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Business transformation guide: Strategy, process, and examples

I’m probably giving away my age here, but do you remember the video cassette? My parents taught me how to use our video player when I was 2 years old. This meant that I could toddle downstairs at 6 a.m. and pick out my favorite video ( Dumbo ) unaided, giving them an extra hour of sleep. Smart parenting!

Business Transformation Guide: Strategy, Process, And Examples

Never heard of a video cassette? Well, you don’t need to be that old to have never had one in your house. Technology and products are evolving faster than ever, and so are the businesses that make them. In fact, businesses today need to transform to survive.

In this guide, we’ll cover everything you need to know about business transformation, including its definition, goals, and objectives. We’ll also share tips to make your business transformation successful, including using a roadmap, developing a communication plan, managing risk, defining success metrics, and more.

What is business transformation?

Business transformation refers to the process of fundamentally changing the way a company operates to achieve a new level of growth, efficiency, and competitiveness. It usually involves making significant changes to an organization’s processes, culture, and technology to improve its performance, adapt to new market trends, and capitalize on emerging opportunities.

Businesses can achieve a competitive advantage by creating a more agile, innovative, and customer-centric organization. Business transformation can help organizations reduce costs, improve efficiency, enhance the customer experience, and drive revenue growth.

Business transformation examples

Before embarking on a business transformation journey, it’s essential to define the goals and objectives that the organization aims to achieve. These goals should align with the company’s overall mission , vision , and strategy .

If you’ve never heard of a video cassette, you may not have heard of Blockbuster. Back in the day, Blockbuster was a chain of stores where you could go to rent a movie. Yes, go — as in physically visit the shop.

Going to Blockbuster was such a treat! With stacks of shelves containing movie after movie, you could choose one and watch it all weekend. However, if you returned your video late, you’d be hit with a hefty fine.

With the advent of the internet, the movie rental industry faced serious disruption due to the emergence of streaming platforms. Along came Netflix, and Blockbuster’s business model was suddenly antiquated. It did not adapt and, as a result, Blockbuster is resigned to the history books.

On the other hand, Microsoft demonstrates what is possible with a business transformation. There was a time when people questioned Microsoft’s future. However, under CEO Satya Nadella’s leadership, the longtime tech giant shifted from a product-focused company to a cloud-first, mobile-first one. By transforming its business model, culture, and technology to focus on cloud-based services such as Azure, Office 365, and Dynamics 365, Microsoft managed to increase its revenue from cloud services and become a leading player in the cloud market.

Some common goals of business transformation include improving operational efficiency, enhancing the customer experience, entering new markets, launching new products or services, and reducing costs. For Microsoft, it was all of these things and more.

transformation of a business plan to an action plan

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Developing your business transformation strategy

Identifying the areas of the business that require transformation is critical to the success of the initiative.

First, you need to start with your goal. Referencing our example from the previous section, Microsoft needed to pivot most of its product offerings and revive the culture of the firm to support this new direction.

Next, conduct a comprehensive assessment of the organization’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) to see how they align with the goals of the transformation. Some common areas that may need transformation include the organization’s culture, processes, technology, customer experience, product or service offerings, and talent management.

Conducting a business transformation, particularly on a scale similar to that of Microsoft’s transformation, is a daunting task. It is an entire system overhaul, whether it is in a few areas of the business or many. The goals are often lofty and transformative — they need to be to help the business stay competitive, relevant and serve their customer needs as their needs evolve.

To guide this transformation, you need to balance the need to inspire and lead vast and complex change with the need to manage potential risks and unforeseen consequences. Due to complexity of the endeavor, it will be impossible to predict everything that may happen.

What are the 8 phases of business transformation?

Every business transformation process will vary depending on these risks, as well as the unique goals, needs, and deficiencies of the organization and its business units. However, these eight phases are a good place to start:

Define success metrics
Build a transformation roadmap
Build a cross-functional team
Develop a clear communication plan
Identify and manage risks
Leverage technology and data
Continuously monitor progress and making adjustments
Manage change and resistance

1. Define success metrics

What does success look like? Articulating this in a measurable way allows you to be more specific when it comes to monitoring progress.

Identify key performance indicators (KPIs) that are aligned with the transformation goals and objectives. KPIs can include metrics such as revenue growth, or cost reductions.

2. Build a transformation roadmap

When conducting business transformation activities, the vision of the future differs greatly from the current state of the company. It can be hard for people to understand how they are to arrive at point B. That’s where a roadmap comes in.

A business transformation roadmap helps communicate the steps required to achieve your transformation goals and objectives. This document may include rough timelines, milestones, and key deliverables.

The roadmap could also be accompanied with other documents that identify the resources required for the initiative, such as budget, personnel, and technology.

3. Build a cross-functional team

One of the most crucial aspects of a successful business transformation is building a cross-functional team . Because a business transformation impacts so many areas of the business, it requires a wide range skill sets to design and implement the new ways of working.

The team should consist of individuals from various departments within the organization who can provide diverse perspectives and skillsets. It’s important to recruit individuals who are not only experts in their respective fields but also possess strong communication and collaboration skills. They should be able to work together toward a common goal and willing to learn and adapt to new ideas and approaches.

4. Develop a clear communication plan

Research has shown that effective communication is critical to the success of any transformation initiative.

Change can be both exciting and unsettling. You should develop a clear communication plan that outlines the key messages, stakeholders, channels, and frequency of communication. The communication plan should also include a feedback mechanism to gather input and address any concerns or issues.

5. Identify and manage risks

Business transformation initiatives are often associated with significant risks, such as cost overruns, delays, and resistance to change.

Identify and manage these risks by conducting a comprehensive risk assessment, developing risk mitigation strategies, and monitoring risks throughout the transformation process.

6. Leverage technology and data

Technology and data are essential components of a successful business transformation. You need to embrace new technologies and tools to streamline their operations, improve efficiency and enhance their customer experience.

Data analytics plays a critical role in providing valuable insights into customer behavior, market trends, and internal processes. It’s essential to have a robust technology infrastructure that supports data-driven decision-making and enables automation of routine tasks.

7. Continuously monitor progress and make adjustments

Business transformation is an ongoing process that requires continuous monitoring and evaluation. This is where the key performance indicators (KPIs) established at the start to measure the success of the transformation journey come into play.

It’s essential to have a feedback mechanism in place to gather insights from employees, customers, and stakeholders. Based on the feedback and KPIs, make adjustments to ensure that the transformation journey stays on track and achieves the desired outcomes.

8. Manage change and resistance

Change can be challenging, and resistance to change is a common hurdle when embarking on a business transformation journey. It’s essential to have a change management plan in place that addresses the concerns of employees and stakeholders.

As we’ve discussed, communication is key, and leaders must ensure that employees are aware of the changes, the reasons for the changes, and how they will be affected. It’s also crucial to involve employees in the transformation process and provide training and support to help them adapt to new processes and technologies.

Business transformation is a complex and challenging process that requires careful planning, execution, and monitoring. Your ability to build a cross-functional team, leverage technology and data, manage change and resistance, and continuously monitor progress determine the success of a business transformation journey.

By embracing these factors and investing in a holistic transformation approach, you can help your company unlock new opportunities, increase efficiency, and stay competitive in today’s ever-changing business landscape. Be the next Microsoft, not the next Blockbuster.

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What is an Action Plan & How to Write One [With Examples]

Written by: Danesh Ramuthi Oct 26, 2023

An action plan is a meticulously structured strategy that pinpoints specific steps, tasks and resources vital to turning a goal into reality. It is extremely useful in any project management.

Crafting an action plan is like plotting a route for a cross-country journey. It’s the strategic map that outlines every step, decision and pitstop needed to reach your ultimate destination.

With a well-thought-out action plan, you’re not just shooting in the dark; you’re making informed, purposeful strides towards your goals. Dive deep with our guide and witness real-world examples that will inspire and guide you.

Need a tool to kickstart your planning? Try out the Venngage business plan maker and explore their extensive collection of action plan templates .

Click to jump ahead:

What is the purpose of an action plan?

When to develop an action plan, 7 components of a actions plan, 15 action plan examples.

How to Write an action plan?

Final thoughts

An action plan serves as a strategic tool designed to outline specific steps, tasks and goals necessary to achieve a particular objective.

Its primary purpose is to provide a clear roadmap and direction for individuals, teams or organizations to follow in order to efficiently and effectively accomplish their goals.

Action plans break down complex projects into manageable, actionable components, making it easier to track progress and stay on course.

Moreover, action plans play a crucial role in fostering accountability and coordination among team members. By assigning responsibilities and deadlines for each task or milestone, they ensure that everyone involved is aware of their roles and the overall timeline, reducing confusion and enhancing teamwork.

Additionally, action plans help in resource allocation, budgeting and risk management by enabling stakeholders to identify potential challenges and plan for contingencies.

Overall, the purpose of an action plan is to transform abstract goals into concrete actions, making them more achievable and measurable while ensuring that the resources and efforts are aligned with the desired outcomes.

Developing an action plan is crucial when you’re looking to achieve a specific goal or outcome. Here are instances when you should consider developing an action plan:

Start of an organization : Ideally, an action plan should be developed within the first six months to one year of the start of an organization. This initial plan lays the groundwork for the future direction and growth of the entity.
Project initiation : At the start of any project, an action plan helps to clearly define the tasks, responsibilities, and timelines.
Goal setting : Whenever you or your organization sets a new goal. Action plans transform these goals from abstract ideas into concrete steps.
Strategic planning : For long-term visions and missions, action plans break down the journey into manageable pieces, each with its timeline and responsible parties.
Performance improvement : If there are areas where performance is lacking, whether it’s personal or organizational, an action plan can outline the steps needed to elevate performance.

An action plan is a detailed outline that breaks down the steps necessary to achieve a specific goal. Here are the typical components of an action plan.

1. Objective or Goal

The cornerstone of your action plan is the objective or goal. This should be a clear and concise statement outlining the desired outcome or result. Having a well-defined objective provides a direction and purpose to the entire plan, ensuring all tasks and actions are aligned towards achieving this singular aim.

2. Tasks or Actions

Once the objective is set, the next step is to list down the specific tasks or actions required to achieve this goal. These tasks should be broken down into detailed steps, ensuring no essential activity is overlooked. The granularity of these tasks can vary based on the complexity of the goal.

3. Set deadline

For each task or action, set a realistic and achievable deadline. This timeline ensures that the plan stays on track and that momentum is maintained throughout the execution. It also allows for monitoring progress and identifying potential delays early.

4. Resources needed to complete the project

It’s crucial to recognize and list the resources you’ll need to complete the tasks. This can encompass financial resources, human resources, equipment, technological tools or any other assets. Identifying these early ensures that there are no bottlenecks during execution due to a lack of necessary resources.

5. Person responsible

Assign a person or a team for each task. This designation ensures accountability and clarity. When individuals are aware of their responsibilities, it reduces overlap, confusion and ensures that every task has someone overseeing its completion.

6. Potential barriers or challenges

Every plan will face challenges. By anticipating potential barriers or obstacles, you can be better prepared to address them. This proactive approach ensures smoother execution and less reactionary problem-solving.

7. Measurement of key performance indicators (KPIs)

Determine how you’ll measure the success of each task or the plan overall. KPIs are tangible metrics that allow you to gauge progress and determine whether you’re moving closer to your goals and objectives. They offer a quantifiable means to evaluate success.

Action plans serve as blueprints, guiding the steps and resources needed to achieve a specific goal.

They come in various formats, tailored to different scenarios and objectives. Here, we present a range of action plan examples that cater to diverse purposes and situations.

From business strategies to simple task lists, these examples illustrate the versatility and importance of well-structured planning.

Business action plan example

A business action plan is essentially a strategy roadmap, meticulously tailored for realizing broader business objectives. By crafting a solid action plan, businesses can channel their resources, manpower and strategies in a direction that harmonizes with their larger vision.

Key to this plan is the identification and alignment of steps that resonate with the company’s comprehensive strategy, ambitions of growth and aspirations for operational enhancements.

While this might entail a myriad of specific steps based on unique business goals, some common elements include setting clear key performance indicators (KPIs), undertaking a thorough SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis to grasp the current business landscape and establishing a timeline to keep track of progress.

Furthermore, allocating responsibilities to team members or individuals ensures that every aspect of the strategy has a dedicated focus. Budgeting, essential to the success of the action plan, ensures that every initiative is financially viable and sustainable.

Regular reviews and iterations based on feedback and changing market dynamics keep the action plan agile and relevant.

Related: 5 Steps to Create an Actionable Employee Development Plan [with Templates & Examples]

Company action plan example

A comprehensive company action plan serves as the strategic linchpin, ensuring a coherent and coordinated approach to realizing organizational goals. Central to this plan is the incorporation of rigorous market research and analysis, which provides insights into consumer behaviors, market trends and potential opportunities.

Equally vital is the focus on product development and procurement, ensuring that the offerings align with market demands and stand out in terms of quality and relevance.

Alongside, adept legal and financial management safeguards the company’s interests, ensuring compliance with regulations and prudent fiscal oversight.

Simple Green And Orange Company Action Plan

Moreover, the essence of any successful company action plan lies in its sales and marketing strategies. These define how the products or services are positioned and promoted in the market, ensuring visibility and engagement with the target audience.

Navy And Yellow Modern Minimalist Action Plan

However, while acquisition is crucial, retention plays an equally significant role. Hence, impeccable customer service and nurturing relationships become indispensable components, fostering loyalty and ensuring that clients remain ambassadors for the brand long after the initial transaction.

Related: 30+ Project Plan Examples to Visualize Your Strategy (2023)

Sales action plan example

A well-structured sales action plan serves as the backbone for systematic and efficient progress. Central to this plan is the identification and utilization of the most effective sales channels, whether they are direct, online or through third-party avenues.

Strategic Food Sales Action Plan Template

Clarity on the products and services on offer, combined with their unique selling propositions, facilitates tailored and resonant sales pitches.

Budget considerations ensure that resources are judiciously allocated, balancing the act between expenditures and potential returns. This financial prudence is complemented by setting realistic sales projections, which act as both a motivational target and a yardstick for success.

Timelines, or proposed deadlines, infuse the process with a sense of urgency, ensuring that the momentum of the sales drive is maintained.

However, the true measure of the action plan’s efficacy lies in its key performance indicators (KPIs). These metrics, be it lead conversion rates or customer retention figures, serve as tangible markers, highlighting the plan’s strengths and signaling areas that might require recalibration to increase sales.

Food Retailer Sales Action Plan Template

Corrective action plan example

The essence of a corrective action plan lies in its meticulous structure, tailored to address and rectify deviations or inefficiencies identified within an organization. At its core, each action item serves as a focal point, detailing specific areas or processes that require intervention.

Accompanying each action item is a clear description that provides a comprehensive understanding of the issue at hand.

However, merely identifying a problem isn’t enough; delving deep into its origins through root cause analysis ensures that solutions target the fundamental issues, rather than just addressing superficial symptoms.

This analysis then paves the way for defining the corrective action, a tangible step or series of steps designed to mitigate the identified problem and prevent its recurrence.

Besides, to ensure the plan’s effectiveness, assigning a responsible person to each action item is paramount. This individual or team is entrusted with the task’s execution, ensuring accountability and focus.

The status of each action keeps stakeholders informed about the progress, be it in the planning phase, ongoing, or completed.

Lastly, setting a due date for each corrective action introduces a sense of urgency and purpose, ensuring that issues are addressed in a timely manner, minimizing disruptions and maximizing operational efficiency.

