Action plans to get it done

The data presents the reality of the current situation, both internally and externally. competition, current performance indicators and measurement of potential markets. It may include data sources such as:

• Interviews with experts, customers or suppliers.
• Quotations
• Field visits to inspect and establish quality.
• Previous negotiations.
• Macroeconomic or sector reports.

Preferably in a panel of experts formulate the list of tasks necessary to achieve the objectives, identify prerequisites among the tasks. Tasks can be information search tasks. Evaluate the search for secondary information. This reduces the number of activities and the cost of carrying them out.

Take stock of the actions or projects that have priority. Individual or smaller tasks and actions that are part of a larger whole and may require several people to perform.

It is time to reorganize the list by prioritizing the tasks. You may need to prioritize some steps, as they may block other sub-steps. Add deadlines and make sure they are realistic. Consult with the person responsible for doing it to find out his or her capacity before deciding on deadlines.

Before starting your project, it is crucial to make sure you have all the necessary resources on hand to complete the tasks. And if they are not currently available, you must first make a plan to acquire them. This should also include your budget. You can assign a column in your action plan to mark the cost of each task.

At this point, the main part of the Action Plan has been completed. Now take the list with the actions to be completed and assign the actions to a person. Consider everyone’s competencies to ensure effective completion. Also consider:

• Who is responsible for what (use the Assignment of Responsibilities Matrix for this purpose)
• Who and what needs support
• Communication methods

Visualize your action plan. P to create something that everyone can understand at a glance and share with everyone. Whether your action plan takes the form of a flowchart, Gantt chart or table, make sure you clearly communicate 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. When giving the starting signal for the Action Plan. Keep in mind the 80-20 rule ( Pareto analysis ): focus on what is important. Also monitor progress, deadlines and milestones. Use the Gantt chart for this purpose.

During the execution of the Action Plan, it is essential to carefully and effectively monitor what happens. When changes or new problems come to light, they should be communicated to everyone to avoid unnecessary work. Ask yourself the following questions:

• Are we doing what we agreed?
• Are we doing it correctly?
• Is what we are doing important to the goal?
• Have all individual and group actions been completed?
• Has the ultimate goal been achieved?
• Are we on budget?

You can mark tasks that were completed as accomplished in this final action plan, drawing attention to how you have progressed toward the goal. This will also highlight tasks that are pending or behind schedule, in which case you should find out why and find appropriate solutions. And then update the action plan accordingly. No less important is the enforcement of cost control.