inevitable that there’s going to be challenges in every project. The key is to deal with them right away. If there’s a delay or an issue, talk to the team right away. When you work together on problems, you’ll come up with innovative solutions, and you’ll stay on track despite obstacles.

There are many kinds of action plans. They serve as structured roadmaps that help people and teams reach specific goals. Here are a few examples:

Business Action Plan

• Objective: Expand business operations to another region within the next year.
• Tasks: Market research, securing funding, hiring local staff, finding a suitable location, and launching a marketing campaign.
• Resources: Research team, financial advisors, HR team, and marketing professionals.
• Timeline: 12 months with monthly milestones.

Marketing Action Plan

• Objective: Increase brand awareness by 30% over the next six months.
• Tasks: Conducting a SWOT analysis , identifying target audience segments, creating a content calendar, launching ad campaigns, and monitoring engagement metrics.
• Resources: Marketing team, content creators, ad budget, and analytics tools.
• Timeline: 6 months with bi-weekly check-ins.

Sales Action Plan

• Objective: Boost sales by 20% in the upcoming quarter.
• Tasks: Identifying potential leads, training sales team on new strategies, offering promotional discounts, and gathering customer feedback.
• Resources: Sales team, CRM software, training materials, and feedback forms.
• Timeline: 3 months with weekly sales targets.

Personal Development Action Plan

• Objective: Improve leadership skills over the next year.
• Tasks: Attending leadership workshops, reading relevant books, seeking mentorship, and taking on challenging projects.
• Resources: Workshop fees, reading materials, mentor’s time, and real-world projects.
• Timeline: 12 months with quarterly self-assessments.

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What is an action plan?

Table of Contents

What is an action plan and how to write one.

It’s exciting to start a project but also a little overwhelming. How do you get from the big idea to an actual result?

One way to conquer a project is by breaking it down into smaller, manageable actions and tracking how you work through those tasks. Action plans can help you plan and monitor these work items.

An action plan is a powerful strategic planning tool for project management that helps you break down a goal into actionable tasks. It provides a clear list of tasks, priorities, the person responsible, and required resources. It also highlights potential obstacles and how to overcome them.

Unlike other management tools, such as Gantt charts , which provide a broader view of the project timeline, an action plan focuses on shorter-term or recurring tasks, known as action items.

These action plan steps are the building blocks of the larger project.

One of the main benefits of an action plan is that it turns a big idea into concrete, actionable steps. By describing these steps in simple terms, an action plan enables any team member to follow the plan successfully. Moreover, as a living document, an action plan template can be updated throughout the project lifecycle to reflect changes in circumstances or progress made.

What is the purpose of an action plan?

An action plan serves as a roadmap to guide you and your team toward achieving a common goal. It enables you to focus on each step of the process, track progress, and ensure that nothing falls through the cracks.

Like a recipe, an action plan details who will be responsible for each task, when and where it needs to happen, and why it's important to the project's success. By clarifying these details, an action plan aligns everyone involved in the project and ensures they are working toward the same goal.

Some say action plans are best suited for projects with less stringent deadlines. The truth is that they can be helpful in any project, regardless of the timeline.

By providing orientation and structure, an action plan can help you:

Stay organized and focused

Help you track progress

Stop you from overlooking essential details

Help you make adjustments when circumstances change

Use action plans to achieve project success and boost process improvement

Effective project management is crucial for ensuring the success of any project, regardless of its size or complexity. One way to achieve project success is by combining action plans with different project management tools and methodologies.

Below, we will explore how action plans can work together with various project management tools and methodologies to achieve project success and boost process improvement.

Agile Sprints

Agile is an iterative approach to project management that breaks down work into smaller, manageable chunks called sprints. Each sprint typically lasts two to four weeks and involves a cross-functional team working together to complete tasks. At the end of each sprint, the team delivers a working product increment that meets the customer's requirements.

To effectively manage sprints, teams must create a sprint backlog detailing the tasks required to complete each sprint. This stage is where action plans come in.

By detailing the tasks required for each sprint backlog item, teams can ensure the timely completion of each sprint and make adjustments as needed.

For example, suppose a software development team is working on a project that involves developing a new feature for their software product. The team can create an action plan that outlines the tasks required for each sprint backlog item. This can include tasks such as designing the user interface, developing the backend functionality, and conducting user testing.

Kanban Boards

Kanban boards are a visual project management tool using columns and cards to represent work items. The board is typically divided into columns such as "To Do," "In Progress," and "Done." Cards are then placed on the board representing individual tasks or work items.

Using an action plan with a Kanban board can help you create a trackable visual checklist of tasks. As you move cards across the board, you can update your action plan to reflect your progress. This can help you identify bottlenecks, prioritize tasks, and ensure everything moves forward as planned.

For example, imagine you're managing a marketing campaign for a new product launch. You could create a Kanban board with columns for “Research,” “Copywriting,” “Design,” and “Publishing.” Then, you could make an action plan with a detailed checklist of tasks for each column. As you move cards across the board, you can update your action plan to reflect your progress and ensure that everything is on track for a successful launch.

Kaizen Events

Kaizen events are team-based improvement activities that aim to identify and eliminate waste in a process. They can be used to improve quality, reduce lead time, and enhance safety, among other things. By involving team members in the process and encouraging them to share their ideas and insights, Kaizen events can lead to significant improvements in a short period of time.

To ensure that the improvements identified during a Kaizen event are implemented successfully, it is important to use an action plan. The action plan should detail the specific tasks required to implement each improvement, who is responsible for each task, and the deadline for completion. This will help keep the team focused and ensure progress toward achieving the desired improvements.

For example, imagine that a team holds a Kaizen event to improve the efficiency of a manufacturing process. One of the improvements identified is to implement a new tool that will automate a certain task. The team creates an action plan that outlines the steps required to purchase, install, and test the new tool. The action plan also assigns specific tasks to team members and sets deadlines for completion. Using the action plan to track progress, the team can successfully implement the new tool and achieve the desired improvement.

DMAIC Six Sigma

DMAIC Six Sigma is a structured approach to process improvement that involves five phases: Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control.

phase involves identifying the problem, project goals, and customer requirements. The Measure phase focuses on data collection and analysis to understand the current state of the process.

The Analyze phase aims to identify the root cause(s) of the problem and develop potential solutions.

The Improve phase involves testing and implementing the chosen solution(s), and the Control phase aims to sustain the improvements and ensure long-term success.

To effectively implement DMAIC, a detailed action plan can be created to monitor progress during the Improvement phase. This can include specific tasks, timelines, and responsible team members to ensure the project stays on track and meets its goals.

SIPOC Diagrams

SIPOC diagrams offer a high-level view of a process that helps you identify the key components and their interactions. The acronym stands for Suppliers, Inputs, Processes, Outputs, and Customers.

By mapping out a process using a SIPOC diagram, you can get a better understanding of how it works, who is involved, and what outcomes it produces. This can be a useful tool for identifying areas for improvement and streamlining the process.

Once you have identified the areas for improvement, it's time to create an action plan to implement the necessary changes. The action plan should detail the steps required to achieve the desired outcome and provide a timeline.

For example, let's say you have identified a bottleneck in your production process using a SIPOC diagram. You can create an action plan to address this issue by specifying the actions needed to resolve the bottleneck and assigning responsibilities for each action. You can then track the plan's progress and adjust it to ensure its success.

How to write an action plan

When writing an action plan, remember to involve the team in the writing process and prioritize collaboration, as this can help motivate team members and hold them more accountable.

Whether you’re starting from scratch for filling out an action plan template , here are some other key steps to consider:

One of the first steps is to define your end goal, making sure that it is specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound ( SMART ).

Next, break down tasks into smaller, manageable pieces, and set deadlines to ensure that you stay on track.

Set milestones that lead to the main goal, as they provide a focus for team members and help ensure that you're progressing toward the ultimate objective.

Identify and allocate necessary resources, including human resources and materials, to ensure the plan can be successfully implemented.

List potential obstacles and plan contingencies to address any issues that may arise during the implementation process.

Use an action plan template to document the plan and visualize it using a flowchart or Kanban board .

Track progress and update the plan regularly using online tools.

By following these steps, you can create a well-organized, easy-to-read action plan that can be easily updated and accessible to everyone involved.

Here’s an example of an action plan:

Ensure with each update that the website uses the correct stylesheet characters for the localized versions and doesn’t appear garbled.

Task: For new pages, copy the ‘Standard Web Page Template.’

Date: When creating pages

Owner: Writers

Task: Ensure that each new web page includes a link to CSS2.

Date: One week before release.

Owner: Upload specialist

Task: Confirm that CSS2 is uploaded to the release server.

Best practices for writing an action plan

As you work through the plan, ensure that you keep these best practices in mind:

Make sure that your action plan is easy to understand and follow . Avoid using technical jargon or complex language that could confuse team members or stakeholders.

Engage relevant stakeholders early on in the process to ensure that everyone is on the same page and has a shared understanding of the goals, objectives, and desired outcomes of the action plan.

Focus on the most critical action items first and ensure they are completed on time and within budget. Tip: Use the Pareto principle (80/20 rule) to identify the 20% of action items that will deliver 80% of the impact.

Recognize that action plans are not set in stone and may need to be adjusted as circumstances change. Build in some flexibility to accommodate unexpected challenges or new information during the implementation process.

Accelerate your action plans with Miro

You can create an action plan that meets your unique needs using Miro. Filling out an action plan template provides guidance as you document your plan, allowing you to easily enter notes, add graphs and charts, and track progress.

Miro makes it easy to jumpstart your planning process with trackable lists that can be stored in a central location, allowing team members and other stakeholders to access and update the plan efficiently. Using Miro can help streamline your action plan process and improve collaboration, ensuring your team stays on track and achieves its goals.

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Action Plan: Meaning, Benefits, Templates, Significance, & How to create it

October 18, 2019 | By Hitesh Bhasin | Filed Under: Careers

Having a business goal and looking for the right steps to accomplish that? A SMART action plan that lists down all the quatified targets in a timebound manner will help you achieve your goals easily. Thus, make an immaculate Action Plan that is SMART.

Do you know what do we mean by the SMART here?

Table of Contents

Meaning the SMART Action Plan

An action plan which has below-given features is SMART-

S- Specific

M- Measurable

A- Achievable

R- Realistic

T- Time-Based

So, when you have such an action plan that comprises the features mentioned above, you will be able to accomplish your business in a result-driven fashion.