Simple action plan example

A simple action plan strips away the layers of complexity, offering a concise and direct approach to achieving a goal or addressing an issue. This type of plan is characterized by its straightforward structure, devoid of extraneous details, yet powerfully effective in its clarity.

It is specifically designed for tasks or objectives that don’t necessitate elaborate strategies or multi-layered approaches.

White and Red Simple Corrective Action Plan

The core components of a simple action plan usually include a clear statement of the task or objective at hand, followed by a sequence of actions or steps to be taken.

Each step is described succinctly, ensuring that anyone involved has a clear understanding of what is expected. Responsibilities are defined clearly, with each task allocated to an individual or a team, ensuring accountability. Timelines might be integrated, providing a clear framework for completion, even if they’re just broad milestones.

Regular check-ins or assessments, although minimal, might be incorporated to monitor progress.

The beauty of a simple action plan lies in its agility and adaptability, making it particularly suited for individual projects, short-term tasks or situations where a rapid response is required.

How to write an action plan?

Creating an effective action plan is a foundational step towards turning aspirations into tangible results. It provides a clear roadmap, ensuring that each step taken aligns with the overall objective.

Whether you’re aiming to enhance a business process or achieve a personal goal, a well-drafted action plan can be your guiding light. Here’s key steps on how you can craft one:

Step 1: Establish SMART goals: Initiating with a goal that is specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound ensures you have a clear and focused endpoint in sight. Smart goals serves as the cornerstone for your entire strategic blueprint.
Step 2: Determine necessary tasks: Decompose your overarching objective into smaller, actionable tasks. This modular approach not only makes the mission less daunting but also provides a sequential pathway to goal attainment.
Step 3: Assign essential resources: Depending on the tasks at hand, designate necessary resources, be they human, financial or technological. This ensures that every activity has the backing it needs for successful execution.
Step 4: Prioritize tasks by importance: Not all tasks hold equal weight. Determine the hierarchy of tasks based on their impact on the goal and their time sensitivity. This allows for a systematic progression.
Step 5: Outline timelines and key markers: With tasks in hand, set clear deadlines for each. Introduce milestones, which act as periodic check-ins, ensuring you’re on track and allowing for celebrations of smaller victories.
Step 6: Oversee and modify your strategy blueprint: As you progress, there will invariably be learnings and challenges. Regularly review your plan to make necessary adjustments, ensuring its relevance and effectiveness.
Step 7: Consider ready-to-use templates: If starting from scratch feels overwhelming, lean on structured templates to guide your planning. There’s plenty of business plan softwares and platforms such as Venngage that offer a plethora of action plan templates , tailored to various needs, which can significantly streamline the process.

An action plan is more than just an action steps, it’s a strategic blueprint that bridges the gap between aspirations and realizations.

Through this comprehensive guide, I’ve walked you through the purpose, ideal timings, core components, and practical examples of action plans across various domains.

Leveraging tools of project management , you can track progress, assign tasks and ensure every team member stays on the same page.

It’s not just about setting goals, but about strategically planning every step, ensuring tasks completed align with the larger project goals.

Remember, success isn’t just about having goals but about charting the right course to achieve them

And if you’re looking to supercharge your planning efforts, don’t miss out on the Venngage business plan maker.

Dive into their extensive collection of action plan templates and make your strategic planning both efficient and effective.

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How to Write and Develop an Action Plan for Your Small Business

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Updated October 29, 2023

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Taking action at the appropriate time is critical to turning your visions into a viable reality. However, doing so without a proper strategy can be a recipe for disaster.

A well-designed and concrete action plan that weighs all the benefits and possible challenges is the key to executing your vision successfully. Furthermore, it makes tracking progress easier, which in turn helps you attain your goals.

Whether it’s a business, personal, or career goal you are going after, the right action plan can be your roadmap to success. A comprehensive plan details all the information regarding your objectives and projects, such as the resources required, the complexity level of tasks, etc.

Let’s figure out how you can build one to achieve your goals successfully and efficiently.

What is an action plan and why is it important?

An action plan serves as a trajectory for the tasks or steps you need to accomplish to reach your goals and objectives. It is a crucial part of your strategic process that helps you improve teamwork planning significantly. Also, a proper action plan allows you to manage projects efficiently.

You have all the essential information in a centralized location that your team can access, making it easier for everybody to monitor progress and plan things successfully. As your company grows and circumstances change, you can revisit and make modifications to meet your latest requirements.

Planning of action items helps you prepare for any obstacles ahead. You’re your teams on track while ensuring impactful results. Furthermore, it also boosts your productivity and keeps everybody focused on urgent tasks.

Here are some of the reasons why an action plan is vital for you:

It gives you a clear sense of direction by highlighting precisely the steps you need to take when you need to take that and what it will help you accomplish
Having your objectives and goals on paper with structured steps keeps the team members motivated and dedicated throughout the project
You can gauge your and member’s progress and contribution toward the collective goals
You can turn your visions into reality, increase accountability and efficiency within your organization

How to create an effective action plan

When it comes to creating an action plan, various practical methods and tools can help you develop a robust action program. Begin by following this straightforward 7-step strategy.

Following these steps for structuring your action plan incidentally also acts as a brilliant roadmap for your idea’s overall presentation and can effectively create a clear goal.

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1. Define your scope

It is essential to define your scope, create a roadmap, and align it with your strategic planning . Make sure your actions guide you toward company goals. Start by gauging how your team members can contribute and help you achieve your objectives.

If you don’t have a clear understanding of what you want to achieve, it might be challenging for you to plan a new initiative. Defining your current status and where you see your company helps you analyze the situation, explore potential solutions and implement strategies successfully.

2. Set S.M.A.R.T. goals

S.M.A.R.T. (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound) objectives or goals is a method of objective setting that enables employees and managers to set, monitor, and achieve their long-term and short-term goals. This approach brings tractability and structure together.

Once you map out your plan, scope, and aim to accomplish, the next step requires you to set well-defined goals and measurable tools. Create a template to highlight all the tasks that your team needs to perform and deadlines.

It is vital to make sure that your entire team is on the same page, involved in the process, and has access to the document. This way, the projects become manageable while also boosting team productivity.

Furthermore, ensure that the tasks are attainable. If you have more complex tasks, it’s essential to break them down into manageable parts for easy execution.

3. Visualize your plan

Once you plan on the action items, prioritize tasks, and set milestones, the next step is creating a visual representation of your action plan. This visualization helps you engage your team and allow everyone to follow through to carry out activities.

A graphical presentation also makes it easier to get a bird’s eye view of your project. This way, you can identify your objectives and tasks that you weren’t able to execute or reach, allowing you to prioritize them to accomplish them.

You can elaborate your action plan with the help of a concept map that can help you explicitly communicate all the essential elements and information — task owners, tasks owners, resources, goals, objectives, deadlines, etc. Also, make sure the document is easily accessible to all.

Additionally, you can also leverage online visual collaboration platforms to help you seamlessly visualize and structure your simple and complex concepts.

4. Prioritize your tasks

It is imperative to align all your activities with specific goals and assign them to relevant team members. When you list and prioritize all your tasks, it helps keep track of your projects’ status, progress, and completion.

You could also structure your task list by importance. This way, everyone knows what needs to be done first to meet your deadlines effectively while ensuring that your employees can manage those tasks. That way, your team will also know their responsibilities and tasks to get done and engage them with a clear vision.

5. Set milestones

Milestones are the objectives that your team aims to achieve to keep a specific project progressing at a steady pace. Your work will have a lot smoother flow when everybody is clear with goals.

When you set milestones , it serves as mini-goals that help you achieve your central goal towards the end. Adding milestones to your action plan is crucial to give your team members something to look forward to and encourage them to stay motivated throughout.

6. Identify your resources

Before starting your project, it is imperative to ensure that you have the critical resources to complete the tasks successfully. And if you don’t have adequate resources, devise a strategy to leverage what you have effectively. Include all the essential components such as the number of projects, budget, timelines, etc., to make sure you don’t miss out on vital aspects.

Knowing what you have to work with will ensure that any tasks or projects you set out to accomplish have a better chance of succeeding. If you don’t have enough cash, a large enough team, or even enough time to manage every project, you’ll soon find yourself struggling to meet milestones and deadlines.

7. Monitor, gauge, and update

It is pivotal to allocate time and resources to evaluate your projects’ and teams’ progress. Make sure you conduct frequent follow-ups with team members to see if everybody is on track.

For this reason, you need to elaborate on the follow-up and assessment of teams in your action plan. This will help you implement the strategies that work well and eradicate the ineffective ones.

A guide to reaching your goals

An action plan is an indispensable tool that helps you guide your way to realizing your goals. It turns your visualization into actionable steps and milestones.

From larger departments in an organization to individual employees, an action plan is a defined methodology that helps you outline your activities, tasks, resources, budget, objectives, etc. This, in turn, allows you to achieve desired outcomes.

JT Ripton is a business consultant and a freelance writer out of Tampa. JT has written for companies like T-Mobile and others.

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In helping owner advisors build their businesses, we’ve noticed that many tend to fall into some predictable behavior patterns that prevent them from attaining their goals. Probably the most predictable — and damaging — mistake occurs in strategic planning.

Here’s the problem: The term “strategic planning” doesn’t include any reference to actually implementing the “plan.” As most financial advisors tend to be “planners” by nature, firm owners tend to overemphasize their focus on the strategic plan.

But no matter how well you “plan” for any situation, the reality will involve more problems than you anticipated.

This means that in building a business, view your strategic plan as only a starting place — a collection of ideas that you “think” might improve your business, and a rough outline of the order in which they might be most successfully implemented.

But the key to your success — or failure — will be your ability to monitor the implementation of the plan, and make changes to it, as some aspects will turn out better or worse than you expected.

We suggest following these five steps to successfully implement your goals:

1. Assess where your business is now.

If you don’t know where every facet of your business is today, it will be difficult to make successful improvements. You can’t fix it if you don’t know what’s broken.

We find that owner advisors are often so excited about creating and implementing a new strategic plan that they don’t want to take the time and effort to shore up existing areas of their business that are holding them back.

Be sure that your business is good at what it currently does — before your start adding more for it to do.

2. Identify “key” employees involved in implementing your strategic plan and meet regularly with them as a group.

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It’s difficult for progress to be made without consistent monitoring and feedback. Every two weeks usually works best — it’s recent enough that most people won’t have forgotten what you talked about in the last meeting, yet provides enough time for progress to be made, and/or new issues to be uncovered. And, be sure to set up the next planning session each time you conduct one.

3. Have your team assess the strengths and weaknesses of your business.

What are your strengths? What can you do better? Most owners’ assess themselves in isolation, meaning, they are doing all the work instead of including their teams. Two is better than one, so make sure you leave time to assess changes that you made in previous meetings.

How are things working out, and/or are you making progress? Never assume that your business is at the same place it was during the last meeting. The goal is to make progress, and monitoring your progress is motivational.

4. Review where you need to go by assessing previous goals and determine if they still are relevant.

It’s OK to change your direction, mind and/or decide a goal needs to go into the trash can. Focus on building upon what you already have, determine what is still relevant and if anything new needs to be added or anything old needs to be thrown out.

5. Prioritize.

You’ve heard the importance of prioritization hundreds of times, but it’s necessary to know what needs to be done and in what order. One of your key jobs is deciding what needs to be done “next” and communicating that to your team.

Your staff members may have trouble prioritizing because they don’t always have or understand the whole picture. Helping them to accomplish just one thing forces them focus. And accomplishment drives accomplishment.

When firm owners shift their focus away from the strategic plan itself and onto implementation of that plan, their businesses really start to take off.

Remember, a plan is just a plan. You must make it a reality. Creating a new plan over and over really doesn’t get anything done at all.

Angie Herbers

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How to create an action plan (with free templates and examples)

An action plan template provides a ready-made framework for quickly adding the steps — like tasks, due dates, and assignees — to achieve your project goals. It’s a great way to ensure your project action plans are effective and consistent so everyone understands what’s expected.

In this guide, you’ll learn how to write an action plan step-by-step, with examples for inspiration. Plus, you can download two free action plan templates — including one from our Work OS — to get started immediately.

What is an action plan?

An action plan is a detailed blueprint that outlines the steps you, your team, or your organization will take to achieve a specific goal. It includes specific tasks or actions with due dates and assignees, a timeline, and the resources required to accomplish your goal.

Action plans include detailed information, such as:

A description of each action or task to complete
The person responsible for each action
Due dates for each task
Resources required to complete the action
Space to reflect or take notes after you have completed a task

What is an action plan template?

An action plan template is a pre-structured document that gives you a framework for crafting your new action plan. A practical action plan template has designated spaces for each aspect you need to cover, often presented in a table format like this.

Screenshot of monday.com's action plan template

Free action plan templates

Here are two free action plan templates you can download and use today:

Try monday.com’s Action Plan Template:

This action plan template breaks down goals into actionable steps that you can prioritize, assign ownership, and track progress. You can also add start and end dates for each action, plus relevant details and files.

Why is an action plan template important?

Leaders and managers use action plan templates to speed up the strategic planning process . Rather than spending unnecessary time designing the document used for planning purposes, project managers can simply pull up their template, save a new copy — keeping the existing template intact — and get straight to work scheduling and assigning tasks.

Action plan templates ensure consistency

Additionally, templates help to ensure consistency across plans and teams. When your organization uses the same action plan template for the whole company, it’s easier for team members to interpret and understand the plan — because they’re familiar with the format — and it contributes toward an organized, professional appearance.

Action plan templates help you plan more effectively

Action plan templates help project organizers plan more effectively by offering predefined categories and columns, reducing the chance of human error or omitting information from an action plan. In addition, you can apply any learnings from the project management process to your template. That way, you’ll consistently improve subsequent action plans.

While completing a project, you might find that some of the tasks in your task lists didn’t have clear outcomes. In addition, it wasn’t immediately obvious how to identify when the task was complete. So, you could borrow from the SMART goals framework — Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time-bound goals — and include a new column in your action plan template to note how you’ll measure if the task is complete.

And when using an action plan template built on a Work OS like monday.com, you can add your action plan to relevant project boards, create cross-team automations , and more — making it easier to collaborate with a distributed team in real time.

What are the essential features of an effective action plan template?

Action plan templates should contain the following features:

Multiple views — such as tables, timelines, Kanban boards, and Gantt charts to visualize tasks.
Task notifications — to detail and assign tasks to team members.
Structured layouts — to plan tasks based on priority, status, and resource allocation.
Collaboration ability — to maintain notes, comments, and files in one place.
Automations — to update task status and notify owners.
Status columns — to show the current status, such as Stuck, Working on it, and Done.
Dashboards — to track overall progress, timelines, and budgets.

What is the difference between an action plan and a project plan?

A project plan is more detailed than an action plan. Both list the tasks, timelines, and resources required to achieve a desired goal. But project plans also include:

Project goals and objectives
Project milestones and deliverables
Project scope and budget
Project roles and responsibilities
Project stakeholders and communication schedule
Project risk mitigation and contingency plans
Project success criteria

You can create an action plan from your project plan to outline the steps required to achieve your project goals.

What are the key elements of a well-written action plan?

A well-written action plan consists of seven components:

Goals: define what the action plan aims to accomplish.
Steps: detail the actions required to achieve each goal.
Items: determine the task dependencies and priorities.
Timeline: maps out the schedule and milestones from start to finish.
Resources: identify the people, tools, and budget required.
Responsibilities: assign tasks to an individual or a team.
Review: monitor the overall progress of action items completed.

