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Action Plans

Small Scale Planning

So, you know that you need to produce a newsletter, organize a team-building session, put together a bid for a new piece of work, or organize moving Jenny's team up to the second floor. Exactly what do you need to do to achieve this?

None of these are major projects. In fact, you can probably think of all the steps in your head right now. But how do you ensure that you really have covered everything? Would anyone else know where you'd got to with the work if you were unexpectedly off sick for a few days? And are you quite clear about when you need to start if everything is to be done and dusted by the deadline?

An Action Plan is a simple list of all of the tasks that you need to carry out to achieve an objective. It differs from a To Do List in that it focuses on the achievement of a single goal.

How to Use the Tool:

Wherever you want to achieve something significant, draw up an Action Plan. This helps you think about what you need to do to achieve that thing, so that you can get help where you need it and monitor your progress.

To draw up an Action Plan, simply list the tasks that you need to carry out to achieve your goal, in the order that you need to complete them. This is very simple, but is still very useful!

Keep the Action Plan by you as you carry out the work and update it as you go along with any additional activities that come up.

If you think you'll be trying to achieve a similar goal again, revise your Action Plan after the work is complete, by changing anything that could have gone better. Perhaps you could have avoided a last-minute panic if you'd alerted a supplier in advance about when and approximately what size of order you would be placing. Or maybe colleagues would have been able to follow up on the impact of your newsletter on clients if you have communicated with them about when it would be hitting clients' desks. (If you're doing the job often, it can be incredibly powerful to turn your Action Plan into an Aide Memoire.)

Key points:

An Action Plan is a list of things that you need to do to achieve a goal. To use it, simply carry out each task in the list!

Many more tools like this are explained in Make Time For Success!, our downloadable personal effectiveness and time management e-book. Click here to learn more.

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In the next article we look at To Do Lists. Effective use of these is fundamental to good time management. To read this, click 'Next article' below. Other relevant destinations are shown in the "Where to go from here" list underneath.

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Extension Resources (Not included in the Mind Tools E-book.)

* Shows articles available in full only to Career Excellence Club members.

Locke's Goal Setting Theory - Understanding SMART Goal Setting
Golden Rules of Goal Setting - Five rules to set yourself up for success
Backward Goal-Setting - Using backward planning to set goals
Prioritization - Making best use of your time and resources
Action Priority Matrix - Making the most of your opportunities*
The Urgent/Important Matrix - Using time effectively, not just efficiently*
Treasure Mapping - Visualizing your goal for greater achievement*
How Good is Your Time Management? - Discover tools that can help you*
Pickle Jar Theory - Make your schedule work. Leave time for fun!*
Managing Interruptions - Maintain focus. Keep control of your time.*

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