Action Planning:
A Process for Successful Projects

Stanley E. Malcolm, Ph.D.

Following is a brief introduction to a decision-making process that I've used myself and shared with clients for many years. It brings structure to what is too often haphazard, resulting in better plans and better results. But the most important reason I've found for using this analytical process is that it invariably results in new insights into the problem you're facing - and those insights may save you from wasting time doing the wrong thing.

After the introduction, you'll find links to a series of files you can download if you wish to try the process yourself. Fair warning though, facilitating the process requires practice and benefits from coaching (which I would be glad to provide, just ask).

If you don't know where you're going, any road will do. This six-step process will help you make decisions and plans systematically, thereby increasing the probability of achieving your goals. By the time you complete this process, you'll have a clear picture of where you're going, a map of the steps to get you there, a sense of the pitfalls to be avoided along the road, and the means to assess your success when you arrive. This process can be used by teams planning initiatives in a business or public sector environment, or by individuals making decisions about careers or other life choices.

The process consists of six steps:

1. Define your Mission.
2. Gather data that bears on the problem and describe the Current State.
3. Define Critical Success Factors, which are those things that must go right if you are to succeed.
4. Establish Goals.
5. Set Objectives, Target Dates, and Measures.
6. Create an Action Plan drawn from the results of the previous five steps.

Each step in the process has five elements:

• Step Name and Overview: A description of what is to be accomplished in that step.
• Directions: Detailed directions to accomplish the step, including sub-steps.
• Deliverables: The work product(s) of each step. Some of these stay with the step (i.e., are intermediate) while others feed into the final plan document of Step 6.
• Measures: The means by which the quality of each step can be assured. Typically, this will mean a series of self-assessment questions.
• Facilitation Tips: Hints for successfully working through the process in a group setting.

A series of worksheets provide the means to capture your work as you proceed through the steps. Some information you will enter on the worksheets is relevant only to that step. Think of these entries as intermediate work products. Other entries, such as your mission statement, you will carry forward to the final worksheet, which is the Action Plan. The Action Plan summarizes all the careful thought of the preceding steps, laying it out in a way that others can rapidly grasp your intent, as well as know what is expected of them, what they can expect of you or others, when goals will be achieved, and how they contribute to achieving the overall mission.

Downloadable Files (Microsoft Word format):

• Cover Page
• Introduction and Instructions
• Worksheet 1: Mission
• Worksheet 2: Data Gathering Plan
• Worksheet 3: Current State Report
• Worksheet 4: Critical Success Factors
• Worksheet 5: Fundamental Components
• Worksheet 6: Goal Statements
• Worksheet 7: Objectives and Measaures
• Worksheet 8: Summary Report with Action Steps