What are some examples of action plan templates?

Now that we know what they do, let’s look at a few action plan templates.

Business action plan template

This template outlines how to write an action plan to track progress toward a specific business goal.

( Image Source )

This action plan begins by detailing the primary goal, with the first column dedicated to a breakdown of each action required. For example, if your business goal was to design and launch a new website, your activities might include:

Gathering design assets
Choosing a color scheme
Copywriting for new website pages
Assembling design and development teams
Creating design wireframes
Design and development
Launch and promotion

Note that the second to last column in this action plan template is reserved for noting potential hazards. This helps identify roadblocks that might get in the way of achieving your goals to plan around them.

Personal development action plan template

Though action plans are most often used in a business context, they can be a handy task management tool to help you stay motivated and work toward your personal goals.

Example of a personal development action plan

This template allows you to break down your actions into a step-by-step sequence and includes a “How will I know I’ve been successful?” column to ensure that the actions you write down have a clear outcome.

Corrective action plan template

Creating an action plan can also be a great way to solve a specific business problem or even an issue with a particular employee’s performance. This is known as a corrective action plan, as shown in the example template below.

A corrective action plan template includes important columns, such as “metrics and constraints” — to help users complete tasks and plan for potential roadblocks — and “percent completed” — to help measure the progress toward the goal.

monday.com’s Action Plan Template

As you’ve seen in the examples above, the typical action plan format is a PDF or Microsoft Word document. While this is fine for goal setting and creating the plan itself, it’s not so great for putting it into action.

That’s why we’ve purpose-built a flexible, customizable, intuitive action plan template to use with monday.com.

When you design your action plan on monday.com, you can:

Access multiple views (such as a table, Kanban, and timeline) to work in a manner that suits your needs.

Timeline view in the action plan template

Assign tasks to individuals and notify them instantly.
Comment and collaborate on tasks to keep communication contextual.
Design custom automations to save valuable time and ensure nothing slips through the cracks.
Report on progress with the Progress Tracking Column.

Screenshot of the progress tracking column on monday.com

Once there is buy-in from the team on the plan, it is easy to copy actions, dates, and assignees over to the task management board.

Because monday.com is a comprehensive Work OS, any action plans you create with this template also integrate with relevant project boards. In addition, comprehensive analytics make tracking easy.

Get the template

How to write an action plan step-by-step

Never created an action plan before? Then, follow this simple guide and get started with the free template above.

1. Determine your goals

First, you need to understand what you’re trying to achieve. Then, make this goal as specific as possible.

For example, “increase sales” is not a clear enough goal. “Increase sales by 20% in quarter three” is more specific and allows you to set a metric for achieving it.

2. Break down the steps required to achieve each goal

What actions are necessary to get there?

In this example, that might include:

Hire three new sales development representatives
Increase content marketing budget by $20,000
Implement a new sales training program for new hires

3. Determine task dependencies and priorities

Remember: you can’t do everything at once! So now that you’ve broken down that big goal into bite-sized chunks, you need to figure out the perfect order for completing the tasks. In the above instance, you need to hire new sales representatives before starting a sales training program.

4. Set milestones

Now, set some milestones for significant events or checkpoints along the project. Some typical milestones are:

Completion of a substantial task or phase of the project
A significant event, such as a product launch
Important meetings, like customer review meetings

5. Add deadlines

When do you need to complete each task? Setting deadlines for each task helps your team stay on track and allows you to identify if your timeline for the larger goal is realistic.

6. Identify the resources you need

What’s getting in the way of completing these tasks? What do you require — perhaps from leadership or another team — to meet or exceed your goals? In our sales team example, we might need some assistance from the HR department to advertise an open role and attract new applicants.

7. Assign tasks to individuals

Who is responsible for each action? Assign a clear task owner to each task. Ownership doesn’t just make someone feel accountable; it empowers them to take the initiative and solve problems without dragging in management at every twist and turn.

8. Agree on a plan to review progress

Before you jump in and start your project, determine how you will measure progress toward your goals. For example:

Will you review your action plan every day or every week?
Will the task assignees or the project leader be responsible for updating the plan to reflect progress?

Determining these answers upfront means the action plan remains a living document reflecting actual progress.

Customize our Action Plan Template to your needs today

Prepare and present your action plans with our flexible, customizable Action Plan Template. Team members will love the multiple views, automations, and collaboration features to keep them on point. And you’ll benefit from the Progress Tracking column in your weekly reports to stakeholders.

FAQs about action plans

What’s the difference between an action plan and a to-do list.

An action plan and a to-do list are helpful tools for organizing tasks and achieving goals. A to-do list is a list of tasks to complete, but not necessarily for the same goal or project. Typically, to-do lists are less organized than action plans and can change daily. In contrast, an action plan follows specific steps and includes tasks that all lead to completing a common goal.

What's the difference between an action plan and a strategic plan?

An action plan and a strategic plan are essential for an organization’s long-term and short-term planning. A strategic plan outlines an organization’s vision for the future and helps prioritize goals, make resourcing decisions, and unite employees. On the other hand, an action plan makes the strategic plan operational by providing detailed instructions on how to accomplish those goals.

What’s the difference between an action plan and an implementation plan?

An implementation plan and an action plan are essential documents that help teams execute a project successfully. An action plan focuses on the specific tasks needed to achieve a goal. In contrast, an implementation plan is a more holistic document outlining the steps, teams, and resources required to execute a project successfully.

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How to Turn Strategy Into Action

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The tangible value of your strategy can only be realized when it’s translated into action by an organization that understands the priorities and goals of the business.

5 Steps to Turn Strategy Into Action:

1. translate and elaborate on the strategy., 2. confirm execution priorities., 3. define strategic initiatives., 4. engage and align the organization., 5. measure, monitor and adjust..

In a previous GrowthBit, I shared my perspectives on and approach to Formalizing a Winning Business Strategy. Today, I want to focus on the art and science of turning strategy into action, because this is an area where smart, capable companies often stumble.

Creating a strategy is essential, but it’s only the first step. It’s when a strategy is translated into specific actions , timelines and responsibilities that it enables an organization to deliver on key goals. Without this executional layer, the most brilliant, focused strategy will be challenging to be implemented and fall short of the desired impact.

When I work with our portfolio companies, I lead them through a multi-step process of translating strategy into action while building ownership for moving things forward:

Step 1: translate and elaborate on the strategy..

In many situations, strategies are defined in broad, directional terms and often lack deeper, clearer definition. For example, a strategy to “Expand Geographically” may be directionally sound but unable to execute until the next layer of questions are resolved. Questions like “Which geographies should we expand to (or avoid) and why?”, “Should we build, buy or partner our way into each specific market?” and “Should we expand in a particular sequence?” exemplify the type of thinking that requires further elaboration.

One technique I’ve found useful over the years is to ask 1) What does this mean? and 2) Why is this important? to draw out everyone’s thinking and to identify areas where additional analysis or thinking may be needed.

Step 2: Confirm Execution Priorities.

Once a strategy is more clearly defined, it is important to establish clear priorities. Typically, I challenge management teams to identify and align on three to five top level priorities within a desired timeframe (e.g,. calendar year, multi-year view, etc.). What are the three to five most important things that need to get done? How will this advance your strategy and competitive position? Sometimes leaders identify broad actions as priorities (e.g., “Expand new logo capture” or “Broaden our wealth management platform”) while in other cases, they identify key goals (e.g., “Increase Retention by __%” or “Drive ___% Margin Improvement”).

See the illustration below for an example.

I try not to get too hung up on whether broad actions or goals are being identified as priorities, as long as the leadership team is clear on what they mean and why they are important.

Step 3: Define Strategic Initiatives.

To make the strategy actionable, it needs to be broken into specific initiatives that individuals and/or teams can own and execute. Each initiative should have clear goals, accountabilities, milestones and timing expectations. For example, a technology business I work with has a goal to improve customer favor by 20% during the next 12 months and improving service delivery is critical to accomplishing this. They developed a customer excellence strategy and broke one of its key priorities into the following strategic initiatives:

Priority #2: Improve End-to-End Service Delivery

Initiative 2a: Implement service cloud by Q3 2018

Initiative 2b: Roll out full set of service standards and KPIs by Q4 2018

Initiative 2c: Redesign our customer success process by Q4 2018

There are a couple of simple templates or frameworks that can be used to help identify and plan key initiatives. An example “Action Plan” appears below. As you will see, it links a set of initiatives to an overarching priority in a simple planning template that everyone can use.

Step 4: Engage and Align the Organization.

When it comes to strategy execution, the most important success factor is the engagement and alignment of the organization. This begins with identifying clear and accountable owners and participants who will work on key initiatives and it translates further into the organization through the clarification of goals, the alignment of incentives and ongoing communication. This may or may not be a straightforward process depending upon the complexity of your business and the volume of initiatives underway. Great strategies and plans have failed due to lack of organizational ownership. To combat this, keep the “Q x A” equation in mind: the Quality of the strategy TIMES its Acceptance = the Effectiveness of the result. Paying ample attention to the “A” in the equation will payoff in terms of getting to the results you seek.

Step 5: Measure, Monitor and Adjust.

Once you’ve translated the strategy into a plan of action and rolled it out across the organization, the last step is to monitor your progress against the action plan.

This needs to be a separate activity from monthly financial reporting and annual reviews. Reporting financials monthly isn’t enough, because it doesn’t tell you what’s driving those financials. And while an annual review is an important way to gauge progress, a year is too long to wait. When you’re a fast-growing company, you can’t afford to get halfway through the year before realizing whether you are on or off track with critical strategic initiatives.

Two best practices have emerged across LLR portfolio companies. The first is to introduce regular monitoring and reporting of strategic initiatives through dedicated bi-weekly discussion among the leadership team along with basic “red/yellow/green” status reporting concurrent with monthly financial reporting. This ensures that priority initiatives stay visible while providing a regular forum for discussing progress and issues.

A second best practice is to more thoroughly review and evaluate strategic progress during an in-depth quarterly business review (QBR), which often precedes a quarterly board meeting. During these intensive reviews, managers convene to discuss facts regarding performance and initiative progress and to determine if course correction is needed. Some companies methodically review each strategic priority and the associated initiatives in terms of “what’s working and what’s not working,” after which adjustments are identified and initiated. By doing this on a regular basis, management can stay on top of important strategic efforts while making critical adjustments along the way.

Here’s the bottom line.

Setting strategy is critical to success, but it’s only half the battle. The tangible value of your strategy can only be realized when it’s translated into action by an organization that understands the priorities and goals of the business. Set priorities. Define key initiatives and assign them to specific individuals. Work on gaining broader buy-in. Then measure, monitor and adjust as needed. If you can maintain this discipline, you’re going to see incredible value from the strategy you worked so hard to create.

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Business Transformation Plan Template

What is a Business Transformation Plan?

A business transformation plan outlines a company’s plan for change and improvement. It is designed to help an organization evolve and adapt to changing market conditions, technological advances, and internal or external shifts in structure. The plan outlines the desired outcomes and goals of the transformation, as well as the steps needed to achieve them. It is a comprehensive plan that outlines how the organization will move from its current state to the desired future state.

What's included in this Business Transformation Plan template?

3 focus areas
6 objectives

Each focus area has its own objectives, projects, and KPIs to ensure that the strategy is comprehensive and effective.

Who is the Business Transformation Plan template for?

This business transformation plan template is useful for any organization, of any size and industry, that wants to create a plan to transform their business through change management and transformation processes. It provides a comprehensive overview of the entire transformation process, from defining the focus areas to setting measurable targets and implementing projects.

1. Define clear examples of your focus areas

Focus areas are the broad categories that describe the main objectives of your transformation plan. Examples of focus areas could include implementation of technology solutions, enhancing human resources, or improving financial performance. Each focus area should have several objectives that are related to achieving the overall goal of the transformation plan.

2. Think about the objectives that could fall under that focus area

Objectives are specific goals that the transformation plan should strive to achieve. For example, in the focus area of “Implement Technology Solutions”, objectives could include increasing operational efficiency, improving customer satisfaction, or increasing employee engagement.

3. Set measurable targets (KPIs) to tackle the objective

KPIs, or key performance indicators, are measurable targets that help to quantify the progress of the transformation plan. For example, a KPI could be to reduce average customer support response time from 3 hours to 1 hour. Setting measurable targets allows you to track the success of your transformation plan. An example of a KPI for the focus area of Implement Technology Solutions could be: Decrease avg time from order to shipment from 2.3 days to 1.5 days.

4. Implement related projects to achieve the KPIs

Projects are the specific actions that need to be taken in order to achieve the objectives and KPIs of the transformation plan. For example, if the objective is to increase customer satisfaction, a project could be to automate customer support. Projects should be specific and achievable in order to ensure the success of the transformation plan.

5. Utilize Cascade Strategy Execution Platform to see faster results from your strategy

The Cascade Strategy Execution Platform is a powerful tool for executing transformation plans. It helps you to quickly see the results of your strategy, track progress, and ensure that all stakeholders are on the same page. The platform is designed to make it easy to manage the entire transformation process, from start to finish.

Why your next transformation should be ‘all in’

Business transformation programs have long focused on productivity improvement—taking a “better, faster, cheaper” approach to how the company works. And for good reason: disciplined efforts can boost productivity as well as accountability, transparency, execution, and the pace of decision making. When it comes to delivering fast results to the bottom line, it’s a proven recipe that works.

The problem is, it’s no longer enough. Digitization, advanced technologies, and other forms of tech-enabled disruption are upending industry after industry, pressuring incumbent companies not only to scratch out stronger financial returns but also to remake who and what they are as organizations.

It’s entirely possible for organizations to ramp up their bottom-line performance even as they secure game-changing portfolio wins that redefine what a company is and does.

Doing the first is hard enough. Tackling the second—changing what your company is and does—requires understanding where the value is shifting in your industry (and in others), spotting opportunities in the inflection points, and taking purposeful actions to seize them. The prospect of doing both jobs at once is sobering.

How realistic is it to think your company can pull it off? The good news is that our research demonstrates it’s entirely possible for organizations to ramp up their bottom-line performance even as they secure game-changing portfolio wins that redefine what a company is and does. What’s more, “all-in” transformations that focus on the organization’s performance and portfolio appear to load the dice in favor of transformational results. By developing these two complementary sets of muscles, companies can aspire to flex them in a coordinated way, using performance improvements to carry them to the next set of portfolio moves, which in turn creates momentum propelling the company to the next level.

Life on the power curve

If you want to see where you’re going, it’s best to start with a point of reference. Our choice, the power curve of economic profit, came out of a multiyear research effort that sought to establish empirical benchmarks for what really makes for success in strategy. To create Exhibit 1, we plotted the economic profit (the total profit after subtracting the cost of capital) earned by the world’s 2,393 largest nonfinancial companies from 2010 to 2014. The result shows a power curve that is extremely steep at both ends and flat in the middle. The average company in the middle three quintiles earned less than $50 million in economic profit. Meanwhile, those in the top quintile earned 30 times more than the average firm in our sample, capturing nearly 90 percent of all the economic profit created, or an average of $1.4 billion annually.

Although there is an enormous gulf between the middle firms and the top-quintile firms, companies can and do move up. Eight percent, or one in 12 companies, managed this feat across the decade we examined (from a starting position in 2000–04, to an ending position of 2010–14). As described in Strategy Beyond the Hockey Stick (Wiley, 2018), the specific odds of a company succeeding are largely explained by its endowment (for example, its size and debt capacity), its trends (a declining or improving industry), and the application of five big moves .