Let us dive deep and understand the significance of Action Plan in Business Successes-

Significance of Action Plan for Businesses

The success of a business depends upon the vision that it has for the future and what it can do to turn that vision into a stark reality.

With the help of the action plan, there is no doubt that you will be able to make some changes in your company that will drive it into the path of success without any hassle whatsoever. But are you familiar with the term action plan?

If not that you need to know all that you can about it because an organization needs to have an action plan in hand for the future. Who knows what is to come right? So, it is always a good idea to be prepared in the best way.

So, we are going to have a little chat about this thing that we are calling the action plan.

What is an Action Plan?

The action plan is something that can be used to provide a proper description of how your organization will be able to meet the goals and objectives that it has through some important and detailed steps.

It also describes the perfect timing for these steps to be taken so that you can have the best results in no time.

So, there is simply not a single speck of doubt about the fact that it is one of the most important things to focus on right now.

Do you wish to know a little bit more about the action plan? You are definitely in the perfect place my friend because this is exactly what we are going to do here.

Benefits of having an Action Plan

When we talk about organizations, there are a lot of things that matter to them. The action plan is one such thing which is quite an important and big deal for them.

To be completely honest with you, an action plan can often be compared to an act of heroism because it helps the company in achieving the things that it believes in.

It is just a way to ensure that the vision of the company is made with the help of concrete and that no stones are left unturned to achieve that goal.

The action plan is a way that describes how the group is going to be using the amazing strategies to achieve the objectives and goals for the business. There are different action steps that one need to take to bring that kind of change in an organization .

Now let us talk a little bit about the purpose of the entire action plan that we are talking about in here. The main idea behind creating the action plan is to provide a clarification for the resources which are going to be used to achieve a specific goal of the company.

Also, there will be a specific timeline provided with the action steps, and when should the company take these steps to assure success and growth for the company in the best way.

So, in a way, we can say that the action plan is something that is one of the most important tools for businesses these days.

Why Do We Need An Action Plan?

Most people these days don’t have a plan to fail, but they surely fail to make a plan.

That is one of the reasons why they fail in the first place.

So, it is really important to take the necessary action, so that the business or the company doesn’t fail. This is where the action plan comes to help us all out in the time of need.

While some people might think that their company doesn’t need an action plan, they will all be pretty wrong about it. To be honest , there are many different usages to creating an action plan, and that is exactly what we are going to provide you with.

#1. Action Plan offers credibility to your company

With an action plan, you will be able to provide certain credibility to the company of yours. This action plan will be reminders to the people working in the company and also the investors that you have proper order in your company and you have the potential to get the things done in the right way.

#2.  No specific details, steps, and measures will ever be missed

Also, an action plan would make sure that you don’t miss out on the important details regarding your company, and it will certainly improve the attention to detail that you have. This is one of the most important benefits of having an action plan.

#3. Action Plan will increase the efficiency of your business

If you have a proper action plan, there is no doubt that you will be able to increase the efficiency of the company. The action plan will help in saving a lot of time, resources, and energy and will provide you with some long-term benefits.

When Is The Correct Time To Create An Action Plan?

Many people ask this question of what is the best time to create an action plan for the company?

Well, we are here to talk about that a little bit so that you can have an idea. To be completely honest, the ideal time of developing an action plan would be during the starting of the company when you are just on the baby stage.

We would say that six months after starting the company is the correct time. The reason we say this is that you need to ascertain the objectives, mission , vision, and the strategies that you want to have for the company before you begin to make an action plan the best way.

So, creating an actual action plan would be useful when you do it during the time that you have enough information to make sure that it works. In this way, you will be able to achieve a proper blueprint, which is very useful for the success of the company.

But then there is one thing that you always need to remember about an action plan, and it is this that it is always just a work which is in progress and you will be able to make some changes in the action plan of yours as well.

With the changing times, there are also some company objectives and policies which are changing. So, there might be a chance that you might have to make some changes in the action plan of yours.

This is certainly a very important thing that you always have to keep in mind when you are creating the amazing action plan of yours and success will not be that far away for you.

How to Create An Action Plan

Now that you know a bit more about the action plan, we bet that you are ready, to begin with, the next big thing and that is the creation of the action plan that we are talking about in here. So, for those who need a little bit of help in that aspect, here we have some things that you can try out.

#1. Set Some Goals

The first thing that you need to do is create a strategic plan for the company. You need to know where exactly it is that you want to go. So, that is an important thing; you have to set the goals of the business that you want to achieve.

#2. Know Your Limit

Another one of the most important things that you always have to keep in mind is that the goals that you set need to be achievable in the first place. You don’t want to get into something that you will not be able to achieve, right? So that is another one of the important tips that we have for you in here.

#3. List All Your Tasks

Well, to create the perfect action plan, you need to plan out the steps that you need to take to have the plan ready when you need it to be. You need to list out all the activities that you will have to perform when you need to reach a specific goal for the company.

#4. Manage Your Tasks Well

There might be some tasks in there which are not that easy to do. So, what you need to do at the moment is to create some subdivisions of the tasks which are too difficult to handle. This way, you can make sure that you can do them most efficiently.

#5. Track for Some Changes

After the creation of the action plan, you need to make sure that you monitor it from time to time so that you can see whether there are any changes which are required in the plan or not. This will help in the improvement of the plan.

Templates of Action Plan

#1. template for a business action plan in excel.

The below-given template will help you accomplish the goals of your business marketing and advertising plans-

#2. Template for a Project Action Plan in Word

For scheduling a project and measuring progress, below-given template with work best-

#3. Template for a Team Action Plan in Word

Below given template will help you in listing team members and gauging their attendance details-

#4. Template for Work Action Plan in Word

Let us have a look upon the below-given template that helps business in making an effective work action plan-

#5. Template for an Employee Action Plan in Word

For making an employee improvement action plan, below given template will work adeptly-

Wrapping it up

On the concluding note, we hope that this helped you a bit in understanding the concept of action plans and their importance.

Action Plans are one of the most effective methods that empower businesses to have the steps and resources to accomplish a particular business goal in the most efficient, effective, timely, and profit-driven manner.

What do you consider the most important benefit of an action plan for a business? Share with us in the comments below.

Liked this post? Check out the complete series on Careers

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About Hitesh Bhasin

Hitesh Bhasin is the CEO of Marketing91 and has over a decade of experience in the marketing field. He is an accomplished author of thousands of insightful articles, including in-depth analyses of brands and companies. Holding an MBA in Marketing, Hitesh manages several offline ventures, where he applies all the concepts of Marketing that he writes about.

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How to Write an Action Plan: Step-by-Step (Examples)

By Status.net Editorial Team on November 9, 2023 — 9 minutes to read

Understanding Action Plans

An action plan is a detailed roadmap of the necessary steps you need to take to achieve a specific goal or objective. It’s like a GPS that guides you from your starting point to your desired destination. Creating an action plan helps you break down a large goal into smaller, more manageable tasks, which makes the goal feel less overwhelming.

To start, you should first identify your end goal and be as specific as possible. For example, if you want to increase sales for your business, set a target like “Increase sales by 20% within the next six months.” This will give you a clear vision of what you want to achieve and make it easier to measure your progress.

Next, list the necessary actions or tasks required to reach your goal. These can be further divided into smaller tasks that are easy to understand and implement. For example, to increase sales, you could:

• Improve your online presence by revamping your website, optimizing it for search engines, and posting regularly on social media platforms.
• Reach out to potential clients through email campaigns and cold calls.
• Offer promotions or discounts to incentivize new customers to try your product or service.

Now, it’s time to set a timeline for each task. Deadlines will enable you to monitor your progress and stay on track. Assign realistic due dates for each task, and if needed, break them down into smaller milestones.

To ensure your action plan’s success, make sure to assign responsibility for each task. If you’re working with a team, delegate tasks according to each team member’s strengths, skills, and workload. This will help ensure everyone knows what their responsibilities are, and they are held accountable.

Lastly, always monitor your progress and evaluate your action plan’s effectiveness. Regularly review the tasks you’ve accomplished, and make note of the tasks that were challenging or required more time than anticipated. This self-assessment will help you improve your action plan and make necessary adjustments as you work towards your goal.

Example Action Plan

Goal : Increase sales by 20% within the next 6 months (By January 1st, 2025)

Actions : 1. Improve online presence a) Revamp website design – Due October 15th b) Optimize website for SEO – Due November 1st c) Post regularly on social media (1x/week min) – Ongoing

2. Reach out to potential clients a) Create email marketing campaign – Due September 15th b) Start cold calling campaign (10 calls/day) – Start October 1st

3. Offer promotions a) Design promotion flyers – Due September 1st b) Run month-long 20% off sale – October 1-31st

Monitoring : – Check website analytics weekly – Track new clients monthly – Evaluate sales figures monthly – Adjust plan as needed at monthly meetings

Responsibilities : – John to revamp website – Susan to handle social media – Michael to create promotions – Jennifer to manage outreach campaigns

Steps to Creating a Powerhouse Action Plan

First, identify your goal . Be specific about what you want to achieve and set a time frame for accomplishing it. This will help keep your efforts focused and prevent you from getting overwhelmed by smaller tasks. For example, instead of “increase sales”, choose “increase sales by 20% in the next six months”.

Next, break your goal down into smaller, manageable tasks . Create a list of activities or steps that must be completed in order to reach your goal. If your goal is to Increase sales by 20%, some tasks might be:

• Research your target market
• Develop a marketing strategy
• Improve product offerings
• Train your sales team

Assign a deadline and responsible party for each task on your list. This will help ensure that all tasks are completed on time and that everyone knows their role in achieving the goal. Make sure to set realistic timelines for each task, taking into consideration the resources and time available.

Here’s an example:

• Research your target market – due in one week – assigned to Jane (marketing specialist)
• Develop a marketing strategy – due in two weeks – assigned to marketing team

Monitor your progress regularly. Keep track of your progress by using tools such as calendars, project management software, or a simple spreadsheet. Regularly assess whether you’re on track to meet your goal and adjust your action plan if needed. For example, if a task is taking longer than expected, you may need to reassign resources or revise the deadline.

Celebrate your milestones and learn from setbacks . Along the way, take the time to acknowledge and celebrate your successes, as well as learn from any setbacks or challenges. This will help maintain motivation and encourage continuous improvement.

Finally, communicate your action plan to all stakeholders involved, such as employees, investors, or clients. Clear communication ensures everyone understands the goal, their responsibilities, and the expectations for the project.

Defining Clear and Smart Goals

Specific goals.

