A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. (Lao Tzu)
Action planning is a process which will help you to focus your ideas and to decide what steps you need to take to achieve particular goals that you may have. It is a statement of what you want to achieve over a given period of time. Preparing an action plan is a good way to help you to reach your objectives in life: don't worry about the future, start planning for it!
It involves:
When careers action planning, there are likely to be three main areas for action plans. These are:
There are many different models of action planning, but a good starting point is shown here. Action planning is a cyclical process, and once you have been through one cycle, you can start again at the beginning. Of course, in real life it’s not quite as simple as this. The process is more organic and stages will overlap, or you may change your goals as you progress, and you must be prepared to revise your plan as circumstances dictate. The stages are as follows:
The cycle begins again with a redefinition of your goals........
The main steps in preparing an action plan are as follows:
In a word, efficiency! Having employees who are well organised and able to plan and manage their own time and resources, as well as other resources, reduces the need for micro-managing. It helps in providing customers or clients with realistic time-frames, delivering on projects as promised and ensuring that work is carried out as efficiently as possible and that all relevant people are involved.