While all of these factors matter, the five moves play the biggest role in determining whether or not a company successfully climbed the power curve. They are also the ingredients of a truly transformational transformation program, so let’s look at them next.

Big moves in the transformation tool kit

To place the five big moves in the context of transformation, we divided them into two categories. The first covers “performance-related” moves. These include substantial changes that lead to better margins and potential new fit-for-purpose business models.

Productivity improvements are a management favorite in the performance genre, but to qualify as a big move, the relative improvement versus your sector must outpace 70 percent of firms over a decade.

Differentiation improvement is the other performance-related move, covering innovation in products, services, and business models. Similarly, for this move to really transform the business, we said that your company’s gross margin improvement must put it in the top 30 percent of its industry’s improvement—or, to put another way, you must deliver 25 percent more improvement than your industry median.

The second category covers three “portfolio-related” moves. The first is active resource reallocation, which we define as the company shifting more than 60 percent of its capital spending across its businesses or markets over ten years. Such firms create 50 percent more value than counterparts that shift resources at a slower clip. 1 See Chris Bradley, Martin Hirt, and Sven Smit, Strategy Beyond the Hockey Stick: People, Probabilities, and Big Moves to Beat the Odds , New York, NY: Wiley, 2018. Meanwhile, a big move in programmatic M&A —the type of deal making that produces more reliable performance boosts than any other—requires the company to execute at least one deal per year, cumulatively amounting to more than 30 percent of a company’s market capitalization over ten years, and with no single deal being more than 30 percent of its market capitalization. Finally, for capital programs to qualify as a big move, the ratio of capital expenditure (capex) to sales must exceed 1.7 times the industry median for at least a decade.

Making big moves tends to reduce the risk profile and adds more upside than downside. The way we explain this to senior executives is that when you’re parked on the side of a volcano, staying put is your riskiest move.

While the five moves are by definition big relative to competitors, this does not mean they are brash or reckless. In fact, making big moves tends to reduce the risk profile and adds more upside than downside (although how much of each depends in part on your industry’s trends, as we will see). The way we explain this to senior executives is that when you’re parked on the side of a volcano, staying put is your riskiest move. Moreover, the five moves are cumulatively big and are most effective when combined in carefully considered ways. The successful big movers rarely lurch; they are far more likely to move consistently and steadily, with a constancy of purpose, over a long period of time.

Combining moves to transform

As shown in Strategy Beyond the Hockey Stick , for companies in the middle ranks of the power curve, making one or two of the five big moves increases a company’s odds of rising into the top quintile from 8 percent to 17 percent; making three big moves boosts these odds to nearly 50 percent. In our latest research, we sought to become more granular about the relationship between different categories of moves, by segmenting 1,435 companies that started in the middle three quintiles of the power curve into four transformation “stories” (Exhibit 2). Those relationships are interesting in their own right, and we also hope they will help leaders raise their sights in a nuanced way. Resetting aspirations often represents a critical need. It’s quite rare for companies to make more than a single big move; about 80 percent of our sample made exactly one move, or none at all.

The largest group, representing 47 percent of the companies we studied, didn’t make any of the five big moves. This doesn’t mean they didn’t make plans or moves—only that their moves weren’t big enough to reach our bar for transformational results. The members of this “static” group had the lowest odds of reaching the top quintile of the power curve, at 4 percent.

Performance only

Twenty-six percent of the companies made at least one big, performance-oriented move, but no portfolio moves. As a result, they nearly doubled their odds of rising to the top quintile of the power curve.

Portfolio only

Meanwhile, 15 percent of the companies we studied made a major move that reshaped their portfolio, but they didn’t make big moves in productivity or differentiation. At 11 percent, they had an even better chance than the performance-only group of vaulting to the top quintile. For example, Tele2, a Sweden-based telecom, used a strong programmatic-M&A strategy, featuring 16 acquisitions during the period we studied (2000 to 2012), to gradually expand to new markets while using the infrastructure from its acquisitions to strengthen its product offering.

Transformations that go ‘all in’ by addressing both a company’s performance and its portfolio yield the highest odds.

The 12 percent of companies in our sample that made at least one big move in both categories were rewarded with the highest odds of climbing the power curve, at 22 percent. Consider the case of Sun Pharmaceutical, an India-based manufacturer of generic drugs, which made clear differentiation improvements and executed a strong capital program over the period we studied. This allowed the company to seize upon the industry trend of increased local and global demand for generic medicines. In 2007, the company divested its research arm to focus fully on generics. This resulted in an aggressive expansion of the company’s production capacity (with a capital-expenditure ratio twice as high as the industry median at that time) and a strong focus on higher-margin generics (its gross margin doubled between 2000 and 2014).

The implication of these transformation stories is clear: approaches that go all in by addressing both a company’s performance and its portfolio yield the highest odds of lasting improvement. Over the course of a decade, companies that followed this path nearly tripled their likelihood of reaching the top quintile of the power curve relative to the average company in the middle three tiers. 2 Our analysis thus far has assumed that companies started in one of the three middle quintiles of the power curve—a good company earning close to its cost of capital. Keen readers may therefore ask, “What about companies starting in the bottom quintile?” We checked the numbers: in this case, performance-only, portfolio-only, and all-in programs offer similar, much higher odds than static programs (where the moves taken were small relative to competitors). Still, given more big moves, the all-in programs had the edge.

Play to your industry context

Life would be simpler if our story ended here. However, you’re not operating in a competitive vacuum. As we described earlier, other forces influence your odds of success in significant ways—in particular, how your industry is performing. To map this effect, we divided our sample of companies according to whether or not their industry improved its average economic profit over the decade we studied. We knew from our previous research that companies facing competitive headwinds would face longer odds of success than those with tailwinds, but what we now saw was the extent to which the impact of different combinations of moves affected the odds for each group.

Running against the wind

Among the companies in the power curve’s middle three quintiles, fully 60 percent compete in industries where the average economic profit is declining. Life is tough with a headwind, and these companies must run hard just to stand still. Just how hard becomes clear when we look at their net odds of success. We calculated this by netting their chances of moving to the top quintile against their chances of falling to the bottom quintile.

The net odds say it all: companies in declining industries have a 4 percent chance of moving up the power curve, but an 18 percent chance of moving down.

The net odds say it all: companies in declining industries have a 4 percent chance of moving up the power curve, but an 18 percent chance of moving down (meaning their net odds are negative 14 percent). If you’re in this group, how you employ the five big moves says a lot about how you’re likely to fare (Exhibit 3). Among our findings:

Standing still is a terrible idea. The odds associated with a static approach are grim, equating to a 2 percent chance of reaching the top of the power curve and a 16 percent chance of slipping to the bottom. Nonetheless, just over half the companies in declining industries followed this path.
Good performance alone won’t cut it. Surprisingly, perhaps, we found that performance-only moves also equate to negative net odds. True, the downside risk is lower with this approach than if you make no big moves at all—but not by much. This finding flies against the conventional wisdom that the best response in a declining industry is corporate belt tightening.
You can’t spend your way out of trouble. Companies taking a capex-only approach added far more downside than upside. Why? Big capital expenditures are an amplifier, pushing you faster in a good direction if the underlying investment is smart, and faster in a bad direction if it’s not. Given the added drag of an industry headwind, a capex-only approach to transformation is like stepping on the accelerator in heavy traffic: you won’t get far and may well crash. 3 Warren Buffett’s famous (and colorful) warning to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders also comes to mind: “The projections will be dazzling and the advocates sincere, but, in the end, major additional investment in a terrible industry usually is about as rewarding as struggling in quicksand.”
All in is your best chance. Companies that combined big performance moves with big portfolio moves (including capital expenditures, when not the only portfolio move employed) saw a big lift in their odds. Life is still challenging for these companies—their net odds are dead even—yet this is superior to the negative odds of the other situations. Ultimately, a bit more than one in five companies in this category were able to move to the top quintile.

Riding on the wind

The other 40 percent of the companies in the middle three quintiles have it much better, having been gifted a positive economic trend. For these organizations, the chances of success are enhanced: 15 percent, on average, rise to the top of the power curve, and just 8 percent fall to the bottom. For this group, too, the application of the big moves affected the outcome (Exhibit 4). Among the implications:

Don’t waste your gifts. A static approach is still a bad idea. While the odds of moving up the power curve were 9 percent for companies in this situation, the odds of moving down were 7 percent. You can do better.
Press your performance advantage. In an improving industry, the returns to performance improvement are amplified massively. This runs contrary to the very human tendency of equating performance transformations with turnaround cases. If you are lucky enough to enjoy an industry tailwind, a performance-only transformation raises your upside odds to 15 percent and lowers your downside chances to just 2 percent. When in the fast lane, step on the gas.
Don’t spend big without better performance. Far from being oil and water, growth and productivity improvement are well paired. Nonetheless, be wary of big capital-expenditure programs that don’t improve the overall cost and gross-margin economics of the business. Your net odds of success are much worse in this scenario than if you made no big moves at all. Combining a big capital-expenditure move with a big performance move, however, gives you net odds that are more than seven times better than standing pat.
All in wins again. Indeed, the all-in approach to transformation wins out. Depending on their particular combination of portfolio and performance moves, organizations in this category saw their chances of entering the top quintile reach a whopping 39 percent, versus a 6 percent chance of slipping down.

The takeaway from all this is that two big rules stand out as commonly and powerfully true whatever your context: first, get moving, don’t be static; second, go all in if you can—it’s always the best outcome (and also the rarest).

Getting to all in

In our experience, the companies that are most successful at transforming themselves sequence their moves so that the rapid lift of performance improvement provides oxygen and confidence for big moves in M&A, capital investment, and resource reallocation. And when the right portfolio moves aren’t immediately available or aren’t clear, the improved performance helps buy a company time until the strategy can catch up.

To illustrate this point, consider the anecdote about Apple that UCLA business professor Richard Rumelt describes in his book, Good Strategy/Bad Strategy (Crown Publishing, 2011). It was the late 1990s; Steve Jobs had returned to Apple and cleaned house through productivity-improving cutbacks and a radically simplified product line. Apple was much stronger, yet it remained a niche player in its industry. When Rumelt asked Jobs how he planned to address this fact, “[Jobs] just smiled and said, ‘I am going to wait for the next big thing.’ ”

While no one can guarantee that your “next big thing” will be an iPod-size breakthrough, there’s nothing stopping you from laying the groundwork for a successful all-in transformation. To see how prepared you are for such an undertaking, ask yourself—and your team—the following six questions. We hope they provoke productive and, dare we suggest, transformative discussion among your team.

Where is the value flowing, and what can we do about it?

Achieving success with big, portfolio-related moves requires understanding where the value flows in your business and why. The structural attractiveness of markets, and your position in them, can and does change over time. Ignore this and you might be shifting deck chairs on the Titanic . Meanwhile, to put this thinking into action, you must also view the company as an ever-changing portfolio. This represents a sea change for managers who are used to plodding, once-a-year strategy sessions that are more focused on “getting to yes” and on protecting turf than on debating real alternatives.

For more about how to transform the dynamics in your strategy room, see “ Eight shifts that will take your strategy into high gear .”

Do we put our money where our strategy is?

About one-third of US companies reallocate no more than 1 percent of their resources from year to year. Whether through bias, office politics, or plain old inertia, they simply roll this year’s plan into next year. It should, by now, go without saying that this is a terrible starting position from which to expect transformative change. Companies can escape the cycle by creating target portfolios, adopting decision rules, and creating simple processes to break free of inertia.

For more, see “ How to put your money where your strategy is .”

Are we ready for cannibalism?

Increasingly, incumbent organizations are getting to the pointy end of disruption, where they must accelerate the transition from legacy business models to new ones and even allow potentially cannibalizing businesses to flourish. Sometimes this requires a very deliberate two-speed approach where legacy assets are managed for cash while new businesses are nurtured for growth.

For more on embracing such a mind-set, see the Harvard Business Review article “ The best companies aren’t afraid to replace their most profitable products ,” on hbr.org.

Are we aiming high enough?

Bold aspirations matter hugely in business transformation , but people tend to be far more comfortable when they “underpromise and overdeliver.” The upshot, in our experience, can be setting initial targets (for example, in securing performance-related improvements) that are two or even three times lower than they could be over time.

For more on how to set strong aspirations and, more importantly, how to evolve them, see “The numbers behind successful transformations,” forthcoming on McKinsey.com, and “ Transformation with a capital T .”

Will our company take this seriously?

Embracing transformative change requires commitment, and gaining commitment requires a compelling change story that everyone in the company can embrace. Philips recognized this in 2011 when it launched its “Accelerate!” program. Along with productivity improvements and portfolio changes (including a big pivot from electronics to health tech), the company shaped its change story around improving three billion lives annually by 2030, as part of a broader goal of “mak[ing] the world healthier and more sustainable through innovation.”

For more about what works—and what doesn’t—in creating a change story, see “ The irrational side of change management .”

Are you up to the leadership challenge?

Leading a successful transformation requires a lot more than just picking the right moves and seeing them through. Among your other priorities: build momentum, engage your workforce, and make the change personal for yourself and your company. All of this means developing new leadership skills and ways of working, while embracing a level of commitment as a leader that may be unprecedented for you.

For more on addressing these challenges, see “ The wisdom of transformations: How successful CEOs think about change .”

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Chris Bradley is a senior partner in McKinsey’s Sydney office, Marc de Jong is a partner in the Amsterdam office, and Wesley Walden is a senior partner in the Melbourne office.

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How to Write an Action Plan (Example Included)

What Is an Action Plan?

In project management, an action plan is a document that lists the action steps needed to achieve project goals and objectives. Therefore, an action plan clarifies what resources you’ll need to reach those goals, makes a timeline for the action items and determines what team members are required. We’ll define what project goals, project objectives, action items and action steps are later in this guide.

An action plan is similar to a project implementation plan, and it’s very helpful during the project planning and project execution phases. That’s because an action plan documents the execution of the project plan; it’s a detailed list of the work that must be done to complete the project goals, from the start of the project to the finish.

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Action Plan Template

Use this free Action Plan Template for Excel to manage your projects better.

Action Plan Components

An action plan answers the who, what and when of what you’re proposing. Those questions are answered by the various components that make up an action plan. The following are the basic building blocks of a successful action plan.

Action Plan Steps: The action plan steps are the answer to the question of what. They’re the activities that’ll lead to achieving your goal. Action plan steps detail what will happen, and the more detail, the better.
Action Items: The action items are the specific, small tasks that make up the action plan steps. These are the tasks that, when executed, lead to the next action plan step.
Action Plan Timeline: An action plan timeline is the whole action plan laid out from start to finish. It shows the full duration of the action plan and every step and task is also plotted on this timeline, including their start and end dates.
Action Plan Resources: Resources are anything needed to execute the action plan. That includes labor, materials, equipment, etc. You’ll want to identify the resources you’ll need for the action plan and attach them to the tasks to which they’ll be applied.
Action Plan Matrix: A matrix is just a tool to help you determine which tasks you need to complete and in what order. Use our free action plan template to outline the steps, items, timeline and resources you’ll need to get the plan done right.
Action Plan Report: Once you start to execute the action plan, you’ll need to ensure your actual progress matches your planned progress. To track progress, you’ll want to use an action plan report, which is a snapshot of your time, costs and more over a specific period.

