From the user's standpoint, action plans aren’t complicated to use. The hardest part, though, is the preparation of one. You may have access to the best free action plan template, but it’s worth nothing if you don’t know how to use it. You can’t just download and start using a template; you need to adapt it to your own project.

Here’s how to do it in 8 simple steps.

First, you have to be certain about what you want to achieve. If you’ve planned everything beforehand, you can skip to the next step. Otherwise, read on to discover how to do it. Without a specific goal, you are setting yourself up for failure. Have a golden business idea that you want to put into practice? Start by setting up goals that will help your dream come true!

Take a piece of paper or create a new document and write down all the steps you need to accomplish before reaching your final goal. You can help yourself by using the SMART criteria. In short, well-defined goals should look like this:

• Specific – clear and well-defined.
• Measurable – track progress with measurable indicators.
• Attainable – realistic and achievable goals within the time, money, resources, and experience you have.
• Relevant – connected to your other goals.
• Timely – has a due date.

Don’t forget to share your input with friends or future team members, as they might bring more creative ideas to the table. We know it might be a hassle, but it has to be done to ensure the successful completion of your final goal.

Once you’ve set all the steps to reach your final goal, it’s time to write them down. The best way to do this is to have a rough template listing all the tasks, due dates, and people responsible for completing them. Open MS Word or any other text editing software and create a simple table like shown below.

The most important part, though, is to share it with your team members so everyone will be aware of their responsibilities. This is not a final document but a rough estimate of assigned tasks so you can make changes when necessary. As mentioned in the first step, make sure they are easy to understand. If you have specific tasks that are more complex than others, divide them into smaller ones, which will be easier to execute and manage.

Some tasks are more important than others, so ensure the critical ones stay on top of the action plan. The point of action planning is to complete tasks efficiently, so you have to add deadlines. Make them realistic, so they can actually motivate to complete the task before the due date rather than annoy someone. Consult it with a person responsible for the task beforehand.

Milestones can be described as small accomplishments leading to the main goal at the end. Their purpose is to keep team members motivated, even if the final goal is far away. They’re here to ensure that all of you made progress, even if it’s not significant at that moment. Milestones should be set evenly, not too often, yet not too scarce. One of the better practices is to space milestones two weeks apart.

You may have the willingness, but without the necessary resources, you’re not going to accomplish anything. So if you have an action plan but lack resources, you must first make a plan to acquire them. This also refers to your budget, so it might be a good idea to assign a column and include the cost of each task, if there is any.

An effective action plan should be easy to read so everyone should notice assigned tasks at a glance. Regardless of whether your action plan is a flowchart, Gantt chart, or table, make sure it contains all elements we’ve talked about – tasks, task owners, deadlines, resources, etc. Also, the document should be editable and easily accessible to everyone.

The last step is to analyze the progress you’ve made with your team regularly. Everyone should mark their tasks as done as soon as they complete them. The same goes for other options, like “pending” or “delay.” 

These options are there to measure progress efficiently and to help you assign tasks to the right people if you see constant delays. Regardless of successes or inconveniences when working towards your goal, update your action plan accordingly so everyone can adapt instantly.

With the theory out of the way, it’s time to get into practice. We’ve prepared a list of the best action templates we could find in both Excel and Word formats. With our tips, you shouldn’t have much problem modifying them according to your needs.

A personal detailed work plan template can help you achieve your personal goals faster and stay motivated all the time. Everything is clearly outlined so you can include all the important data you want. Whether it’s needed resources, obstacles to overcome, or any other complex tasks – with this template, you’ll implement everything smoothly. This template is available in Word format.  

Download:

• Word 

As you can see, the action plan template is an effective tool to help you stay focused on your task. It improves your work process, makes potential challenges easier to handle, and helps achieve organizational goals with less effort. It’s also easier to set milestones when moving forward with your project, as you can spot possible solutions to most problems when you have everything in one document. 

Setting smart goals to achieve is an essential part of every business project, and an action plan is a key factor if you want to ensure success. You will feel much more productive and get a lot of things done. Thus, prepare and follow your plan by using one of the presented templates. One month of plan usage is enough to notice that you’re moving faster than ever. It’s your visual map, so don’t hesitate to use it.