When creating your action plan, start by setting specific goals. These are clear, well-defined goals that leave no room for ambiguity. You should know exactly what needs to be accomplished and how you plan to achieve it. For example, instead of aiming for “increasing sales,” set a goal like “increase sales by 15% over the next six months.”

Measurable Goals

Your goals should be measurable so that you can track your progress and know when you’ve achieved them. This involves identifying quantifiable indicators that will help you determine your progress. For instance, if your goal is to increase sales, a measurable component can be the number of units sold or the amount of revenue generated within a specific timeframe.

Achievable Goals

When setting goals, make sure they are achievable and realistic based on your current resources and constraints. Consider your team’s capabilities, time, and budget. Unattainable goals may negatively impact your motivation and morale. For example, if you have a small team with limited resources, setting a goal to double your company’s size within a month might be unrealistic. Instead, aim for a modest yet challenging growth rate that can be achieved with your available resources.

Relevant Goals

Your action plan goals should also be relevant to your organization’s mission and vision. These are goals that align with your overall strategic plan and contribute to its long-term success. Relevant goals ensure that your efforts are focused on high-impact areas and avoid unnecessary distractions. For example, if your business is focused on sustainability, a relevant goal might be to reduce your company’s carbon footprint by 20% in the next year.

Time-bound Goals

Finally, ensure that your goals are time-bound, meaning they have a deadline for completion. Deadlines keep your team accountable and help maintain a sense of urgency, which is crucial for staying on track and achieving your objectives. A clear timeframe also allows you to measure your progress and adjust your plans as needed. For instance, you could set a goal to expand your customer base by 10% within the next quarter.

Assigning Roles and Responsibilities

When creating an action plan, it’s important to assign roles and responsibilities to your team members. This helps ensure tasks are completed efficiently and everyone is clear about their duties. Here’s how to do it effectively:

• First, identify the necessary tasks to achieve your goal. Be specific about what needs to be done and break it down into smaller steps if needed. For example, if your action plan involves promoting a new product, tasks could include designing promotional materials, creating social media posts, and reaching out to potential partners.
• Next, evaluate the skills and expertise of your team members. Consider their strengths, weaknesses, and past experiences with similar projects. This will help you match team members with tasks that best suit their abilities. For instance, someone with graphic design expertise should be responsible for creating promotional materials.
• Once you’ve determined which team members are best suited for each task, clearly communicate their roles and responsibilities. This can be done through a project management tool, an email, or a team meeting. Make sure everyone is aware of their duties and the deadlines for each task.
• Keep track of everyone’s progress, and hold regular check-ins to see how each team member is doing with their assigned tasks.
• Be open to adjusting your action plan and roles as necessary. Sometimes, unforeseen challenges can arise and require you to modify your plan.

Creating a Time Frame

When working on your action plan, it’s important to establish a realistic time frame for achieving your goals. This helps you stay on track and prioritize tasks effectively. We will walk you through the process of creating a time frame for your action plan.

• First, break down your primary goal into smaller, manageable tasks. Think of these tasks as stepping stones that will lead you toward your overall objective. For example, if your goal is to start a new business, your tasks might include researching your target market, establishing a budget, and developing a marketing strategy.
• Next, assign a deadline to each task. Deadlines should be specific and set in stone but make sure to be flexible enough to adjust as necessary. Use a calendar or planner to visualize your timeline, marking important dates and milestones. For example, you could set a four-month deadline for completing market research and a six-month deadline for securing initial funding.
• To keep yourself accountable, set reminders or notifications for important deadlines. This can be done using digital tools like smartphone apps or traditional methods, such as sticky notes on your workspace. Regularly reviewing your progress and adjusting your time frame when needed will help you stay on track.
• Lastly, consider any external factors that might impact your time frame. Are there seasonal events, holidays, or industry-specific deadlines that could affect your ability to complete tasks? Factor in these considerations as you build your timeline.

Resource Allocation

When creating an action plan, resource allocation plays a major role. You’ll need to determine the resources required for each task and how they’ll be distributed among team members. This usually includes time, budget, and human resources.

• Start by estimating the time each task will take. Break tasks down into smaller chunks and allocate a specific deadline to each. This will help you prioritize tasks and balance workloads for your team members. For example, if designing a marketing campaign takes four weeks, divide it into weekly tasks like conducting market research, creating promotional materials, and setting up advertisements.
• Next, determine the budget needed to complete your project. Identify any expenses such as salaries, equipment, software, and project-related costs like travel. Create a budget for each task to avoid overspending, and allocate funds accordingly. Using our marketing campaign example, allocate separate budgets for market research tools, graphic design tools, and advertising platforms.
• Lastly, allocate human resources to tasks based on their skills and expertise. Delegate responsibilities to your team members, ensuring that everyone has a clear understanding of their role in the project. If needed, identify additional hires or outside consultants to fill gaps in your team’s expertise. For instance, if your team lacks graphic design experience, consider hiring a graphic designer or outsourcing the work to a design agency.
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Strategic Planning

Why you need a strategic plan and an action plan.

By Josh Elyea

21 november 2022.

• 1 Strategic Plan vs. Action Plan–What’s the difference?
• 2 Strategic Plan vs. Action Plan–Why You Need Both
• 3.0.1 1. Build S.M.A.R.T Actions
• 3.0.2 2. Align Your Plan With Your Budget
• 3.0.3 3. Be Clear and Proactive About Your “Why”
• 3.0.4 4. Assign Roles and Responsibilities
• 3.0.5 5. Establish Realistic Timelines
• 3.0.6 6. Measure and Report on Your Performance
• 4 Get the Guide↓

Now more than ever, local governments and other public sector organizations understand the value of developing a strategic plan.

Organizations that develop and execute on their strategic plans enjoy significant benefits, and often make the most of the budget and resources afforded to them by their residents or key stakeholders. Just as importantly, a strategic plan gives your organization a roadmap for the future; a set of shared ideals and end goals against which to align day-to-day work. A strong strategic plan, with high employee engagement , affects every department and all levels of stakeholders, whether you’re a senior leader or part of the staff.

But designing your roadmap is only one part of your journey. In our experience working with public sector agencies, it is not uncommon for organizations to spend time, money, and resources developing a strategic plan only for it to never be implemented–that’s why we recommend developing an action plan (often called an operational plan) to help manifest your strategic vision.

Without an action plan, you run the risk of allowing your strategic plan to end up as an expensive paperweight on an administrator’s desk. Without implementation, the goals and milestones you’ve meticulously mapped out may end up stuck in neutral.

In this post, we’ll cover the key differences between a strategic plan versus an action plan, the purpose of an action plan, and some examples to help you build an effective action plan structure.

Strategic Plan vs. Action Plan–What’s the difference?

Before we talk about how to build an action plan, let’s talk about what delineates it from your strategic plan.

A strategic plan outlines your vision for the future. It helps you to prioritize goals, make resourcing decisions, and rally employees, leaders, elected officials, stakeholders, and residents around a shared vision for your organization or community.

Components of a strategic plan include:

• Strategic goals: Think of these as your main areas of focus. If you are a public sector organization, these are often set in conjunction with your elected officials or driven by community feedback. These are sometimes referred to as “strategic pillars”. Some examples might be “Improve Sustainability” or “Support Economic Vitality.”
• Strategies: These are typically major initiatives, or services that must be completed in order to progress towards your goals.
• Performance measures: Specific performance measures that let you monitor your progress towards your strategies and your goals.

Once a strategic plan is created, the next step is—you guessed it—an action plan. An action plan puts your strategy into the heads, hearts, and hands of the people who will make a real, measurable difference by implementing your strategic plan.

So, what is an action plan?

An action plan includes:

• The programs, activities, and projects that will push forward your strategies, each with an assigned owner and contributors. These are often developed by department heads with input from frontline workers.
• Allocation of resources that will drive the strategic plan forward
• Progress reporting structure and timeline

Based on our experience working with hundreds of public sector organizations, we recommend implementing your strategic plan by developing three, cascading levels (we call this your planning framework):

Your strategic plan should cover the top two levels of your framework Your action plan makes up the third level of your planning framework.

Here is an example of a three-tiered plan in practice, as laid out in Envisio:

Strategic Plan vs. Action Plan–Why You Need Both

When it comes to designing a strategic plan and reaching organizational goals, a large number of organizations fail to execute on their vision. Your action plan takes your strategic plan and makes it operational—it brings your strategy to life. An action plan provides your staff with responsibilities, tasks, and the necessary resources to align your efforts with strategy and make them feel relevant, impactful, and engaging.

Having both a strategic plan and an action plan in place helps your organization turn your strategy from a two-dimensional document into a demonstrable success. But we understand that forming an action plan isn’t necessarily the most intuitive process, so we’ve created the following checklist and guidance to help you move from planning to action.

Creating Your Action Plan Structure

1. build s.m.a.r.t actions.

Actions will make up the foundation of your action plan. But what is an action, exactly? An action is anything you do to pursue a strategy, and we encourage our customers to think of actions as projects and programs, and not as individual tasks, checklists or steps.

As you create your action items and activities that make up your operational plan, remember that each one needs to be S.M.A.R.T. This acronym stands for:

Specific: Something that can be actioned and is well-defined.

Measurable: An activity or action that can have an outcome or performance measure(s) associated with it.

Attainable: Actions have to be achievable. Make sure it has enough time, the right people, and the budget assigned to it, and that any major roadblocks have been considered.

Relevant: The action needs to align with a strategic priority.

Timebound: Your activity should have start and end dates.

Crafting S.M.A.R.T. actions will ensure that your action plan remains timely, relevant, and easy to allocate resources to. And speaking of those resources…

2. Align Your Plan With Your Budget

To set your plan up for success, you’ll need to talk about money. Even the best operational plan will fail without the necessary resources behind it, which means that you’ll need to make sure that the budget, human resources, and requisite tools (technology partners, third party vendors, consultants, etc.) are aligned with your strategic vision and the actions that you create to deliver it.

Aligning your strategic and action plan with your budgeting process isn’t always easy. You might meet some resistance along the way from stakeholders both internal and external—if you do, remember to communicate the value of the process you’re undertaking.

A budget is a value statement about what matters to your organization—using the vision and goals in your strategic plan to guide your budgeting process can provide a framework for evaluating where to use your resources to the greatest effect. Often referred to as priority-based budgeting , this approach emphasizes allocating resources to the actions that achieve your goals.