Not only are you figuring out the action steps and timeline, but you’ll also determine who you’ll assemble for your project team to work on those tasks. This requires robust project management software like ProjectManager . ProjectManager offers multiple action planning tools such as Gantt charts, kanban boards, project calendars and more. Best of all, these project planning views sync with project dashboards, timesheets and workload charts to keep track of progress, project resources and costs.

Action plan on a Gantt chart in ProjectManager

Types of Action Plans

There are many different types of action plans that are used on various kinds of strategic initiatives. Each is similar in makeup but differs in their goals. Here are a few of the varieties of action plans.

Business Action Plan

A business action plan is used to set goals and tasks when you want to start a business or grow an existing business. It outlines the vision for the business and the actions you’ll take to achieve that vision.

Project Action Plan

An action plan for a project is really no different from a general action plan. The only difference is that it’s about producing a deliverable at the end of the plan, whether that be a product or service.

Personal Action Plan

Again, a personal action plan differs little from any other action plan except for the goal. For example, a personal action plan might be for an individual to exercise more. Therefore, the goal might be to walk for a half-hour a day, say, during lunchtime.

Action Plan Sample

Take a look at this sample of an action plan. We used our free action plan template for Excel and filled out some potential marketing tasks, phases and assignees. Download this action plan template for free from our site, and get started on your own plan today.

How to Write an Action Plan for Project Management in 10 Steps

The benefits of an action plan are simple: you’ve now outlined what action steps and what resources are needed to reach your stated project goals. By having this collected in a single project management document, you can more successfully plan out how to execute your project plan.

People get overwhelmed by project management jargon when having to plan out a project, but the word “action” everyone can understand. The fundamentals to getting an action plan together for any project follow these four project planning basic steps:

1. Define Your Project Goals

There’s a difference between project goals and project objectives. Project goals refer to the high-level goals that the project will achieve. Those generally align with the strategic planning and business objectives of organizations.

2. Define Your Project Objectives

The project objectives are much more specific than the project goals. Project objectives refer to the deliverables and milestones that need to be completed to achieve your project goals.

3. Define Action Steps

The action steps are a group of related tasks or action items that must be executed to produce project deliverables.

4. Identify and Prioritize Action Items

Action items are small, individual tasks that make up the action steps that are outlined in your action plan. First, you need to identify task dependencies among them, and then assign those action items a priority level so that they’re executed sequentially.

5. Define Roles & Responsibilities

Now that you’ve divided the work required to accomplish your action plan, you’ll need to assign action items to your project team members and define their roles and responsibilities.

6. Allocate Resources

As with your project plan, your action plan has resource requirements. Having identified your action steps and action items will help you understand what resources are needed for each task and allocate them accordingly.

7. Set SMART Goals

Your action plan needs to be monitored and controlled to measure its performance. That’s why it’s important that you set SMART goals for your action items, action steps and your project objectives. SMART goals stand for specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and timely.

8. Set a Timeline for Your Action Plan

As a project manager, you’ll need to do your best to estimate how long it’ll take to complete your action items and action steps. Once you do so, you’ll have a timeline. You can use project management techniques like PERT charts or the critical path method to better estimate the duration of your project action plan.

Gantt Chart template for Microsoft Excel

9. Write an Action Plan Template

Create or use a simple action plan template to collect tasks, deadlines and assignments. This is the place where everything task-related goes in your project action plan, so you have a place for all this crucial information.

Writing an action plan template it’s a great idea because you’ll need to use that format throughout the project. That’s why we’ve created a free action plan template that you can download. There are also dozens of other free project management templates for Excel and Word that can help you with every phase of your project.

10. Use a Project Management Tool

Use a project management tool to keep you on task. ProjectManager has project planning features that help you monitor and report on project progress and performance. Get a high-level view of the action plan with our live dashboards. Unlike other tools, we don’t make you set up the dashboard.

Once you’ve mapped out your action plan, you can use project planning tools to zoom into all the details about your action steps and action items. With ProjectManager, you can calculate various metrics, such as project variance, workload and more. They’re displayed in easy-to-read charts and graphs. Share them with stakeholders to give them updates on action steps whenever they want.

Track an action plan with ProjectManager's dashboard

Tips to Write an Action Plan

Once you have an action plan, how do you work with it to run a successful project? Here are some tips to help with implementing your action plan:

Focus on priorities and what’s due now when identifying action steps and setting your action plan timeline
When you complete action steps, mark them off
Have your team members work on one project management platform
Set up alerts
Discuss pending or overdue tasks

Action Plan Example

We’ve been talking a lot about an action plan, but let’s take a look at one in-depth. Below, you’ll see our free action plan template . It’s set up for the development of a website.

It’s broken down into phases, the first being the project planning phase , which includes the action steps, market research and the design of the site. You’ll see that tasks are outlined for each action step, including a description of that task, who’s assigned to execute it, the priority and even the status of its completion.

This is followed by the third action step, which is the launch of the site. This is the execution phase of the action plan, but it follows the same format, such as noting the priority, who’s responsible for the work, what that work is and its status.

There’s also a timeline to define the start dates of each of the tasks in the action steps, including the planned hours. This allows you to determine the length of each task and the duration of the entire action plan, from start to finish.

Finally, there’s a place to add your resources. They’re broken down into departments, for example, marketing, web development, etc. Then the materials that are required for each task are listed, including their costs. This allows you to estimate the cost of the plan.

How to Make An Action Plan With ProjectManager

Follow along with this action plan example to see how action plans are typically laid out using project planning software .

1. Map Action Plan Steps Using Multiple Project Views

ProjectManager can help you build your action plan and then execute it. Collect all your action steps tasks on our list view, which does more than light-weight to-do list apps because it allows you to then map your action plan with Gantt charts , project calendars and kanban boards. These robust project management tools allow you to prioritize action items, customize tags and show the percentage complete for each task. Our online project management software gives you real-time data to help you create an action plan and stick to it.

2. Assign Action Items to Your Team Members

Once you’ve mapped out your action plan steps with ProjectManager’s project planning tools , you can assign tasks to your team members and indicate what resources are needed for the completion of each action item. Indicate their roles and responsibilities and set priority levels for each task to ensure the work is carried out properly.

3. Set Action Plan Steps and Deliverables

It’s important to note all the phases of the project timeline to know what action steps and tasks will take place and when. In addition, ProjectManager’s Gantt chart allows you to identify project phases, find the critical path, and set due dates for project milestones and deliverables

4. Track Progress With Real-Time Dashboards

Once you start the project, you’ll need to chart the progress of the work being done. This leads us to the real-time project dashboard , where you’ll check whether your action plan is on schedule and under budget.

Manage Your Project With an Action Plan

Getting a plan together is only the first part of managing a project . Remember, it’s not something to write and put away, but rather it’s a living document that should follow you throughout the project life cycle. Jennifer Bridges, PMP, offers more tips on how to write an action plan in the video below.

Here’s a screenshot for your reference:

ProjectManager’s Action Planning Tools are Ideal for Managing Action Plans

If you’re looking to make an action plan and then take action on it by executing, monitoring and reporting on a project, then you’ll want ProjectManager. Our online project management software lets you make an action plan online with multiple project planning tools such as Gantt charts, task lists, kanban boards and project calendars. Then, you can use timesheets, project dashboards and resource management tools to keep track of progress, time and costs.

Plan & Schedule With Gantt Charts

ProjectManager’s Gantt chart is ideal to map out your action plan on an interactive project timeline that helps you organize your tasks, link dependencies and set milestones. More than that, you can filter for the critical path. When you’re done scheduling your action steps you can set a baseline. This allows you to always see the planned versus actual progress of your action plan to help you stay on track.

ProjectManager's Gantt chart is ideal to map out action plans

Manage Action Items with Kanban Boards, Task Lists and Project Calendars

Once you’ve used the Gantt chart to create a timeline for your action plan, you can zoom into the nitty-gritty details of everyday work with kanban boards , task lists and project calendars. With these tools, you can assign tasks and give teams a collaborative platform to comment and share relevant documents with unlimited file storage and real-time communication features.

ProjectManager's kanban board showing action steps from an action plan

Track Progress, Resources and Costs With Real-Time Action Plan Dashboards

ProjectManager’s real-time action plan dashboards sync with all its project management tools so you can check the status of your action plan at any time. You can check on your team members’ progress to see who’s over or underallocated, check labor costs and track whether your team is on schedule.

dashboard showing project metrics in real-time

ProjectManager gives you all the tools you need to create and implement a successful action plan. Regardless of the type of action plan that you need to create, our award-winning project management software makes it easy to do so. Get started with a free 30-day trial today.

Click here to browse ProjectManager's free templates

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More Like this

Grow your business with the action plan, the 11 step business action plan.

I came across this article on the American Express Open Forum and had to share it with our followers and clients. Murray Smith gives a quick 11-step list for creating a business action plan in this article . In our system, OnStrategy , we use Action Plan Reports to show a person or department’s goals and action items, due dates, and status. Like Smith says, the Action Plan Report is a great way to, “help measure progress toward your goals.” Smith also says how, “in business, your action plan is the key to focusing on the right information in the right order.” We could not agree more with Smith and his take on the Action Plan. Below is the article, The 11 Step Business Action Plan, by Murray Smith .

Many people don’t like planning. But in business, your action plan is the key to focusing on the right information in the right order—much like the combination to a safe—and it helps measure progress toward your goals.

Here’s how you should use an action plan to accelerate growth and increase your revenues and income.

1. Create a revenue plan: Identify your sources of revenues, the product or services that you offer, how many you plan on selling, and the price you will charge. This will let you know if it’s possible to achieve your financial goals.

2. Map your gap: This is the distance from where you are to where you want to be. This includes your financial, non-financial and personal goals—revenues, profits, volume of sales, number of customers etc. It’s a snapshot for you to decide if it’s the journey you want to take, or change it.

3. Know your customer: Make sure you know who your ideal customer is, because it’s often not who you think it is, or who you are currently selling too. Knowing the profile of your customer will help you save time and money when it comes to acquiring them. This is the foundation for every business.

4. Document how your prospects/customers think and behave: Specifically, you should think about why customers decide to purchase—which is the key to making the sale. Every decision starts with a desire created by internal emotion or external influence. If you follow the way they think and act then you can place your product or service right in front of them at the point of decision.

5. Create a unique positioning in your market: In a world of clutter, what gets heard is a simple message. Identify the biggest problem in your marketplace and then tell people how you solve that problem and say it in less than 1 minute.

6. Know what sets you apart: Write down the biggest benefit that you offer your customers (a benefit that your competition doesn’t offer). It doesn’t have to be a coherent statement, it just has to have impact.

7. Take action: This is what is missing from the book The Secret which talks about using The Law of Attraction to bring abundance into your life. You cannot attract abundance without taking action. Affirmations, visualizations and meditation all work together when you add action to the formula.

8. Success starts with the belief that it’s possible: Your current belief system may not be helping you achieve your goals. Old paradigms (beliefs) are the number one reason for holding us back from achieving what’s possible. Click here for a copy of Chapter 7 from my book The Answer to help you change your paradigm.

9. Determine which distribution channels you will use for your business: A distribution channel is simply the place where the transaction takes place between you and your customer—otherwise known as the Point of Sale. The seven distribution channels to choose from are: retail, online, direct sales, events, mail order, phone sales or agents.

10. Select the right strategies: These should get people to the Point of Sale identified in step No. 4, and there are about 130 strategies and tactics to choose from (i.e., advertising, direct mail, copywriting, tele-marketing, Internet marketing, etc.).

11. Create a 90 day sales and marketing schedule: This will help you plan the strategies, tactics, timing and who will be responsible for implementation. Once you get your thoughts on paper (or excel spread sheet) you will feel less overwhelmed that you now have some direction to follow or action items to delegate.

These 11 steps are not intended to represent a complete guide to creating a detailed Action Plan—they are intended to help you get started. Now you have something to measure against and you can review things periodically to see if you are on track. Ask yourself every day if you are on track or if something needs to be adjusted.

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Action plan template

Taking action has never been easier. Learn how to create a reusable action plan template in Asana to take the guesswork out of strategic planning.

INTEGRATED FEATURES

Recommended apps.

[Product ui] Action plan project in Asana, spreadsheet-style project view (List)

What’s an action plan template?

Action plan templates are the reusable version of your action plans. Building a reusable action plan template saves you the time and effort of building a new one from scratch for every new project. And they’re not just for project managers . Every time someone creates a new action plan in any department, they can reuse the template you created, cutting back on the time your organization spends preparing for strategic planning sessions.

The 5 parts of an action plan template

The most important part of any action plan template is that it’s yours—customized so it’s most useful for your needs. To get the most use out of your action plan, here are some helpful best practices to follow.

1. Goal setting

Before you start on your work, you need to know what you’re working for. Host a brainstorming session for goal setting where you determine the outcomes of your action plan. When setting your goals, make them SMART goals:

These goals will act as a north star for your action plan template. Once they’re set, you can refer to your goals to make sure your tasks align with long-term initiatives. This helps ensure your action steps are purposeful and connected, eliminating unnecessary and duplicate “ work about work .”

2. Create task lists

To create an effective action plan, you need tasks that transform your goals into action items . Structure your action plan template as a hierarchy, with your goals at the top and space for all related tasks below. When you use your template for a new project, this task list section will effectively become your to-do list . Keep your task list accessible for all project stakeholders so everyone can make and track adjustments in real-time. This makes it easy to view progress while ensuring that the team stays focused.

3. Review resource allocation

For every action plan template, create a space for resource allocation . This works two-fold to show external teams what resources you need for each project, and to determine if your action plan is viable. For example, if your resource allocation review determines there’s no staff available for a timely project, then you know to put the project on hold. If you use a project management tool to create your action plan template, you can automate it to assign team members and add tools or integrations that update with every new action plan.

4. Set deadlines and milestones

Every action plan should be time-bound. In your template, set a timeline or estimated start date that you can replicate for each project. Project milestones will also help, especially for action plan templates with a longer time frame. These milestones separate out larger wins as you move towards your end goal. Finally, connect tracking tools to your template so you can see your action plan’s progress and report on metrics in real-time.

5. Review and update

After you’ve used your action plan template for several projects, review it. Look for opportunities to streamline items, create a new workflow , or omit unnecessary tasks. Set a recurring reminder to update your action plan template, making sure it’s completely customized to your needs‌.

Integrated features

List View . List View is a grid-style view that makes it easy to see all of your project’s information at a glance. Like a to-do list or a spreadsheet, List View displays all of your tasks at once so you can not only see task titles and due dates, but also view any relevant custom fields like Priority, Status, or more. Unlock effortless collaboration by giving your entire team visibility into who’s doing what by when.

Goals . Goals in Asana directly connect to the work you’re doing to hit them, making it easy for team members to see what they’re working towards. More often than not, our goals live separate from the work that goes into achieving them. By connecting your team and company goals to the work that supports them, team members have real-time insight and clarity into how their work directly contributes to your team—and company—success. As a result, team members can make better decisions. If necessary, they can identify the projects that support the company’s strategy and prioritize work that delivers measurable results.

Automation . Automate manual work so your team spends less time on the busy work and more time on the tasks you hired them for. Rules in Asana function on a basis of triggers and actions—essentially “when X happens, do Y.” Use Rules to automatically assign work, adjust due dates, set custom fields, notify stakeholders, and more. From ad hoc automations to entire workflows, Rules gives your team time back for skilled and strategic work.

