Momentum - Business to Business Online Magazine MOMENTUM August 2019 | Page 30
FROM THE BUSINESS COACH
MIKE HILDERBRAND, BS, MBA, CBC
ActionCOACH of Galveston
[email protected]
www.galvestonbizcoach.com
9 Steps to Developing
a Plan for Action
A
Only 2% of business owners have a written plan, and even fewer stick to it….
failure to plan is a plan to fail and for many
business owners, who are caught up in the
day-to-day of their business, finding time to
plan for your business and knowing where
to start can seem impossible.
But planning is preparatory to action when solving
problems in your business, and must be separated
from implementation so that the major policy decisions
can be made and their implications understood prior
to action.
Here are the 9 Steps to Develop a Plan for Action:
1 Express your solution as a series of goals
Having agreed on a solution to a particular problem
within your organization, you first need to define that
solution in terms of number of goals and objectives.
For example, each goal could be expressed as follows:
“For us to do X, we would need to achieve Y”. Record
each goal at the top of a whiteboard or sheet of paper.
2 Generate a list of Actions for each goal
Use brainstorming to compile a list of actions to
achieve a particular goal and record these below
the goal. Arrange this list of suggested actions in
sequential order.
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3 Prepare a timeline
Beginning with a point in time labeled “now” and
ending with a point labeled “goal achieved”, build a
timeline on which you allocate dates by which you
intend to complete each of the sequential actions
listed under a particular goal. It is important that you
get both sequence and timing right if you are to reach
“goal achieved” effectively.
4 Allocate resources
Financial, physical and human resources must be
allocated to each action step. If resources are limited,
or fall short of requirements at any stage, it may be
necessary to return to an earlier step and revise the
action plan.
5 Identify possible problems
Consider all of the things that could go wrong in
the process of achieving a particular goal. List these
problems and identify causes and suitable actions to
resolve them. If necessary, these actions might need to
be added to appropriate slots in the timeline
6 Develop strategies for monitoring progress
List ways in which progress of the action plan can be
monitored. These monitoring stages should also be
included on the timeline.
7 Assign tasks
Take each point on the timeline in turn and ask:
“Who will do what, by the date set, to bring about the
specified action?”. Allocate these tasks to appropriate
individuals or teams.
8 Estimate costs
Evaluate every expenditure required to complete
the task. All costs will have to be accounted for when
preparing a budget. If funds are not available, tasks will
have to be reviewed and, where necessary, revised or
eliminated.
9 Implement the plan
Translate all your information to a clean copy, listing
the actions required, the person responsible for a
particular task, and when that task is to be completed.
Having now finalized the plan for action in specific
terms, this information can now be made available to
all involved.