3. Be Clear and Proactive About Your “Why”

As you go about formulating and executing your action plan, there will be moments where you’ll need to advocate for the process you are undergoing. Whether you’re trying to secure money for a new program, motivating staff to create their own action items, or communicating the many benefits of aligning departmental work plans with your strategic plan, you’ll need to be ready to defend, educate and inspire with the action plan you’re building and the process by which you’re building it.

Most importantly, you’ll need to communicate why your action plan matters –showing the value of what you are doing is the best way to ensure buy-in from the whole of your organization.

4. Assign Roles and Responsibilities

A plan is only as good as the individuals you trust to execute it, and your operational plan is no different.

To create a plan that actually gets executed, you will need to ensure that all of your goals, strategies, actions and performance measures have owners. This is a single person that is responsible for the execution of that activity or for hitting a specific performance target.

But while assigning clear roles and responsibilities for the action items identified above is essential to ensure your operational plan keeps moving, many of our highest performing clients take things a step further and move away from simply assigning roles and responsibilities–they work to engage their employees to the point where they own and champion the strategic and operational imperatives that let you drive progress.

5. Establish Realistic Timelines

Now that you’ve broken down your strategic vision into bite-sized action items and figured out who among your staff is going to be responsible for achieving them, you’ll need to identify reasonable timelines for the completion of these tasks.

Part of establishing realistic timelines for your actions, items, and strategic objectives comes from proper prioritization–as we know, if everything is a priority, then nothing is. It’s also important to remember that not everything has to start at once! If, for example, your plan spans 5 years, it’s likely that many of your activities cannot even begin until a few years down the road.

Understanding what you need to accomplish, when, and in what order, will help you hold true in times when your staff, resources, and patience are tested.

6. Measure and Report on Your Performance

Developing your operational plan is just one of many steps in a strategy execution and performance management journey. Once you’ve broken down your strategic plan into action items and established roles, responsibilities, and timelines, you’ll need to develop a series of key performance indicators (KPIs) or performance measures that let you monitor where you are in relation to your goals.

The process behind developing KPIs for local governments and other public sector organizations is not something we’ll cover here (check out our complete guide on how to build local government performance measures for more), but it’s essential to monitor your progress with key indicators as you move forward. Remember, what gets measured gets managed, and you’ll need to understand how you’re performing to understand where and how you can do better when it comes to executing on your strategic vision.

This is where a dedicated performance management platform like Envisio can help. Envisio allows you to manage your action plan, KPIs, key milestones, and roles and responsibilities in an intuitive and user-friendly manner. Further, it’ll help you immensely when it comes to the other key area of managing your operational plan: reporting to internal and external stakeholders.

Get the Guide↓

Are you looking for more help as you develop an action plan? Our latest guide, From Strategy to Action: A Guide to Operational Planning for Local Governments & Public Sector Organizations , will give you a more comprehensive overview of how to accomplish the sections above, as well as ready-to-use action planning templates.

Based in Toronto, Josh Elyea has been writing professionally for over a decade. His experience bridges the space between the corporate and the creative, and his portfolio includes everything from journalism and copy to fiction and screenplays. Josh has a Master’s Degree in Literature with a specific focus on postwar American literature–a subject which has left him with a keen interest in the intersection between the stories we tell and the social, political, and economic consequences they grow from. He began his career with Enviso because he believes that the institutions that shape our society matter, and he’s excited to help build better and more trustworthy public sector organizations across North America. In his spare time, Josh is a multi-instrumentalist, a Blue Jays fan, and an avid reader of fiction.

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Natalia Bonilla

5 benefits of creating an action plan.

Too many bright ideas are shut down because of a lack of planning.

During my coaching sessions, I often find underlying factors affecting entrepreneurs in achieving their dream goals: fears, scarcity mindset, stress, doubts, limiting beliefs about themselves or their industry, low self – esteem, among others. 

Though shifting a mindset takes time, developing an action plan is a good first step towards a desired change. 

Here are five benefits of creating an action plan:

If you are feeling lost, overwhelmed or without a clue on what to do to move forward, stop making the same mistakes or take your enterprise to the next level, an action plan can give you the clarity you need to prioritize your time and energy. 

An action plan is more than a list of to – do tasks, it is a step-by-step guide tailored to help you focus and committed on what matters: achieving your goals.

Measuring progress.

In which areas are you stuck and in which are you moving forward? By following an action plan you can track your own pace, certainty, obstacles and effort given or needed in the road to success. 

Prioritizing.  

Alongside with proper time management, all tasks needed to achieve any goal need to be organized in order of importance so you can reach faster your end result. 

Satisfaction.

Each action step taken shortens the path towards your desired outcome, lessens your stress levels, makes you more aware about your capabilities and drives to you completion. 

At this point, I want to emphasize, a ccomplishing an action plan often takes more than a simple desire and some cute lines in paper. 

It requires discipline. 

It requires determination to change the course of your business. 

It requires constant motivation to continue working despite the amount of time it takes for desired results to show up. 

And it requires, for a long – lasting outcome, an ultim ate strategy.

Want to receive more tips? Join my newsletter for visionary leaders and social entrepreneurs here.

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Why are Action Plans Important in Business? - An Overview of the Importance of Practical Steps in Strategic Planning

• Regina Woodard
• Categories : Project planning for pms
• Tags : Project management

For businesses today, it is important to go through some strategic planning, in which an owner, or those involved in the company, sit down and figure out where the business is going, in terms of the next year, or even five years from the present. You need to look at how the business will get there, and how everyone will know when the business has (or has not), reached the target they had initially projected.

Part of strategic planning is that of making an action plan, but what are action plans important in business? If strategic planning is done, what is the use of the action plan?

Action Planning

What are action plans? An action plan (as opposed to a risk management action plan ), is part of the strategic plan, in which actions are added to the completed plan. It is basically a list of tasks that need to be achieved, in order for the goals to be reached by the company. For example, if a business says there is going to be regional corporation within year two, an action plan would list the different tasks that need to be done in order for the company to be regionally known.

So why are action plans important in business? Action plans are an important part of strategic planning for project management, but unfortunately many

businesses tend to stop after the strategic plans have been laid out. But without having a way to achieve these goals, the initial planning that went into the first stages of building a business may have been for nothing. Think of it like making a resolution for a new year - you may state that you plan on losing weight or that you want to try for a promotion - however you don’t add in the details on how you will achieve these goals.

• How will you lose weight? Will you work out on a daily basis? Will you join a gym?
• How will you go about getting a promotion? Will you work harder? Talk to your boss?

The same can be said about making a strategic plan for your business, but not adding in the details for it. Going with the above example, your business goal in a year is to bring your local business to that of a regional business. This is a part of the strategic plan.

• How will the business grow from a local company to that of a regional one?
• Will the business just be regional, in the sense of serving only the home state of the business, or will it build businesses in other states?
• How much money will it take?
• Where will the business get the money?

These questions should be asked and answered within the action plan. For example, let’s say that as the owner, you want the business to grow regionally within your home city and it’s suburbs (if your city has suburbs, such as Denver or Phoenix). For the moment you just want to build the business in the home city or home state, but that in a few years if the business is doing well, you will move to that of serving a neighboring state.

Money is also an important issue, so the action plan should address this. In order to grow regionally, will the business need to open another office? Will you need to hire extra staff?

Why are action plans important in business? Having an action plan supplements the strategic plan by adding in the needed details for achieving the goals that are brought up with the strategic plan.

Image content @ https://www.dreamstime.com/financial-planning-image10867305

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How to create an action plan (with free templates and examples)

An action plan template provides a ready-made framework for quickly adding the steps — like tasks, due dates, and assignees — to achieve your project goals. It’s a great way to ensure your project action plans are effective and consistent so everyone understands what’s expected.

In this guide, you’ll learn how to write an action plan step-by-step, with examples for inspiration. Plus, you can download two free action plan templates — including one from our Work OS — to get started immediately.

Download Excel template

What is an action plan?

An action plan is a detailed blueprint that outlines the steps you, your team, or your organization will take to achieve a specific goal. It includes specific tasks or actions with due dates and assignees, a timeline, and the resources required to accomplish your goal.

Action plans include detailed information, such as:

• A description of each action or task to complete
• The person responsible for each action
• Due dates for each task
• Resources required to complete the action
• Space to reflect or take notes after you have completed a task

What is an action plan template?

An action plan template is a pre-structured document that gives you a framework for crafting your new action plan. A practical action plan template has designated spaces for each aspect you need to cover, often presented in a table format like this.

Free action plan templates

Here are two free action plan templates you can download and use today:

Try monday.com’s Action Plan Template:

This action plan template breaks down goals into actionable steps that you can prioritize, assign ownership, and track progress. You can also add start and end dates for each action, plus relevant details and files.

Get the template

Download the free action plan template for Excel:

Why is an action plan template important?

Leaders and managers use action plan templates to speed up the strategic planning process . Rather than spending unnecessary time designing the document used for planning purposes, project managers can simply pull up their template, save a new copy — keeping the existing template intact — and get straight to work scheduling and assigning tasks.

Action plan templates ensure consistency

Additionally, templates help to ensure consistency across plans and teams. When your organization uses the same action plan template for the whole company, it’s easier for team members to interpret and understand the plan — because they’re familiar with the format — and it contributes toward an organized, professional appearance.

Action plan templates help you plan more effectively

Action plan templates help project organizers plan more effectively by offering predefined categories and columns, reducing the chance of human error or omitting information from an action plan. In addition, you can apply any learnings from the project management process to your template. That way, you’ll consistently improve subsequent action plans.

While completing a project, you might find that some of the tasks in your task lists didn’t have clear outcomes. In addition, it wasn’t immediately obvious how to identify when the task was complete. So, you could borrow from the SMART goals framework — Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time-bound goals — and include a new column in your action plan template to note how you’ll measure if the task is complete.

And when using an action plan template built on a Work OS like monday.com, you can add your action plan to relevant project boards, create cross-team automations , and more — making it easier to collaborate with a distributed team in real time.

What are the essential features of an effective action plan template?

Action plan templates should contain the following features:

• Multiple views — such as tables, timelines, Kanban boards, and Gantt charts to visualize tasks.
• Task notifications — to detail and assign tasks to team members.
• Structured layouts — to plan tasks based on priority, status, and resource allocation.
• Collaboration ability — to maintain notes, comments, and files in one place.
• Automations — to update task status and notify owners.
• Status columns — to show the current status, such as Stuck, Working on it, and Done.
• Dashboards — to track overall progress, timelines, and budgets.

What is the difference between an action plan and a project plan?