Subtasks . Sometimes a to-do is too big to capture in one task. If a task has more than one contributor, a broad due date, or stakeholders that need to review and approve before it can go live, subtasks can help. Subtasks are a powerful way to distribute work and split tasks into individual components—while keeping the small to-dos connected to the overarching context of the parent task. Break tasks into smaller components or capture the individual components of a multi-step process with subtasks.

Dropbox . Attach files directly to tasks in Asana with the Dropbox file chooser, which is built into the Asana task pane.

Google Workplace . Attach files directly to tasks in Asana with the Google Workplace file chooser, which is built into the Asana task pane. Easily attach any My Drive file with just a few clicks.

OneDrive . Attach files directly to tasks in Asana with the Microsoft OneDrive file chooser, which is built into the Asana task pane. Easily attach files from Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and more.

Slack . Turn ideas, work requests, and action items from Slack into trackable tasks and comments in Asana. Go from quick questions and action items to tasks with assignees and due dates. Easily capture work so requests and to-dos don’t get lost in Slack.

How do I write an action plan template? .css-i4fobf{-webkit-transition:-webkit-transform 200ms ease-in-out;transition:transform 200ms ease-in-out;-webkit-transform:rotateZ(0);-moz-transform:rotateZ(0);-ms-transform:rotateZ(0);transform:rotateZ(0);}

It’s simple to create a reusable action plan template, especially in a project management tool . In Asana , you can start with our action plan template and customize it to fit your needs. Even if you use more manual formats, you’ll want to include goals, specific tasks, connected resources, and due dates in most simple action plans.

What’s the difference between an action plan template and a to-do list template?

It’s easy to get confused between action plans and to-do lists . That’s because an action plan template is actually a type of to-do list template, but one that’s connected back to a goal. A to-do list template can be a random, unconnected list of tasks, whereas an action plan template always connects back to an end goal.

What are some examples of action plan templates?

You can use action plan templates for just about any business plan. You can create a general template that you use company-wide, or break it down by departments if you have more specific needs. For example, you can create a marketing action plan template for recurring brand campaigns or an organizational action plan template for short-term quarterly OKRs . In a project management platform , you can create one action plan template, share it with the company, and allow each team and individual to use it however they see fit.

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More From Forbes

The power of the plan: transforming ideas into action for business success.

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By Devesh Dwivedi, a strategic advisor for visionary CEOs and entrepreneurs. Find more growth and value-building strategies at HigherValuation.com .

In the entrepreneurial mind of ambitious dreams and brilliant ideas, the journey from concept to execution often feels like navigating a labyrinth without a map. I find this to be a very common challenge that CEOs face when seeking to translate their ideas and projects into tangible results.

Fortunately, there's a simple yet effective framework that can bridge this gap: the PLAN framework. I developed this framework over years of working with hundreds of CEOs and visionary entrepreneurs and successfully installed it as a way of working. This simple yet powerful strategy focuses on Purpose, Levers, Accountability and Numbers, providing a clear pathway for intentional action and results. Let's take a closer look at the four parts of the PLAN.

P For Purpose

At the heart of every successful business strategy is a clear, well-articulated purpose. It's the driving force that gives meaning to your activities, fuels motivation and serves as a beacon when the seas of business get stormy. More than just the "what" of your tasks, the purpose illuminates the "why." It provides your team with a sense of direction and a clear understanding of how their contributions align with the larger organizational goals.

To effectively utilize the power of purpose, CEOs must ensure that every plan, strategy or task is tied to a clear and compelling objective. This objective needs to resonate not just with the company's broader vision but also with the individual passions and motivations of team members. When everyone understands the purpose behind their work, they become more engaged, dedicated and productive.

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If you need to, take it one step further by discussing and articulating the purpose at a task level. For example, one CEO turned it into a question he would ask at the beginning of every meeting and interaction—"And why is this important?" or "And why are we doing this?" Such reflective moments allowed the team to focus on "what" based on "why" and resulted in better buy-in and outcomes.

L For Levers

In the complex machine of business, levers are those elements that, when maneuvered smartly, can yield disproportionate results. They range from your unfair advantages to the key factors that set your business apart and give you an edge over competitors to almost anything that provides higher returns or makes execution simpler, faster, less risky, etc.

Identifying and pulling the right levers can result in exponential growth and success. Whether it's a unique product feature, an unmatched level of service, a proprietary technology or a powerful network, these levers can significantly enhance your business outcomes.

CEOs must learn to recognize their business's unique levers and strategically incorporate them into their plans. Leveraging these unique strengths can not only accelerate progress but also add value that distinguishes your business in a crowded marketplace. So any time you and your team came up with a project or task, consider spending a few extra minutes on clearly identifying what lever can be pulled to turn that project into results faster, easier and more simply.

A For Accountability

Projects and plans often flounder, not due to a lack of ideas or resources but due to a deficit in accountability. The blame game is a dangerous pitfall for any organization. In contrast, a culture of accountability fosters a sense of ownership, empowering each team member to take responsibility for their roles and outcomes. I have worked with hundreds of organizations, and the most dangerous thing I see is some version of the story of four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody and Nobody:

"There was an important task to be done, and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. Somebody got angry about that because it was Everybody’s job. Everybody thought Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn’t do it. It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have."

The moral of the story is that a lack of accountability leaves even the simplest tasks undone.

Make sure that's not happening to your teams and tasks. How? Start with a simple RASCI assignment on your plans and projects. RASCI is short for Responsible, Accountable, Supportive, Consulted and Informed. CEOs can cultivate accountability by clearly defining roles and expectations, providing the necessary resources and then holding each team member answerable for their contribution. This fosters a sense of personal investment in the company's success and helps ensure that plans are executed with diligence and dedication.

N For Numbers

Finally, the best plans mean little and lose momentum over time without a way to measure their effectiveness. This is where numbers come in. Establishing strategic key performance indicators (KPIs)—both leading and lagging—allows you and your team to track progress toward goals, identify potential roadblocks and make data-driven decisions.

Numbers provide hard evidence of how well your plan is proceeding. They offer a clear, unbiased view of what's working and what's not. By tracking the right metrics, CEOs can proactively manage their business, fine-tuning strategies and correcting course as needed.

The PLAN framework—Purpose, Levers, Accountability and Numbers—is a simple yet powerful tool for CEOs and business owners to transform ideas into successful realities. In my experience, this framework can foster intentionality and action orientation, helping businesses avoid the laundry-list syndrome that often plagues planning processes. When these four components come together, they create a strategic plan that is not only aspirational but also grounded in practical execution, propelling your business toward success.

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Caps bs 11 term 2 week 2 – 3 transformation of a business plan into an action alan, topic – transformation of a business plan into an action plan.

Transformation of a business plan into an action plan (including Gantt charts and timelines) – collaboratively or independently

• Transformation of a business plan into an action plan (e.g. planning tools: Gantt charts or Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) with timelines and responsibilities, project planning)

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Creating a Digital Transformation plan

Three essential steps to kickstart Digital Transformation

Digital Transformation is a focus for many organizations right now and as you can see from the Google Trends search volumes, it's increasing in popularity recently. As with any change within an organization, there are many challenges, so once you've identified digital advocates in the organization, it's time to map out the journey.

In recent months, several companies have mentioned to me that their CEO is committed to digital, but they're having challenges at middle management levels, where it's harder to gain commitment. This can be easier if there is a clear plan shared with all. You can, as many do, call this your digital roadmap, it describes where the business is now and where they're going.

There are several models available, for example, Dave Chaffey recommends the Carnegie Mellon Capability Maturity Model (CMM) in his post ' Using capability maturity models to review effectiveness and set targets for Digital Transformation '. Interestingly, he describes the early internet age which is less than twenty years ago, when many companies had claimed their domain name yet the website was 'under construction'. At that time many CEOs I was working with could not see why they needed a website when they had fantastic brochures, sales teams on the road, and great PR contacts!

Today, if a business doesn't have a good quality, branded website, you assume something is wrong. It's suspicious, not quaint. Your online presence is part of your authenticity, it is inconceivable to imagine a Fortune 500 or FTSE100 company without at least one website. In the same vein, in five years' time, we may consider companies without a digital strategy, or an integrated marketing strategy to be in the same time warp.

Step 1. Gain evidence before you get started with digital transformation

Before starting on a new journey, it's essential to gain some evidence. It's unlikely you'd plan a holiday without first checking weather reports, currency details, travel times, and hotel reviews. Yet in business, we frequently start on a project without evidence.

To ensure your digital transformation journey works, start with an audit to identify the 'where are you now?' question. This gives you benchmark information that can be used at a later stage. Within this I typically would review:

What are your digital strengths and weaknesses? Use the TOWs matrix to make this more useful.
What are your key competitors, or similar organizations doing?
What's around the corner? This information is often not available online as it's often 'work in progress'. I recently attended the Academy of Marketing conference to explore what's new in marketing education, it was really useful and revealed the latest marketing thinking in research and education. Look at relevant events where you can meet other businesses in a similar situation.

Trying to work out where to get started? We recommend the 'digital strategy success factors' module in our Digital Transformation Learning Path to kick-start your planning. This strategic training module contains examples and templates designed to support you in building your digital transformation strategy. By the end of the module you'll be able to:

Summarize six pillars of success that should be included in your digital marketing strategy.
Explain how digital plans relate to other plans Compare three complementary frameworks for structuring a digital strategy. Lay out a one-page summary of your digital strategy.

Find out more about this module plus our whole suite of digital transformation resources including planning templates, case studies, reports, and our popular Digital Transformation Playbook.

Digital strategy success factors

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Learn how to define a structure and scope for your omnichannel marketing strategy

Your customers' omnichannel experiences

When auditing your digital marketing strategy, don't forget to ask yourself, what do your customers want? Customers often find the path to the new product offer way before organizations do. Taking holidays as an example, consumers can spend hours, days and weeks to identify their ideal holiday (how long did it take you to plan your holiday this year?).

Yet, how many destinations, hotels, and attractions still produce masses of brochures? TripAdvisor conducts in-depth research each year and its latest report noted that

“When researching places to stay on TripAdvisor, 80 percent of respondents read at least six to 12 reviews before making their decision, and they’re most interested in recent reviews that will give them the freshest feedback. M ore than half of respondents (53%) will not book a hotel that does not have reviews.”

Yet at the same time, many hotels and restaurants ignore the reviews and worst still, some argue with the customer! If you're in the hospitality sector, and if you ignore reviews online and your bookings are down, there is a reason. Is it time to ditch the brochures and focus on the reviews?

Keeping track of a constantly evolving marketing strategy can be tough if you're not tracking your omnichannel marketing channels and platforms in a consistent way. That's why digital transformation is so important for businesses of all shapes and sizes to manage their customers' experiences of their companies.

Our RACE Framework helps digital transformation leaders plan, manage, and optimize their marketing strategies across the customer lifecycle of reach, act, convert, and engage.

Step 2. Create clear objectives about where the business is going

Once the audit stage is completed, it's useful to understand what does your organization want to achieve? Are there specific objectives? Is there a future milestone that's driving practice within the business? Or has your business started to notice that it's being left behind?

To move to the next step, use a model or roadmap. I'd recommend the 5S marketing goals as a tool to develop business objectives. This is because many objectives focus on the numbers, which is essential, but it leaves out other factors. The 5Ss which was originally designed as a website review tool (and still works for this purpose) is an easy-to-use ‘objective generator’. It’s worth working on the objectives with a team so you get some early buy-in.

Looking to take the next step to digital transformation? Our dedicated marketing strategy solutions support Business Professional Members and their teams manage the key aspects of digital transformation for their businesses.

For example, our 'setting the vision for digital transformation' advanced module in our Digital Transformation Learning Path provides strategic marketing training and tools needed to create a vision statement for digital transformation in your business, explaining the benefits of digital transformation to your colleagues or clients and persuading them why investment and change is needed.

Set vision for digital transformation

Part of the Managing digital marketing transformation Toolkit

Learn how to explain the future opportunities of digital marketing to your colleagues or your clients in a compelling way

Examples of transformation timescales

Even so, it's important to understand that the process doesn't happen overnight, it can take some time. Dell is a good example of a company that's constantly adapted to customer and market needs, from 1996 when Dell.com launched, generating $1 million in sales per day just six months after the site went live, to 1999 when they blazed a trail and took technical support online, when others said it couldn’t be done. Dell shares its story and we’ve included it previously as a great example of how a company has managed its transformation.

In an article from Cap Gemini, they highlighted Starbucks who adapted their business to embrace digital, after a series of disappointing results. From free WiFi to adding mobile payments, they have created a difference in today’s ever-crowded coffee shop market.

The New York Times is probably the best-known news publisher in the USA. Founded in 1851 it’s recently embarked on a program of digital transformation, forced due to a changing macro environment and competitors who have moved ahead. And with the advent of new, younger competitors, like the Huffington Post who started less than ten years ago, and have eclipsed the readership of the NYT.

In the past the idea of a start-up gaining more web visitors than the best known political paper was unthinkable. Yet the Huffington Post has a higher web rank both in the US and globally.

What’s needed for digital transformation to work?

The UK government and indeed the US government is embarking on programs of digital transformation. This seems to be driven by customer need (I want to pay bills online, so send me an email with a link) and cost-saving, reducing the amount of paper issued, documents printed and postage every year.

The UK government’s vision is ‘Digital by Default’. I've used this transformation dashboard on several training courses as it sums up the vision succinctly. There is a supporting paragraph for anyone needing more detail and one of the reasons it will work is that they’ve started to classify where each department is on its roadmap.

As would be expected within major institutions such as government services, the steps to digital transformation start with discovery , what are the users’ needs, and will it work? Stage two is alpha where the objective is to build a working prototype to be used by stakeholders to gain a greater understanding of a service.

What’s interesting is that this stage is time-bound to take no more than eight weeks. I wonder if that always happens? Stage three is beta , where the service is tested and improved until it reaches stage four, live .

Our 'define digital value proposition' module, in the Digital Transformation Learning Path, is packed with strategic marketing tools and templates for Business Professional Members to review the strength of their digital value proposition and benchmark digital value propositions and brand propositions.

Define Digital Value Proposition

Learn how to craft a powerful Digital Value Proposition (DVP) and how this differs from a brand proposition

Digital transformation roadmap

In the USA, President Obama launched his digital strategy with the question “I want us to ask ourselves every day, how are we using technology to make a real difference in people’s lives?” This evolved into their vision “Information and services anywhere, anytime, on any device".

Unfortunately, this transformation dashboard is no longer published, but in 2019, the Government digital service shared this useful 7 Lenses Maturity matrix which we recommend for reviewing the capacity of a business to transform and to identify what the barriers are. It combines both vision and implementation, as a sort of roadmap.

Step 3. Defining the process to launch the digital transformation strategy

In all these examples, there are three common factors which you need to adopt to get started with your digital transformation. This is the first step in your digital roadmap.

A high-level advocate

A clear vision, a digital team.

You need support from the highest level to transform your business and adopt digital tools, techniques, and technology. If you don’t get buy-in from the C-suite, it’s difficult to achieve. Identify your champion or advocate early and ensure they're in a position to get things done.

In the past companies had ‘mission statements' that were so long, they were printed onto the back of business cards as an aide-memoire! Today your vision has to be clear, memorable, and succinct.

Teams are formed to transfer knowledge, provide support and enable existing staff and departments to adopt digital. Teams may be formed as a working party within your organization and supplemented with digital training .

