Action Planning

Today I am brainstorming an action plan format for DBM.  Action plans are important because they relate the daily activities of employees to the organizations strategic goals.  The design and implementation of the action planning depends on the nature and needs of the organization.  Action plans are developed from the top down.  They start by defining each of the company’s strategic goals.  Then they generate a plan that depicts how each strategic goal will be reached.  Each strategic goal has a list of objectives. An objective is a statement of what must be achieved in order to meet a strategic goal.  Sometimes action plans are developed for each major function of the organization, e.g. marketing, development, finance, etc.  In this case, it is important the action plan relate to an overall, top-level action plan.  Action plans can also be written at different scales, e.g. for the entire organization, a specific department or even a single employee.  In each case it is important that the strategy, objectives and responsibilities of each unit relate directly to the organizations strategic goals.  


A good action plan would relate each strategic goal of the organization to a list of objectives, delegation of tasks, department or departments responsible for implementing specific tasks,  employees responsible within each department, a timeline for when each task will be carried out, and a list of resources required for each task.  Furthermore, a general top-level action plan can be reformated for each major function, each department manager and each employee of an organization. Each employee could be given a personal action plan, the action plan of his or her department or an action plan for their department's function within the bank. This will ensure that employees activities are consistent with the organization's strategic goals.


Possible Action Plan formatting:


Strategic Goal 1 > Objective 1 > Task 1 > Timeline
Responsibility
Resources
Task 2 > Timeline
Responsibility
Resources
Objective 2 > Task 3 > Timeline
Responsibility
Resources

Strategic Goal 2 > Objective 3 > Task 4 > Timeline

Responsibility

Resources