A project plan is more detailed than an action plan. Both list the tasks, timelines, and resources required to achieve a desired goal. But project plans also include:

• Project goals and objectives
• Project milestones and deliverables
• Project scope and budget
• Project roles and responsibilities
• Project stakeholders and communication schedule
• Project risk mitigation and contingency plans
• Project success criteria

You can create an action plan from your project plan to outline the steps required to achieve your project goals.

What are the key elements of a well-written action plan?

A well-written action plan consists of seven components:

• Goals: define what the action plan aims to accomplish.
• Steps: detail the actions required to achieve each goal.
• Items: determine the task dependencies and priorities.
• Timeline: maps out the schedule and milestones from start to finish.
• Resources: identify the people, tools, and budget required.
• Responsibilities: assign tasks to an individual or a team.
• Review: monitor the overall progress of action items completed.

What are some examples of action plan templates?

Now that we know what they do, let’s look at a few action plan templates.

Business action plan template

This template outlines how to write an action plan to track progress toward a specific business goal.

( Image Source )

This action plan begins by detailing the primary goal, with the first column dedicated to a breakdown of each action required. For example, if your business goal was to design and launch a new website, your activities might include:

• Gathering design assets
• Choosing a color scheme
• Copywriting for new website pages
• Assembling design and development teams
• Creating design wireframes
• Design and development
• Launch and promotion

Note that the second to last column in this action plan template is reserved for noting potential hazards. This helps identify roadblocks that might get in the way of achieving your goals to plan around them.

Personal development action plan template

Though action plans are most often used in a business context, they can be a handy tool to help you stay motivated and work toward your personal goals.

This template allows you to break down your actions into a step-by-step sequence and includes a “How will I know I’ve been successful?” column to ensure that the actions you write down have a clear outcome.

Corrective action plan template

Creating an action plan can also be a great way to solve a specific business problem or even an issue with a particular employee’s performance. This is known as a corrective action plan, as shown in the example template below.

A corrective action plan template includes important columns, such as “metrics and constraints” — to help users complete tasks and plan for potential roadblocks — and “percent completed” — to help measure the progress toward the goal.

monday.com’s Action Plan Template

As you’ve seen in the examples above, the typical action plan format is a PDF or Microsoft Word document. While this is fine for goal setting and creating the plan itself, it’s not so great for putting it into action.

That’s why we’ve purpose-built a flexible, customizable, intuitive action plan template to use with monday.com.

When you design your action plan on monday.com, you can:

• Access multiple views (such as a table, Kanban, and timeline) to work in a manner that suits your needs.

• Assign tasks to individuals and notify them instantly.
• Comment and collaborate on tasks to keep communication contextual.
• Design custom automations to save valuable time and ensure nothing slips through the cracks.
• Report on progress with the Progress Tracking Column.

Once there is buy-in from the team on the plan, it is easy to copy actions, dates, and assignees over to the task management board.

Because monday.com is a comprehensive Work OS, any action plans you create with this template also integrate with relevant project boards. In addition, comprehensive analytics make tracking easy.

How to write an action plan step-by-step

Never created an action plan before? Then, follow this simple guide and get started with the free template above.

1. Determine your goals

First, you need to understand what you’re trying to achieve. Then, make this goal as specific as possible.

For example, “increase sales” is not a clear enough goal. “Increase sales by 20% in quarter three” is more specific and allows you to set a metric for achieving it.

2. Break down the steps required to achieve each goal

What actions are necessary to get there?

In this example, that might include:

• Hire three new sales development representatives
• Increase content marketing budget by $20,000
• Implement a new sales training program for new hires

3. Determine task dependencies and priorities

Remember: you can’t do everything at once! So now that you’ve broken down that big goal into bite-sized chunks, you need to figure out the perfect order for completing the tasks. In the above instance, you need to hire new sales representatives before starting a sales training program.

4. Set milestones

Now, set some milestones for significant events or checkpoints along the project. Some typical milestones are:

• Completion of a substantial task or phase of the project
• A significant event, such as a product launch
• Important meetings, like customer review meetings

5. Add deadlines

When do you need to complete each task? Setting deadlines for each task helps your team stay on track and allows you to identify if your timeline for the larger goal is realistic.

6. Identify the resources you need

What’s getting in the way of completing these tasks? What do you require — perhaps from leadership or another team — to meet or exceed your goals? In our sales team example, we might need some assistance from the HR department to advertise an open role and attract new applicants.

7. Assign tasks to individuals

Who is responsible for each action? Assign a clear task owner to each task. Ownership doesn’t just make someone feel accountable; it empowers them to take the initiative and solve problems without dragging in management at every twist and turn.

8. Agree on a plan to review progress

Before you jump in and start your project, determine how you will measure progress toward your goals. For example:

• Will you review your action plan every day or every week?
• Will the task assignees or the project leader be responsible for updating the plan to reflect progress?

Determining these answers upfront means the action plan remains a living document reflecting actual progress.

Customize our Action Plan Template to your needs today

Prepare and present your action plans with our flexible, customizable Action Plan Template. Team members will love the multiple views, automations, and collaboration features to keep them on point. And you’ll benefit from the Progress Tracking column in your weekly reports to stakeholders.

FAQs about action plans

What’s the difference between an action plan and a to-do list.

An action plan and a to-do list are helpful tools for organizing tasks and achieving goals. A to-do list is a list of tasks to complete, but not necessarily for the same goal or project. Typically, to-do lists are less organized than action plans and can change daily. In contrast, an action plan follows specific steps and includes tasks that all lead to completing a common goal.

What's the difference between an action plan and a strategic plan?

An action plan and a strategic plan are essential for an organization’s long-term and short-term planning. A strategic plan outlines an organization’s vision for the future and helps prioritize goals, make resourcing decisions, and unite employees. On the other hand, an action plan makes the strategic plan operational by providing detailed instructions on how to accomplish those goals.

What’s the difference between an action plan and an implementation plan?

An implementation plan and an action plan are essential documents that help teams execute a project successfully. An action plan focuses on the specific tasks needed to achieve a goal. In contrast, an implementation plan is a more holistic document outlining the steps, teams, and resources required to execute a project successfully.

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• What is strategic planning? A 5-step gu ...

What is strategic planning? A 5-step guide

Strategic planning is a process through which business leaders map out their vision for their organization’s growth and how they’re going to get there. In this article, we'll guide you through the strategic planning process, including why it's important, the benefits and best practices, and five steps to get you from beginning to end.

Strategic planning is a process through which business leaders map out their vision for their organization’s growth and how they’re going to get there. The strategic planning process informs your organization’s decisions, growth, and goals.

Strategic planning helps you clearly define your company’s long-term objectives—and maps how your short-term goals and work will help you achieve them. This, in turn, gives you a clear sense of where your organization is going and allows you to ensure your teams are working on projects that make the most impact. Think of it this way—if your goals and objectives are your destination on a map, your strategic plan is your navigation system.

In this article, we walk you through the 5-step strategic planning process and show you how to get started developing your own strategic plan.

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What is strategic planning?

Strategic planning is a business process that helps you define and share the direction your company will take in the next three to five years. During the strategic planning process, stakeholders review and define the organization’s mission and goals, conduct competitive assessments, and identify company goals and objectives. The product of the planning cycle is a strategic plan, which is shared throughout the company.

What is a strategic plan?

A strategic plan is the end result of the strategic planning process. At its most basic, it’s a tool used to define your organization’s goals and what actions you’ll take to achieve them.

Typically, your strategic plan should include: 

Your company’s mission statement

Your organizational goals, including your long-term goals and short-term, yearly objectives

Any plan of action, tactics, or approaches you plan to take to meet those goals

What are the benefits of strategic planning?

Strategic planning can help with goal setting and decision-making by allowing you to map out how your company will move toward your organization’s vision and mission statements in the next three to five years. Let’s circle back to our map metaphor. If you think of your company trajectory as a line on a map, a strategic plan can help you better quantify how you’ll get from point A (where you are now) to point B (where you want to be in a few years).

When you create and share a clear strategic plan with your team, you can:

Build a strong organizational culture by clearly defining and aligning on your organization’s mission, vision, and goals.

Align everyone around a shared purpose and ensure all departments and teams are working toward a common objective.

Proactively set objectives to help you get where you want to go and achieve desired outcomes.

Promote a long-term vision for your company rather than focusing primarily on short-term gains.

Ensure resources are allocated around the most high-impact priorities.

Define long-term goals and set shorter-term goals to support them.

Assess your current situation and identify any opportunities—or threats—allowing your organization to mitigate potential risks.

Create a proactive business culture that enables your organization to respond more swiftly to emerging market changes and opportunities.

What are the 5 steps in strategic planning?

The strategic planning process involves a structured methodology that guides the organization from vision to implementation. The strategic planning process starts with assembling a small, dedicated team of key strategic planners—typically five to 10 members—who will form the strategic planning, or management, committee. This team is responsible for gathering crucial information, guiding the development of the plan, and overseeing strategy execution.

Once you’ve established your management committee, you can get to work on the planning process. 

Step 1: Assess your current business strategy and business environment

Before you can define where you’re going, you first need to define where you are. Understanding the external environment, including market trends and competitive landscape, is crucial in the initial assessment phase of strategic planning.

To do this, your management committee should collect a variety of information from additional stakeholders, like employees and customers. In particular, plan to gather:

Relevant industry and market data to inform any market opportunities, as well as any potential upcoming threats in the near future.

Customer insights to understand what your customers want from your company—like product improvements or additional services.

Employee feedback that needs to be addressed—whether about the product, business practices, or the day-to-day company culture.

Consider different types of strategic planning tools and analytical techniques to gather this information, such as:

A balanced scorecard to help you evaluate four major elements of a business: learning and growth, business processes, customer satisfaction, and financial performance.

A SWOT analysis to help you assess both current and future potential for the business (you’ll return to this analysis periodically during the strategic planning process). 

To fill out each letter in the SWOT acronym, your management committee will answer a series of questions:

What does your organization currently do well?

What separates you from your competitors?

What are your most valuable internal resources?

What tangible assets do you have?

What is your biggest strength? 

Weaknesses:

What does your organization do poorly?

What do you currently lack (whether that’s a product, resource, or process)?

What do your competitors do better than you?

What, if any, limitations are holding your organization back?

What processes or products need improvement? 

Opportunities:

What opportunities does your organization have?

How can you leverage your unique company strengths?

Are there any trends that you can take advantage of?

How can you capitalize on marketing or press opportunities?

Is there an emerging need for your product or service? 