By Annmarie Hanlon

Annmarie Hanlon PhD is an academic and practitioner in strategic digital marketing and the application of social media for business. Dr Hanlon has expertise in the strategic application of social media for business and the move from digitization, to digitalization and digital transformation for business. Her expertise spans consumer touch points, online customer service, the use of reviews, the role of influencers, online engagement and digital content. You can follow her update on Twitter https://twitter.com/annmariehanlon

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Change Management Plan: What they are and how to build one

Change is necessary for any individual or organization, helping us grow, develop, achieve digital resilience , and stay competitive.

Those who stay at the same place completing the same routine tasks find their work or lives monotonous and thus see no fulfillment in whatever they do, leading to employee performance metrics data.

But although change is good and essential, not many people desire or appreciate it, especially in a job setting. That is why managers must develop an action plan that leads to a smooth transition from one environment to another.

The managers should design a change management action plan that helps the employees trust and love the new system or way of doing things, clearly showing them what should change, why it needs to happen, and how it will take place smoothly.

The Groundwork

Begin with the groundwork to create a strong base for your change management plans.

What needs to change?

First and foremost, there is a need to identify the problem before making a change request. You can’t give a solution to a problem you have not determined yet, so first, you need to see what is currently wrong and what works.

If something is not working, find out why by engaging the people responsible or the clients. If it’s terrible communication, a technological problem, or a lack of direction and leadership, identify the cause.

Factors that signal a need for change:

Unsatisfactory performance in a department or overall organization
Lacking alignment between the business and the market.
Competitors outperform your organization.
A new opportunity.

Brainstorming Session

After pinpointing the problems and their causes, you need to seek solutions. Most leaders strain to come up with solutions to all problems alone, but this may not be the best way.

Reasonable solutions lie with those who consistently interact with the systems: the clients, staff, and leaders. It is suitable for managers to hear other people’s answers.

It is also necessary to research and see what others did when they had the same problem, discovering what works and what doesn’t.

You might like McKinsey’s seven steps to brainstorming :

Start by understanding your organization’s decision-making criteria.
Use the right questions to guide and generate ideas.
Pick only the people who can answer your questions to brainstorm.
Brainstorm in highly focused sub-groups instead of one long discussion. Each group discusses one question.
Before starting the discussions, orient all the members about your expectations on what they should accomplish.
After the meeting, each group narrows down the top ideas on their list.
Follow up on the decisions on the ideas quickly – which ideas did the execs pick?

The Solution

The board or managers then need to sit and discuss all the proposed solutions and narrow them down until they come up with just one or two. While others give their input, it is the responsibility of the managers to decide what change will happen.

After determining the changes the organization is willing to take, create your change management plan.

Writing the Action Plan

1. List the action steps

Decide how the organization will achieve the needed change, then set measurable goals for every department. You can leave the specifics and logistics to the respective departments.

This step is the first of your change management project plan. The next step is to create a list of all the steps/tasks your teams will need to perform to implement the change, the deliverables, the people responsible for the functions, and their timelines.

While assigning tasks, involve the employees in building loyalty and empathy.

Ensure that you identify the skill sets and resources needed, even from consultants and other outside players. Project managers typically work with change managers to align the change initiatives with the project management plan.

For the change team, you need a change manager to oversee the initiative, a change process owner to define change processes, and a change control board to review change requests.

The budget should also be very realistic to avoid financial setbacks.

2. Time frame

The change management team has to set a suitable pace for the firm. If it is too fast and abrupt, it might confuse the employees. If it is too slow, they could lose interest and momentum. Gauge your firm’s ability, the client’s requirements, and the need for this change. Then, determine the start date and duration of the project to create your change management roadmap.

Typically, change management efforts begin way before the changes go live. Three months could help employees understand the reasons for the change and what management expects from them.

3. Identify obstacles

A smooth change does not come because there are no obstacles; it comes because the managers identify them and plan how to circumvent them. The change management plan has to consider the barriers. List those you feel might arise. The process is part of a change readiness assessment .

A change readiness assessment evaluates the organization’s capacity for change. The goal is to identify resistance areas, risks, and cultural barriers to the change. The assessment’s results will inform the resistance and overall project management plans.

Below’s the process for conducting a readiness assessment:

Start by describing the change fully.
Choose your assessment tools, e.g., questionnaires, benchmarking tools, etc.
Gather initial feedback about individuals’ awareness of the change, willingness to adopt it, and their view on the organization’s capacity to implement it.
Interview key individuals (those with influence) – managers, senior leads, etc.
Summarize and analyze your findings.

4. Write the entire plan down

You can write down a detailed and less detailed organizational change management plan for managers and junior employees.

Show the problem, list the advantages of the change, and demonstrate the stages involved. Include the people in charge of every step after identifying their strengths.

Do not forget the budget and change management resources needed.

Also, take a look at a change management template. Change management templates can help guide your plan quickly, forming a basis for later decisions from the change request stage to review.

The Seven Rs Change Management Checklist

The seven Rs are seven questions that organizations use to assess the effectiveness of their change management process in IT environments. Answering these questions also helps organizations set metrics for measuring change risk and pinpoint gaps in the change process.

Raised – Who raised the change?

A record of authorized changes is beneficial when auditing the change management plan. So, organizations develop a system for authorizing and recording changes at a central point. Answering this question keeps track of the many sources of change and siloed changes.

Reason – What’s the reason for the change?

Answering this question helps manage change risks because only changes with business benefits will go through.

Organizations create a process for validating the reasons for changes, and every significant change goes through an assessment to prioritize changes and expose potential misalignments that would waste resources.

Return – What return do we require from the change?

Answering this question determines the financial impact of a change. Hence, it helps to prioritize changes.

Risks – What are the risks involved in the change?

Determining the risks of implementing and failing to implement a change helps determine whether to mitigate or accept risk. Since all changes involve risks, change leaders assess severity.

Resources – What resources do we require to deliver the change?

Answering this question determines the skills needed to implement a change and their availability. It also determines the infrastructure assets required to execute the change. And the change’s impact on other project resources (people, assets, time, and money).

Responsibility – Who will build, test, and implement the change?

Managers assign the people to handle the three functions (build, test, and implement change). However, the entire change management team should be able to trace and enforce these responsibilities.

Relationship – What’s the relationship between the suggested change and other changes?

Determining the change relationships from within and across functional boundaries helps complete the project within the allocated timeline because there are always many concurrent changes in the IT environment.

Change impact analysis and shared scheduling of planned changes help determine these relationships.

How Change Management Models Evoke Sustained Action

Change management models are methodologies and theories for approaching organizational change based on what other successful organizations have done.

Like maps, they provide direction for planning and implementing change. They show change practitioners what to expect and how to prepare.

For example, McKinsey’s 7-S model identifies seven critical components of change that leaders should focus on during a transformation. Some of the components may not come to a leader naturally.

Other change models include the ADKAR model, Kotter’s 8-Step model, Lewin’s 3-Stage model, and the Satir change models.

Change models provide a structure that makes change manageable. They help to forecast change processes so that people can prepare.

They also provide a baseline for measuring change efforts (adoption rate, professional efficiency, time, and budget). And they ensure accountability by clarifying roles and responsibilities.

A change management model also helps identify areas that are resistant to change and create strategies to prevent opposition, including a communication strategy.

Organizations can achieve the desired outcomes from a transformation when following a structured approach.

The McKinsey 7 s Model Use Case

Former McKinsey consultants developed the 7-S framework in the late 70s to diagnose how existing organizations operated and create tools to help them address seven particular elements in change that aren’t natural to leaders.

It’s a cluster of six circles surrounding a central process, each representing a factor beginning with S influencing an organization’s ability to change.

The 7 S’s are:

Skills – Institutional and individual skills.
System – Processes and systems.
Structure – Who’s in charge (authority relationships)
Staff – The people, and you grow and develop them.
Strategy – What’s the organization’s approach to gaining a competitive advantage?
Style (or culture) – The way the people do things.
Shared values– What’s the organization trying to achieve?

Organizations use the framework to coordinate these interrelated factors that influence an organization’s ability to change. The lack of hierarchy in the framework suggests that they all work together – significant progress in one aspect will be difficult without the others.

Companies can also use the framework to examine the effects of changes or align processes during mergers.

Here’s how to use the 7-s model:

Start with the organization’s shared values as part of an effective change management plan. Ensure all values are consistent with the strategy, structure, and systems. Then, assess how well the design, layout, and systems support each other.

If not, determine what needs to change. Then, consider how well the other four elements (skills, style, staff, and shared values) support each other and how they support the strategy, structure, and systems. The process is often iterative.

Your Change Management Checklist

Successful organizational change needs a change management communication plan, training plan, and reinforcement plan (e.g., using incentives). You also need to measure and analyze the change process.

Communicate Clearly, Decisively & Effectively

McKinsey’s research identified that fostering understanding and conviction in employees is necessary for successful organizational changes.

Besides getting the employees to participate in the change, clear communication helps employees understand the differences, why they’re required, and how they’ll impact their lives.

But on the ground, organizations merely announce the changes and hand off a list of tasks to middle managers.

Clear, decisive, and effective communication in organizational changes involves these appproaches:

Leaders show vital stakeholders and employees what the change is about, what it involves, and its full extent. Why change now? What will be the outcome of the change? And how will we measure progress? And significantly, how does this change link to other strategies?
Leaders live the change. It means scheduling time to discuss progress with middle managers and creating time to discuss issues as they arise. It could also mean putting the difference at the top of every senior meeting agenda.
Leaders resource the change and measure progress. Allocate finances and the right people to implement the change. And start measuring the right metrics early on to craft the right organizational structure.

Motivate Your Employees & Offer Incentives

A survey found 87% of employees feel included when a company has a strong recognition culture . Incentives are one way to recognize your team’s efforts and motivate them.

“ When employees were seeing their friends get bonuses, you won’t believe the number of people who swung by my office and asked me how they could roll up their sleeves and play a role in the transformation, ” one chief transformation officer told McKinsey’s researchers .

However, the key is to reward the employees after they deliver the value of the change. And the incentives should not be financial only. We need to complement financial incentives with nonfinancial ones like recognition. It’s about making the transformation meaningful to employees.

McKinsey identified the five sources of meaning in work as society, company, customers, team, and personal success. So, nonfinancial incentives should appeal to either of the sources of meaning.

A primary way to motivate employees is by celebrating small wins. Since most transformations take months, it’s easy for employees to lose morale when they don’t see progress.

Record progress by having micro milestones for the change project and celebrating every small win (including communicating the victory throughout the organization).

Supporting employees in their work also motivates them. So leaders must set clear goals, allow autonomy, provide the necessary resources and time, openly learn from problems and successes, and allow employees to exchange ideas freely.

Offer Continuous Training & Education

Developing talent and skills is another building block when managing change. And 69% of the most effective change management programs offer training before and after the difference goes live.

That demands different types of training content – videos, webinars, live sessions, and knowledge bases. But instead of relying only on such training sessions, organizations use digital adoption solutions to offer continuous self-service training and education.

For example, when LinkedIn rolled out its HCM software, it integrated the WalkMe digital adoption platform ( DAP ) into the software, which reduced its live training sessions by 48%. Employees could access in-app on-screen guidance just when they needed it using WalkMe’s Walk-Thrus and SmartTips.

The HRIT team identified the top 36 transactions on the HCM and designed Walk-Thrus to guide users through each in real time. The SmartTips provided contextual guidance – answering simple questions without leaving the application.

Beyond employee training , organizations must also develop leaders’ skills to facilitate change.

Plan The Change and Develop Best Practices With People In Mind

Organizations where a central change team plans the change but fails to consider the employees who will implement change end up with overstrained employees who can’t adapt. And since many change initiatives fail due to employee resistance and lack of support from management, a successful change management plan must prioritize the people.

Here’s how to have an employee-centric change management strategy.

Change leaders should first understand the workplace ecosystem to remove obstacles, mitigate risks, and support employees in navigating the changes.

Second, management should be transparent about the usual business processes and the impact of the change on the employees.

Third, change leaders should have the willingness, skills, and knowledge to guide employees through the transition.

Establish A Suitable Time Frame

Time management in change management involves giving enough time for research and planning, giving employees enough time to understand and adjust to the changes, and allowing ample time for training.

Organizations should give employees adequate time to process the changes before implementation begins. For example, start communicating with employees way before selecting an ERP system.

That way, you’ll have enough time to integrate change management into the project plan. The project team members will know the essential people-focused activities and how to support them.

So, when creating a change management plan, make a reasonable timeline for the change management activities. Naturally, the change management timeline should align with the overall project timeline. Assign due dates for each task and prioritize accordingly.

The change management plan examples on this site have sample timelines for inspiration .

Monitor, Assess, and Evaluate Success

Change teams must have a system for analyzing the effectiveness of the change management process and adjusting as needed. That means having metrics to determine the outcomes of the change and performance at the individual and organizational levels.

We’ll divide these metrics into organizational performance, individual performance, and change management performance.

Organizational performance metrics:

Adherence to the project plan using the best project management software.
Project KPIs.
Benefits realization and ROI.
Execution speed.
Adherence to the timeframe.
Project management tool metrics features.

Individual performance metrics:

Employee satisfaction survey results.
Awareness and understanding of the change.
Employee feedback.
Stakeholder buy-in.
Employee engagement.
Number of support requests.
System usage reports.
ADKAR model surveys

Change management performance metrics:

Adherence to the timeline
Project KPIs
Execution speed
Performance improvements
Commitment to the project plan
Communication effectiveness
Training tests results
Training participation

Change Management Made Easy

Using the change management plan example and checklist above, creating a change management plan is easy.

The essential elements for managing change are clear communication, ongoing support and training, a motivation plan, and change effectiveness metrics.

Clear communication helps everyone understand the need for the change and what the change involves. The leaders also need to embody the change in their daily actions.

That means scheduling time to discuss the change processes with managers and being available to discuss issues that may arise.

Organizations can provide ongoing support with a digital adoption tool and motivate employees with bonuses and recognition. Finally, have metrics to analyze the change management plan and the overall project.

Change management models like McKinsey’s 7-S and ADKAR model provide a structured approach to change. They provide direction and forecast on what to expect and how to prepare for different issues during organizational changes using the best change management processes.

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FTC Takes Action Against Adobe and Executives for Hiding Fees, Preventing Consumers from Easily Cancelling Software Subscriptions

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The Federal Trade Commission is taking action against software maker Adobe and two of its executives, Maninder Sawhney and David Wadhwani, for deceiving consumers by hiding the early termination fee for its most popular subscription plan and making it difficult for consumers to cancel their subscriptions.

A federal court complaint filed by the Department of Justice upon notification and referral from the FTC charges that Adobe pushed consumers toward the “annual paid monthly” subscription without adequately disclosing that cancelling the plan in the first year could cost hundreds of dollars. Wadhwani is the president of Adobe’s digital media business, and Sawhney is an Adobe vice president.

“Adobe trapped customers into year-long subscriptions through hidden early termination fees and numerous cancellation hurdles,” said Samuel Levine, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “Americans are tired of companies hiding the ball during subscription signup and then putting up roadblocks when they try to cancel. The FTC will continue working to protect Americans from these illegal business practices.”

After 2012, Adobe shifted principally to a subscription model, requiring consumers to pay for access to the company’s popular software on a recurring basis. Subscriptions account for most of the company’s revenue.