What emerging competitors should you keep an eye on?

Are there any weaknesses that expose your organization to risk?

Have you or could you experience negative press that could reduce market share?

Is there a chance of changing customer attitudes towards your company? 

Step 2: Identify your company’s goals and objectives

To begin strategy development, take into account your current position, which is where you are now. Then, draw inspiration from your vision, mission, and current position to identify and define your goals—these are your final destination. 

To develop your strategy, you’re essentially pulling out your compass and asking, “Where are we going next?” “What’s the ideal future state of this company?” This can help you figure out which path you need to take to get there.

During this phase of the planning process, take inspiration from important company documents, such as:

Your mission statement, to understand how you can continue moving towards your organization’s core purpose.

Your vision statement, to clarify how your strategic plan fits into your long-term vision.

Your company values, to guide you towards what matters most towards your company.

Your competitive advantages, to understand what unique benefit you offer to the market.

Your long-term goals, to track where you want to be in five or 10 years.

Your financial forecast and projection, to understand where you expect your financials to be in the next three years, what your expected cash flow is, and what new opportunities you will likely be able to invest in.

Step 3: Develop your strategic plan and determine performance metrics

Now that you understand where you are and where you want to go, it’s time to put pen to paper. Take your current business position and strategy into account, as well as your organization’s goals and objectives, and build out a strategic plan for the next three to five years. Keep in mind that even though you’re creating a long-term plan, parts of your plan should be created or revisited as the quarters and years go on.

As you build your strategic plan, you should define:

Company priorities for the next three to five years, based on your SWOT analysis and strategy.

Yearly objectives for the first year. You don’t need to define your objectives for every year of the strategic plan. As the years go on, create new yearly objectives that connect back to your overall strategic goals . 

Related key results and KPIs. Some of these should be set by the management committee, and some should be set by specific teams that are closer to the work. Make sure your key results and KPIs are measurable and actionable. These KPIs will help you track progress and ensure you’re moving in the right direction.

Budget for the next year or few years. This should be based on your financial forecast as well as your direction. Do you need to spend aggressively to develop your product? Build your team? Make a dent with marketing? Clarify your most important initiatives and how you’ll budget for those.

A high-level project roadmap . A project roadmap is a tool in project management that helps you visualize the timeline of a complex initiative, but you can also create a very high-level project roadmap for your strategic plan. Outline what you expect to be working on in certain quarters or years to make the plan more actionable and understandable.

Step 4: Implement and share your plan

Now it’s time to put your plan into action. Strategy implementation involves clear communication across your entire organization to make sure everyone knows their responsibilities and how to measure the plan’s success. 

Make sure your team (especially senior leadership) has access to the strategic plan, so they can understand how their work contributes to company priorities and the overall strategy map. We recommend sharing your plan in the same tool you use to manage and track work, so you can more easily connect high-level objectives to daily work. If you don’t already, consider using a work management platform .  

A few tips to make sure your plan will be executed without a hitch: 

Communicate clearly to your entire organization throughout the implementation process, to ensure all team members understand the strategic plan and how to implement it effectively. 

Define what “success” looks like by mapping your strategic plan to key performance indicators.

Ensure that the actions outlined in the strategic plan are integrated into the daily operations of the organization, so that every team member's daily activities are aligned with the broader strategic objectives.

Utilize tools and software—like a work management platform—that can aid in implementing and tracking the progress of your plan.

Regularly monitor and share the progress of the strategic plan with the entire organization, to keep everyone informed and reinforce the importance of the plan.

Establish regular check-ins to monitor the progress of your strategic plan and make adjustments as needed. 

Step 5: Revise and restructure as needed

Once you’ve created and implemented your new strategic framework, the final step of the planning process is to monitor and manage your plan.

Remember, your strategic plan isn’t set in stone. You’ll need to revisit and update the plan if your company changes directions or makes new investments. As new market opportunities and threats come up, you’ll likely want to tweak your strategic plan. Make sure to review your plan regularly—meaning quarterly and annually—to ensure it’s still aligned with your organization’s vision and goals.

Keep in mind that your plan won’t last forever, even if you do update it frequently. A successful strategic plan evolves with your company’s long-term goals. When you’ve achieved most of your strategic goals, or if your strategy has evolved significantly since you first made your plan, it might be time to create a new one.

Build a smarter strategic plan with a work management platform

To turn your company strategy into a plan—and ultimately, impact—make sure you’re proactively connecting company objectives to daily work. When you can clarify this connection, you’re giving your team members the context they need to get their best work done. 

A work management platform plays a pivotal role in this process. It acts as a central hub for your strategic plan, ensuring that every task and project is directly tied to your broader company goals. This alignment is crucial for visibility and coordination, allowing team members to see how their individual efforts contribute to the company’s success. 

By leveraging such a platform, you not only streamline workflow and enhance team productivity but also align every action with your strategic objectives—allowing teams to drive greater impact and helping your company move toward goals more effectively. 

Strategic planning FAQs

Still have questions about strategic planning? We have answers.

Why do I need a strategic plan?

A strategic plan is one of many tools you can use to plan and hit your goals. It helps map out strategic objectives and growth metrics that will help your company be successful.

When should I create a strategic plan?

You should aim to create a strategic plan every three to five years, depending on your organization’s growth speed.

Since the point of a strategic plan is to map out your long-term goals and how you’ll get there, you should create a strategic plan when you’ve met most or all of them. You should also create a strategic plan any time you’re going to make a large pivot in your organization’s mission or enter new markets. 

What is a strategic planning template?

A strategic planning template is a tool organizations can use to map out their strategic plan and track progress. Typically, a strategic planning template houses all the components needed to build out a strategic plan, including your company’s vision and mission statements, information from any competitive analyses or SWOT assessments, and relevant KPIs.

What’s the difference between a strategic plan vs. business plan?

A business plan can help you document your strategy as you’re getting started so every team member is on the same page about your core business priorities and goals. This tool can help you document and share your strategy with key investors or stakeholders as you get your business up and running.

You should create a business plan when you’re: 

Just starting your business

Significantly restructuring your business

If your business is already established, you should create a strategic plan instead of a business plan. Even if you’re working at a relatively young company, your strategic plan can build on your business plan to help you move in the right direction. During the strategic planning process, you’ll draw from a lot of the fundamental business elements you built early on to establish your strategy for the next three to five years.

What’s the difference between a strategic plan vs. mission and vision statements?

Your strategic plan, mission statement, and vision statements are all closely connected. In fact, during the strategic planning process, you will take inspiration from your mission and vision statements in order to build out your strategic plan.

Simply put: 

A mission statement summarizes your company’s purpose.

A vision statement broadly explains how you’ll reach your company’s purpose.

A strategic plan pulls in inspiration from your mission and vision statements and outlines what actions you’re going to take to move in the right direction. 

For example, if your company produces pet safety equipment, here’s how your mission statement, vision statement, and strategic plan might shake out:

Mission statement: “To ensure the safety of the world’s animals.” 

Vision statement: “To create pet safety and tracking products that are effortless to use.” 

Your strategic plan would outline the steps you’re going to take in the next few years to bring your company closer to your mission and vision. For example, you develop a new pet tracking smart collar or improve the microchipping experience for pet owners. 

What’s the difference between a strategic plan vs. company objectives?

Company objectives are broad goals. You should set these on a yearly or quarterly basis (if your organization moves quickly). These objectives give your team a clear sense of what you intend to accomplish for a set period of time. 

Your strategic plan is more forward-thinking than your company goals, and it should cover more than one year of work. Think of it this way: your company objectives will move the needle towards your overall strategy—but your strategic plan should be bigger than company objectives because it spans multiple years.

What’s the difference between a strategic plan vs. a business case?

A business case is a document to help you pitch a significant investment or initiative for your company. When you create a business case, you’re outlining why this investment is a good idea, and how this large-scale project will positively impact the business. 

You might end up building business cases for things on your strategic plan’s roadmap—but your strategic plan should be bigger than that. This tool should encompass multiple years of your roadmap, across your entire company—not just one initiative.

What’s the difference between a strategic plan vs. a project plan?

A strategic plan is a company-wide, multi-year plan of what you want to accomplish in the next three to five years and how you plan to accomplish that. A project plan, on the other hand, outlines how you’re going to accomplish a specific project. This project could be one of many initiatives that contribute to a specific company objective which, in turn, is one of many objectives that contribute to your strategic plan. 

What’s the difference between strategic management vs. strategic planning?

A strategic plan is a tool to define where your organization wants to go and what actions you need to take to achieve those goals. Strategic planning is the process of creating a plan in order to hit your strategic objectives.

Strategic management includes the strategic planning process, but also goes beyond it. In addition to planning how you will achieve your big-picture goals, strategic management also helps you organize your resources and figure out the best action plans for success. 

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When a project is relatively small and short-term, for example designing, producing, printing and distributing a leaflet, it may not be necessary or beneficial to develop an action plan. This is particularly the case where there are few people to be involved and what has to be done, and the steps to achieve it are clear. Tasks that are repeated often generally do not need an action plan. For medium-sized projects, such as organising a conference, an action plan can be very beneficial. For larger projects or programmes, such as opening a new health centre, an action plan is essential.

Action planning has a number of specific advantages over and above a list of things to do, or scheduling work using a calendar or diary:

• It provides an opportunity for reflection. Before beginning something, it is helpful to think about what has happened before, what actions have brought about success or partial success and what actions have not helped.
• It brings people together. Action planning can bring together individuals who are knowledgeable in the area of work (experts), individuals who are experiencing the problem and stand to benefit from the change (beneficiaries), and individuals who can contribute to the project (resources). In many cases, a person can have more than one of these roles.
• It clarifies the objective. It is often assumed that if a group of people come together to create an action plan, they will have the same objective, but that is usually not the case. A conference on forced child marriage, for example, may include people who are interested in influencing adults, people who are interested in empowering women and girls, people who want to work with young men, and people who want to create legal change. The emphasis of a project will change depending on the objective, and action planning provides the opportunity to clarify exactly what change is required.
• It builds consensus. Just as consensus on the objective can be achieved, consensus on priorities can also be achieved through the action planning process. Everyone involved can contribute their ideas, and gradually, through discussion, negotiation and compromise, the most important actions will emerge.
• It creates ownership and accountability. When people are involved in developing an action plan, they are more likely to contribute realistic suggestions that are often things they have some influence over. The involvement process creates a sense of individual and collective ownership for the action plan. This ownership allows for tasks to be allocated to different people, creating accountability. Individuals who are assigned tasks know they are responsible for these and that they will need to report progress at agreed intervals.
• It clarifies timescales. Setting out all the tasks that need to be done to achieve a particular objective and making decisions about how much resource is available for each task, allows for a realistic assessment of how long the overall action plan will take. Every action in an action plan should have a clear completion date.
• It identifies measures of success. Measures of success are like stepping stones towards a larger objective. They provide a way of measuring progress towards that goal. For example, if an objective is to prevent early pregnancy, there may be many steps towards that goal, including providing contraception, educating children and tackling child abuse. Each of these steps can be measured to ensure it achieves its aim and contributes to the larger objective of preventing early pregnancy.

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What is your plan for when things hit the fan: creating a crisis management plan.

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Lis Anderson is founder and director at PR consultancy AMBITIOUS . An experienced agency MD with 25 years in the communications industry.

Crisis management and crisis preparedness may not seem like pressing matters when the going is good. It can be all too easy to disregard the need for a plan. But what happens when a crisis hits and you're not prepared?

That crisis begins to spiral. Your lack of preparedness immediately sets you on the back foot. The crisis then exacerbates and your reputation starts to degrade because your audiences now perceive you as either incapable or uncaring.

Why Have Crisis Management Plans In Place?

One badly managed crisis can be enough to cause serious long-term damage to a business. This is why having a crisis management plan in place is so important.

The adage "today's news is yesterday's chip paper" is wildly outdated. Yes, news moves fast, but crises can linger for longer than you may think. Particularly if they unfold within social media, the speed at which issues spread and gather volume is pretty staggering.

Best High-Yield Savings Accounts Of 2024

Best 5% interest savings accounts of 2024.

A crisis management plan helps you put systems in place to react to issues, get ahead of problems and minimize long-term damage to your brand reputation and your operations. Having these plans in place can protect your teams and assets, reassure stakeholders and, in some cases, support legal arguments.

Developing A PR Crisis Management Plan

How can you create a crisis management plan for something that you arguably can't predict? That's a question I hear a lot, and while you can't predict the exact nature of a crisis, you can anticipate situations, even if they seem unlikely, and map out your crisis response.

This is called crisis preparedness, and it is the first step in creating an effective crisis management plan.

Crisis Preparedness

To best explain crisis preparedness, let's explore a hypothetical: A motor vehicle company has a large manufacturing plant in England.

There are many potential crises that could arise in this line of work. It could be an industrial accident resulting in the injury of one or multiple workers. There could be a case of force majeure (events that are unforeseeable and unavoidable due to a greater force) that damages or destroys the plant. Or perhaps there could be inappropriate employee behavior resulting in legal action.

These crises are all very different. So, when running a crisis preparedness session, workshop and roundtable various issues to establish responses to each.

For instance, there may be some crises that require internal reactions only. Other crises may need to go higher up the chain, resulting in written statements for the media, a public response on social media channels or, in some cases, broadcast media appearances.

A crisis roundtable is quite simply a cause-and-effect exercise; here is the issue, here is our process for response.

What's critical is establishing a crisis response team.

Establishing A Crisis Management Team

Your crisis team, when armed with a crisis response plan covering multiple scenarios, can cascade issues up the chain of command. It's about understanding and establishing who needs to know what and when.

Are your operations affected? Then the COO needs to be brought into the situation. If there are potential legal ramifications, then bringing in legal departments or outside counsel is vital.

With these cascade systems in place, your crisis management team can know exactly who to report to for any given issue. From there, you can mount a far more effective response.

It's when these systems and procedures aren't in place that further issues arise. Businesses flounder and fail to respond because they've been caught off guard. This can snowball into a much larger PR crisis.

The Importance Of Good Internal Comms And Culture

Culture and internal communications play a key role in crisis response. A company with a positive culture can inherently better manage crises than those without. Why?

Within a positive culture, people tend to care more. When people care more, they are diligent in reporting the early warning signals of a crisis brewing. People operating within a negative culture will likely not prioritize organizational misdeeds. When someone spots a potential crisis and doesn't flag it, the entire crisis communications plan falls apart.

Your crisis response capabilities are only as strong as your company culture.

Key Tips And Takeaways

What should you take away from all this? Let's look at the major pieces of the crisis management plan.

If You're At Fault, Accept Responsibility

It may seem like a bitter pill to swallow. But, if you've been hit by a crisis caused by your own making, own up to it. Be honest. Your audiences will generally be more receptive to contrition and honesty and that can help you rebuild brand trust in the wake of a crisis.

Respond To Media Requests

A crisis has hit, and you've been approached by the media for comment. You have to respond, but you don't always have to provide an immediate response to the crisis at hand. Buy yourself time and don't rush into making a media statement. But always respond.

It can be very damaging, particularly with traditional media when a business offers no comment on a situation. You may have done nothing wrong at all. But in the eyes of the public, no comment comes across as an admission of guilt.

Don't just plan for a crisis as a one-off. Make your crisis preparedness a yearly thing.

Bring Your Teams Into The Discussions

Involve your teams and bring them on the journey. You may be in the C-suite, but you should never underestimate the day-to-day operational insight that your wider teams can bring.

When everyone has a stake in the game, you cover much more ground and you'll find things run much smoother as a result.

Final Thoughts

When the going is good, you can be tempted to think that you don't need crisis management plans. But it only takes one issue to undo a lot of hard-won reputations. Looking back, you'll likely regret needing a crisis management strategy and not having one far more than if you have one, but don't need it.

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A Roadmap for Responsible Business Conduct

Three years ago, a Dalit woman was murdered by her supervisor at a garment factory in India. Her co-workers did not wait for the company to respond. They organized collectively and engaged major global fashion companies, developing an enforceable agreement between the buying companies, the factories and their trade union to identify, remedy and prevent gender-based violence and harassment in their workplaces.

Known as the Dindigul agreement , the initiative established independent monitoring entities and trained female shop floor monitors with special retaliation protections to take immediate action on cases of gender-based violence and harassment. The agreement ensured that there were trusted and reliable grievance mechanisms in place. It also held companies accountable to resolving issues and providing workers access to remedy.

By 2026, companies are projected to spend over $27 billion a year on voluntary social audits to report on labor abuses in their supply chains. Yet, no audit would have stopped the tragedy in India. And in 2013, the Rana Plaza factory collapsed in Bangladesh , killing over 1,100 workers – days after an audit found no problems in the building. Voluntary third-party audits have all too often shown their limitations.

We believe businesses can and must do better. That’s why we’ve released the Responsible Business Conduct and Labor Rights InfoHub , a one-stop shop for information, guidance and tools from the U.S. government and international organizations to support the private sector in integrating labor rights and responsible business practices in their operations and across their global supply chains.

This comes as part of the U.S. government’s second National Action Plan on Responsible Business Conduct, founded on the Biden-Harris administration’s bedrock belief that businesses can have success while doing good, and that governments should create the conditions for responsible business conduct to take place.

The InfoHub provides companies with the knowledge and tools they need to comply with federal statutes, agency rules and trade provisions around responsible business and labor rights. It also makes government reports and advisories easily accessible, so businesses can stay up to date on emerging risks in priority sectors.

The site complements existing due diligence tools the Bureau of International Labor Affairs has created, such as Comply Chain and our List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor . The InfoHub also builds upon ILAB’s commitment to amplifying worker voice as a critical component of worker-centered due diligence.

We urge all stakeholders — from civil society to the C-suite — to use these resources, tools and legal standards to engage in meaningful action, strengthen their due diligence and ensure workers in their supply chains can exercise their internationally recognized rights without fear of retaliation.

We are entering a new era of corporate compliance, one where binding commitments to support worker voice, as we see in the Dindigul agreement, emerge as powerful and viable tools. The businesses at the top of global supply chains have the power to make these agreements widespread and effective and to ensure that workers are at the center of these new processes and institutions. This requires not just standing up new processes to map and track impacts within supply chains, but on concrete, positive outcomes for workers. It requires not just setting up hotlines, apps or suggestion boxes for workers but respecting their rights to organize and bargain collectively.

Through the Responsible Business Conduct and Labor Rights InfoHub and other resources, the U.S. Department of Labor is providing companies with the tools to chart a path forward on meaningful due diligence and bolster the rights and protections of all workers.

Thea Lee is the deputy undersecretary for international affairs at the U.S. Department of Labor. Follow ILAB on X/Twitter at @ILAB_DOL and on LinkedIn .

• Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB)
• supply chains
• labor rights
• Responsible Business Conduct

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Updates on the Release of the U.S. National Action Plan on Responsible Business Conduct

Photo: Artinun/Adobe Stock

Critical Questions by Scott Busby and Lauren Burke

Published April 8, 2024

On March 20, 2024, the Biden administration released its updated National Action Plan on Responsible Business Conduct (NAP). Secretary of State Antony Blinken had promised the update in a statement on June 16, 2021, the 10th anniversary of the adoption of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) . The NAP is a framework for how the government, private sector companies, and other stakeholders can promote responsible business conduct (RBC), positively impact the communities in which they operate, and work with other stakeholders to support business practices that are transparent and accountable, respect human rights, and promote good governance. This updated version of the NAP is the culmination of numerous rounds of consultations with experts, inputs provided in response to a Federal Register Notice, and coordination across multiple government agencies.

Q1: What is a NAP, and how does it work?

A1: The UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights defines a NAP as an “evolving policy strategy developed by a State to protect against adverse human rights impacts by business enterprises in conformity with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.” Today, 26 countries have NAPs related to the UNGPs in place, showing a growing consensus around the importance of a clear business and human rights strategy. In addition to the UNGPs, the United States has incorporated into its NAP commitments relating to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises on Responsible Business Conduct (OECD Guidelines), which are “recommendations jointly addressed by governments to multinational enterprises to enhance the business contribution to sustainable development and address adverse impacts associated with business activities on people, planet, and society.” Among other things, those guidelines call for corporate action to address corruption and promote protection of the environment.

As the name suggests, NAPs are not laws or regulations in themselves. Rather, NAPs present a roadmap that governments can use to announce commitments to develop laws, regulations, or guidance or undertake other efforts to enhance respect for human rights by the private sector and promote RBC. Germany, for example, committed in its 2016 NAP to explore the possibility of mandatory due diligence guidelines and followed up on that commitment by conducting a thorough assessment of how many German companies were undertaking due diligence efforts on their own. After the assessment determined that fewer than a quarter of German companies were doing so voluntarily, the German parliament adopted mandatory due diligence legislation in 2021.

The first U.S. NAP was released just weeks ahead of the end of the Obama administration in December 2016 and was largely made up of actions that U.S. agencies were already taking to advance RBC. While the Trump administration continued to take action on some of these commitments, such as the one by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to enforce the prohibition on entry of goods made with forced labor, it basically ignored the NAP, meaning virtually all other NAP commitments were deprioritized.

Q2: How was the development of this NAP different from the Obama administration’s?

A2: The Obama administration’s NAP received mixed reviews on both process and substance. While supporters, for instance, praised the NAP’s commitment to increase enforcement of import prohibitions on goods made with forced labor, critics highlighted the lack of transparency in its development, its failure to go beyond preexisting policies and practices, and the “low bar” that it set by focusing on voluntary efforts by companies rather than proposing robust government requirements.

When Blinken announced that the Biden administration would revise and update the NAP in 2021, the process was intentionally designed to be more inclusive from the start. A Federal Register notice was issued to formally solicit input from the public, which generated 275 distinct policy recommendations. To develop those recommendations, outside organizations—including the CSIS Human Rights I nitiative—held numerous roundtable discussions with businesses, civil society organizations, academics, and other experts on specific areas of interest, resulting in robust discussions intended to help shape recommendations that were both reasonable and ambitious.

Q3: What is in the Biden administration’s NAP?

A3: Importantly, the Biden administration’s NAP articulates the general U.S. government expectation that businesses—regardless of their size, sector, operational context, ownership, or structure—conduct human rights due diligence (HRDD) in assessing the human rights–related risks in their operations and supply chains in line with the standards in the UNGPs, the OECD Guidelines, and the International Labor Organization’s Tripartite Declaration of Principles Concerning Multinational Enterprises and Social Policy . The NAP emphasizes that these standards should be treated as a floor, not a ceiling, and that HRDD “should be an integral part of decision-making and embedded into existing risk management systems with support from the highest levels of the business.” It also describes some elements of HRDD, including metrics to assess and address risks; ongoing assessment, monitoring, and evaluation; consistent stakeholder engagement; public communication; a grievance mechanism; and alignment with human rights instruments, although it does not expressly indicate that these are required or even recommended HRDD characteristics. In this regard, the NAP reflects the general voluntary approach that the U.S. government takes on HRDD, as compared to the mandatory approaches adopted in Germany and France and under consideration in the European Union . 

The NAP identifies four priority areas for action: (1) establishing a Federal Advisory Committee on Responsible Business Conduct; (2) strengthening respect for human rights in federal procurement policies and processes; (3) strengthening access to remedy; and (4) providing resources to businesses. In each of these areas, the NAP lists specific commitments by relevant U.S. agencies. The NAP also includes commitments under the themes of technology; workers’ rights; environment, climate, just transitions; and anti-corruption, which reflect the broader character of the issues addressed in the OECD Guidelines.

Some of the NAP commitments describe concrete actions while others are more exploratory in nature without definite outcomes. The more concrete commitments include, for instance, the establishment of the RBC Federal Advisory Committee, which provides an ongoing, official forum for civil society, business, academics, and affected communities to raise concerns and make recommendations with relevant government officials. On procurement, the Department of State promises to develop a new human trafficking risk mapping process for high-risk and high-volume contracts to assist the acquisition workforce as well as federal contractors in conducting greater due diligence. (That said, some civil society advocates have expressed disappointment that the procurement commitments do not extend beyond the anti-trafficking restrictions in current law.) CBP, meanwhile, commits to drafting guidance to direct the proactive consideration of suspension and debarment whenever CBP issues a penalty under laws designed to prevent the importation of goods made with forced labor—a welcome addition to the penalties that might be imposed against those who try to import such goods. To strengthen access to remedy, the State Department commits to significant reforms to the National Contact Point process established under the OECD Guidelines, which is designed to provide aggrieved parties a vehicle to file complaints against companies allegedly responsible for acts contrary to those guidelines and then help to resolve those complaints. The Department of the Treasury also commits to advocate for effective remedy systems at multilateral development banks, while the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation promises to strengthen protections against reprisals for groups and individuals who raise concerns about DFC programs, and the U.S. Export-Import Bank commits to strengthening its remedy procedures—all of which will be important outcomes if they are achieved. And in providing resources to businesses, the Department of Labor commits to creating an RBC and Labor Rights Information Hub, a potentially useful online repository of all relevant U.S. government guidelines and information that businesses and others can turn to to get the information they need to conform their behavior to U.S law and policy.

Those NAP commitments with less clear outcomes include a State Department commitment to evaluate and assess the impact of potential approaches to implementing RBC Reporting Requirements. In the area of procurement, the Department of Defense (DOD) promises to conduct a review to evaluate the value of encouraging or requiring membership in the International Code of Conduct Association for Private Security Providers’ Association for its private security company vendors, a recommendation by advocates that has been pending for over a decade. And the Department of Labor commits to exploring the effects of the digitalization of the labor market on workers’ rights and identifying best practices for companies to address negative impacts—a worthy goal but with an uncertain result.

Q4: What impact is the NAP likely to have?

A4: Insofar as the Trump administration ignored the first NAP, the impact of the Biden administration’s NAP will hinge on whether President Biden remains in office for a second term. While some of this NAP’s commitments announce significant actions already taken or about to be taken, others will take time to carry out, especially those that entail reviews, consultations, or further internal U.S. government deliberations. Thus, as was the case with the Obama NAP, it is unfortunate that this updated NAP is being issued so late in the administration. That said, the updated NAP demonstrates the Biden administration’s commitment to bringing its policies and procedures regarding the private sector in line with international standards, which will help to reinforce those standards both domestically and abroad. While many of the updated NAP’s commitments, if carried out, would call only for voluntary action by companies (unlike the mandatory due diligence frameworks in Europe), they usefully supplement existing binding law and make clear what is expected of companies while allowing them to forge their own paths in enhancing their respect for human rights and RBC.

Scott Busby is a senior associate (non-resident) with the Human Rights Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C. Lauren Burke is senior program manager with the CSIS Human Rights Initiative.

Critical Questions is produced by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a private, tax-exempt institution focusing on international public policy issues. Its research is nonpartisan and nonproprietary. CSIS does not take specific policy positions. Accordingly, all views, positions, and conclusions expressed in this publication should be understood to be solely those of the author(s).

© 2024 by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. All rights reserved.

Scott Busby

Lauren Burke

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Missouri AG files lawsuit over Biden's latest student loan handout attempt: It's 'illegal'

The republican attorney general's lawsuit takes aim at biden's 'save' plan, announced in february.

Biden is attempting an ‘illegal redistribution of wealth’ with student loan handout: Missouri AG Bailey

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey discusses his state’s suit against the Biden administration's student loan handout and reacts to the president calling for free community college.

One day after President Biden touted new sweeping student loan bailouts on the campaign trail, one Republican attorney general initiated legal action against the administration.

"So the last plan that Biden put forward would have cost Missouri taxpayers $44 million, more than a half trillion dollars nationally. And we anticipate this plan is going to cost Missouri exactly the same amount, if not more. We know nationally it costs more," Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey said during an exclusive interview on "Varney & Co" Tuesday.

7 MORE STATES SUE TO BLOCK BIDEN'S STUDENT LOAN HANDOUT PLAN AS LAWSUITS PILE UP

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey's lawsuit argues that Biden's "SAVE" plan, announced in February, is illegal and would cost American taxpayers $475 billion. Bailey's lawsuit comes just weeks after Kansas and 10 other states sued the Biden administration over the same plan.

Joining Bailey in the lawsuit are the attorneys general of Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Ohio, Oklahoma and North Dakota.

Biden's student loan 'scheme' is illegal: Kris Kobach

Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach discusses his lawsuit to block Biden's student loan handout on 'The Big Money Show.'

During a campaign event Monday in Wisconsin, President Biden unveiled a new plan for canceling student loan debt despite earlier efforts being struck down by the Supreme Court. It is expected to impact up to 30 million Americans who will see sizable portions of their student debt slashed before the November election, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The plan's central pillar focuses on cutting loans that have exceeded their principal amount due to interest. It would cut up to $20,000 in accrued interest, while borrowers who make less than $120,000 or couples who make less than $240,000 would be allowed to cut all of their accrued interest beyond the principal amount, WSJ reported.

"We can't let Joe Biden saddle working Missouri families with Ivy League debt. That's why we've got to keep pushing this suit forward. We're excited to fight to protect from this illegal redistribution of wealth," Bailey said.

BIDEN VOWS TO FORGE AHEAD WITH STUDENT LOAN HANDOUTS, HAS 4 WORDS FOR ALL HIS CRITICS

The result would see roughly 23 million Americans having their loans cut down to the principal amount.

The plan would also further cancel debt for borrowers who have held onto their loans for decades without fully paying them off. The forgiveness would apply to any undergraduate debt lasting more than 20 years and any graduate debt lasting more than 25 years, according to WSJ. 

"The Constitution gives the power of the purse to the legislative branch, not the executive branch. And unless Congress explicitly authorizes this redistribution of wealth, it's illegal," Bailey explained.

"President Biden keeps pointing to these vague references in statutes, saying that somehow he has authority to redistribute this wealth, but the court has found that Congress never explicitly authorized this. And when you have a program on this order of magnitude, this enormous political, social and economic impact that Congress has to be explicit. So it's a rule of law issue. It's a constitutional issue. And that's why we're fighting so hard to put a stop to it."

US President Joe Biden speaks during an event in Madison, Wisconsin, US, on Monday, April 8, 2024. Bidens alternative student-debt relief plan could forgive loans for as many as 26 million Americans, a far-reaching initiative that will be tested by t

Missouri and Arkansas both participated in the lawsuit that ultimately brought an end to Biden's previous student loan plan last year. The Supreme Court decided 6-3 that Biden's plan was unconstitutional.

In conjunction with his new student loan program, President Biden also vowed to make community college tuition free during his remarks Monday. 

"I also want to make, and I've been pushing this, and if I'm reelected, I'm going to push it hard. We're going to get it done next time is I want to make community college tuition free," Biden said. 

"We won't need loans at all. We'll cut in half the cost of going to college. If we do this, the economic gains will far outweigh the cost. And that's not hyperbole. That's the truth."

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Bailey stated he would further sue the administration over the effort, again citing concerns over separation of powers.

"If [Biden] does so illegally without any congressional authorization, we absolutely will. I mean, that's the whole point of this. It's a separation of powers issue," Bailey said.

FOX Business' Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report.