According to the complaint, when consumers purchase a subscription through the company’s website, Adobe pushes consumers to its “annual paid monthly” subscription plan, pre-selecting it as a default. Adobe prominently shows the plan’s “monthly” cost during enrollment, but it buries the early termination fee (ETF) and its amount, which is 50 percent of the remaining monthly payments when a consumer cancels in their first year. Adobe’s ETF disclosures are buried on the company’s website in small print or require consumers to hover over small icons to find the disclosures.

Consumers complain to the FTC and the Better Business Bureau about the ETF, according to the complaint. These consumers report they were not aware of the existence of the ETF or that the “annual paid monthly” plan required their subscription to continue for a year. The complaint notes that Adobe has been aware of consumers’ confusion about the ETF.

Despite being aware of consumers’ problems with the ETF, the company continues its practice of steering consumers to the annual paid monthly plan while obscuring the ETF, according to the complaint.

In addition to failing to disclose the ETF to consumers when they subscribe, the complaint also alleges that Adobe uses the ETF to ambush consumers to deter them from cancelling their subscriptions. The complaint also alleges that Adobe’s cancellation processes are designed to make cancellation difficult for consumers. When consumers have attempted to cancel their subscription on the company’s website, they have been forced to navigate numerous pages in order to cancel.

When consumers reach out to Adobe’s customer service to cancel, they encounter resistance and delay from Adobe representatives. Consumers also experience other obstacles, such as dropped calls and chats, and multiple transfers. Some consumers who thought they had successfully cancelled their subscription reported that the company continued to charge them until discovering the charges on their credit card statements.

The complaint charges that Adobe’s practices violate the Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act.

The Commission vote to refer the civil penalty complaint to the DOJ for filing was 3-0. The Department of Justice filed the complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

NOTE: The Commission refers a complaint for civil penalties to the DOJ for filing when it has “reason to believe” that the named defendants are violating or are about to violate the law and that a proceeding is in the public interest. The case will be decided by the court.

The staff attorneys on this matter are Sana Chaudhry and Daniel Wilkes of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection.

The Federal Trade Commission works to promote competition and protect and educate consumers . The FTC will never demand money, make threats, tell you to transfer money, or promise you a prize. Learn more about consumer topics at consumer.ftc.gov , or report fraud, scams, and bad business practices at ReportFraud.ftc.gov . Follow the FTC on social media , read consumer alerts and the business blog , and sign up to get the latest FTC news and alerts .

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Which is needed more, Economic Transformation Bill or Economic Development Plan?

Monday, 24 June 2024 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The most dangerous part of these ‘illusions’, propagated by irresponsible governments, is the fact that the populace is made to believe that they could have the benefits of development, without true development

An EDP would indicate the institutional framework required and targets would be set on a practical basis. The ETB seems like putting the cart before the horse.

The ETB hopes to transform the import dependent economy to an export oriented one. The idea in 1977, was also to make the economy an export oriented one, but had the opposite result. Therefore, how one hopes to transform becomes extremely important, if we are not to repeat the mistakes, which means that all the possible options should be looked at, which has not been done.

However, the major problem the country faces is that all the possible options, which have been successful in Asia, were not on the table and policies and methods used in the past 45 years, that have failed to bring results, are the only ones considered.

Is it that difficult to get into the head, that the conventional wisdom followed over the past 45 years was wrong, with bankruptcy being the ultimate result?

An EDP is no easy task, the 10-year plan of the 1950s took three years to make. However, in this digital age, it should be easier to gather data, but the thinking required, may be a problem. An EDP would indicate the ‘what and how’ to achieve economic development. We need to place more faith and confidence in a plan, rather than the market, to get the process moving and later shift to the market, when market conditions are fulfilled. An EDP would require all, including the Central Bank to work towards a common objective. In a developing country, Central Banks have to take in the fact that economic development should be a major target and be in its mandate. In developed economies, inflation targeting and financial stability could be ok, but the experience of development in developing countries require total support of the Central Bank and not its independence to work at cross purposes.

What is clearly required is a transformation of the thinking, that has brought the country to what it is. Unfortunately, that radical new thinking which is urgently required is nowhere to be seen. It is heartbreaking to see so much poverty and suffering in our country, when it could be overcome, with practical and common-sense policy.

The ETB hopes to transform the economy to what?

The ETB is clearly intended to satisfy the IMF, even though it has not been asked for. It hopes to continue the program of privatisation and seek foreign investment for the sale of local assets. There is no indication of inviting new FDI into manufacturing. The sale of local opportunities, such as power production, which should be developed by local companies, now sold to foreigners and PPAs signed up at high tariff rates, reduces the local potential for industrial development due to the high cost of inputs.

Though there is mention of exports to meet certain targets in the future, no mention of how it would be reached. Some ideas floating around is Trincomalee for India and Hambantota for China. If it brings about industrial development that drives exports, it would be beneficial. However, it seems more a political balancing act, than an economic development process. Rights for foreign companies for mineral extraction with deals signed already, is of concern.

Section 14(b) of the ETB, mentions ‘persuading foreign investors to retain, re-invest and expand investments’, which can only be done with high quality investors, who have shunned investing in Sri Lanka for various reasons, of which corruption is still rampant in all areas. Section 84, mentions ‘Investment Zones Developer’, which is an indication of privatisation of the zones. Section 53 mentions that no civil or criminal proceedings could be brought against the Commission or its members.

However, if the Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) signed is an indication of what is to follow, it indicates much of the same of what we have had. PPAs the world over has left a trail of corruption. The PPA with Adani is to purchase at US cents 0.08, while Adani sells in India for 0.03. The Saudi government just concluded an agreement with a Japanese company to purchase at less than 0.02 cents. Where we are going becomes quite clear. All this drives the input costs up, while we should be trying out best to bring them down.

The most important sector in any economy is the SMI sector, as it provides the best possibility to widespread the manufacturing process bringing benefits to many, rather than develop a few big companies. To do so development banking plays a major role and if this ETB was serious about it, development banks should have been one of those institutions created, within the bill. Therefore, development banking should be a major focus and not just an afterthought. All this would come up when developing a plan, which does not seem to be on the table.

So, what is the purpose of setting these arbitrary figures, without any practical idea if it is possible to achieve? Does it not give an indication of a last-ditch extreme attempt at ‘foreignisation’ of the economy?

Confusion between vision and ‘illusion’

Almost all countries that have been able to develop their economies, have done so by their leaders expressing a vision, with a plan to reach their objectives.

However, one should not make the mistake of confusing a vision with an ‘illusion’. This happens by trying to imitate developed economies, disregarding the ground work that made it possible for those economies to reach its objectives. The most dangerous part of these ‘illusions’, propagated by irresponsible governments, is the fact that the populace is made to believe that they could have the benefits of development, without true development.

Unfortunately, the IMF and many economists follow this ‘illusion’ and advice (often direct) developing countries on those lines.

Sri Lanka, is a classic example in this regard. With the opening of the economy in 1977, it was said that Sri Lanka, could become a Singapore, disregarding all the hard work, that went into the effort, the strategic thinking and the economic development plan, mostly influenced and designed by Dr. Albert Winsemius of the UN mission.

Sri Lanka followed the illusion to Bankruptcy; therefore, I do not think much more is required in this respect? The bottom line is a collective shame, for not being able to get our thinking right.

The major problem

In my previous articles I have drawn attention to ‘myths’ of neo-liberalism, which has not quite been understood. Therefore, this article hopes to give a better understanding of it, though not an easy task in a short article.

Though we have some of the resources required for development, we cannot put them to use, as they are tabooed by neo-lib thinking. We are therefore, in a situation of having the resources, but cannot be put to use, due to a lack of effective thinking.

In fact, the IMF blogs in recent years, by the younger staff of the IMF not only question the taboos, but also think they should be lifted. However, it would be a long time before it happens, which by then would have done irretrievable damage, but most likely, may never reach the decision-making stage, as it is more a political issue, decided at the top level.

The four major obstacles in the neo-lib thinking that has become a drag towards development of the economy, with less inequality are;

1) Governments should not be in business.

2) CB funds are inflationary.

3) Budgets should be balanced.

4) Development Plans not required- Markets will do the magic.

Government should not be in business

‘It is not the business of government to be in business’ is a catchy phrase used by Neo-Liberals quite effectively, in their psychological campaign over the past decades and even established itself among politicians and economists and has spread to the JVP-NPP combine as well.

This is clearly an assault on the ‘mixed economy’, which was in operation, during the ‘golden era of Capitalism’ of the fifties and sixties, which produced economic growth with less inequality, until the oil shocks of the 1970s and the inability to adjust, due to the rise of monetarism in the period.

There is no need for the state to operate businesses, expect the strategic sectors, as long as the private sector steps up. What does one do when the private sector does not? The reason the government set up SOEs was because the private sector was unwilling or incapable to do so. The management of these SOEs have been poor, due to the inability of government to manage them as done in other countries. Therefore, is it a problem with SOEs or poor management ability of politicians?

Also, if it is the efficiency of the private sector that is sought, why then does the private sector not establish enterprises at their cost and compete with the SOEs? That would be creation of wealth and not just a transfer of wealth, as in privatisation.

The strategic sectors of power, energy, water, public transport, education, healthcare need to be in public hands for many reasons. Private investment is determined by profit, which need not be the reason for public investment. Public services were never designed to make profit, but as a buffer against the harshness of capitalist economics.

CB funds are inflationary

When Central Bank funds are used by government, it is termed as ‘inflationary’. Though in the earlier periods Central Banks created most of the money in the economy, in the present context it is the Banking system that creates most of the money, in the form of credit. In the UK, Bank of England money makes up only 3% of the money supply, while 97% is Commercial bank created money. In Sri Lanka too this is not much different.

Therefore, it is clear that this talk of inflationary pressure, when Central Bank money is created is highly supportive of the Financial Sector and their interests. Moreover, the empirical evidence available dis-proves the conventional wisdom of the link between monetary finance and inflation.

Monetary policy should not be merely limited to raise or lower interest rates and hope the expected takes place. It has much more potential than what we understand at present.

In fact, many countries developed their industries, purely by unearthing the potential that monetary policy has within. Canada developed its industry mostly with Central Bank funded development banks. The East Asian development is not much different.

So why do we not use a resource we have, but bend backwards to please the financial sector, to extract more from the economy?

Budgets should be balanced

This somewhat could be used in a developed economy, where government revenue should be able to support government expenditure, though it has not been the case even in the US. Therefore, in a developing economy, where much has to be done, governments cannot undertake much development activity, based on revenue and requires additional funds for development. Borrowing from the financial sector creates a debt servicing problem, therefore, wise use of monetary policy to establish development banks for each development sector, together with other fiscal incentives, could take care of development needs, if there is a serious desire to do so.

Development plans not required; markets will do their magic

A development plan is more a common-sense thing, than an economic phenomenon. A development plan, would make all aware of which areas would be developed and make those who want to participate to prepare themselves to do so.

It would also indicate areas that requires work to be done, to meet the plan requirements. FDI would also know which areas it could participate in. It would also show areas that requires much more investment and how that gap is to be filled.

Over the past 45 years, this has been left to the market and the results speak for themselves. Some think we should open up more, and build up more traders, without understanding the process of industrial development.

They often cite India as an example, stating that India developed after opening up in the 1990s. What they fail to understand is the fact that the many five- year plans of the planning commission, developed Indian industry to a level that could compete with foreign companies, when it opened up in the 1990s and was not a one-way street, as it was in Sri Lanka.

These are the four main ‘myths’ we have been made to believe, that would make this country a developed country. The fact that these same policies were followed over the past four and a half decades with minor changes, has been unable to bring the required results, is not highlighted or discussed.

However, what is certain is that until we eliminate these ‘myths’ from our minds, we are nowhere near reaching our objective.

It seems we make our decisions more on political allegiance, rather than on practical evidence. Why is it that we are adamant on following the free market policies for development, at the initial stages, when no country in the world has been able to initiate development using those policies and methods?

Even the development stories of the East Asian countries have been distorted, to suit the Neo-Lib plan. They only talk about the ‘export oriented’ part of development, without mentioning how the ground work was done in the early stages, to be able to get to the ‘export oriented’ stage. All this required much state intervention and CB funds. Common sense should indicate that one could not just by-pass stages of development and expect the market to perform magic.

The ETB has not taken into account what is possible and should be done, but has only stated some arbitrary figures, without knowing how to achieve them. With so much proven examples of how countries developed their economies and lifted people out of poverty, available in the world, but still wanting to satisfy a failed political ideology is a shame on us as human beings.

Let me end with a mention of what the present President said as he assumed office in 2022. His words were “we had a strong economy in 1948”. This is an indication of how the thinking goes. How could the economy be strong, when majority of the people were in poverty? It was strong for a very few privileged elites.

Unfortunately, this is the thinking that maintained the ‘dual-economy’ for two distinct classes and is guiding our economy even today.

Recent columns

L.A. wants to make firing bad cops easier. Should the LAPD’s watchdog have a role?

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The Los Angeles Police Department’s much-maligned disciplinary system is on the verge of a major transformation, and members of the L.A. Police Commission expressed concern Tuesday about being left out of the discussion.

The five-member commission, appointed by the mayor to provide civilian oversight of the department, was responding to a City Council proposal that could give the LAPD chief the power to fire cops outright for suspected misconduct and reform a process that critics say has seriously undermined accountability efforts.

The City Council’s tentative plan, which would require approval from Los Angeles voters in November, focuses on disciplinary panels comprising only civilians, which review the cases of officers accused of misconduct and decide whether they should be fired or face punishment.

The proposed reforms would do away with all-civilian panels, adding a sworn member of the department as one of the three representatives.

A split composition was once standard. However, since 2019, officers have been able to choose which type of panel they will face, and the all-civilian route has proved more lenient.

Department officials previously said that of the 27 hearings held last year for officers whom the chief wanted to fire, all-civilian panels gave the accused lighter discipline in 11 cases.

At Tuesday’s meeting, Commissioner Rasha Gerges Shields said she wished for more of an opportunity to weigh in on disciplinary changes.

LOS ANGELES, CA - FEBRUARY 08: U.S. Rep. Karen Bass said that as mayor she would move 250 Los Angeles police officers out of desk jobs and into patrols, while ensuring that the department returns to its authorized strength of 9,700 officers. Photographed at the Los Angeles Police Department Headquarters on Tuesday, Feb. 8, 2022. (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

LAPD can’t get rid of their bad cops. Here’s what they want to do about it

Even in seemingly clear-cut cases of serious misconduct, the LAPD’s disciplinary system has led to outcomes in which those involved keep their jobs and continue collecting paychecks. Now, some leaders are renewing calls for a radical overhaul.

March 13, 2024

Shields said city leaders should think twice about a controversial element of one of the two proposals considered by the council, which calls for the use of binding arbitration to resolve disciplinary cases. Research from across the country — summarized in a report by the city’s chief legislative analyst — shows that such an approach tends to favor employees in disciplinary matters.

Commissioner William Briggs asked rhetorically why the City Council couldn’t just repeal the 2017 ballot measure known as Charter Amendment C, which created the system of all-civilian disciplinary panels, without seeking a popular vote.

“Why they’re kicking this proverbial can down the street, I don’t know,” he said.

At the start of the meeting, Briggs announced that Tuesday would be his last day in the volunteer position. The entertainment lawyer and Maria “Lou” Calanche are the longest-tenured commissioners, the only remaining appointees of former Mayor Eric Garcetti.

“It’s unfortunate that the commission couldn’t weigh in on these discussions. There’s a lot that we deal with that could’ve provided insight,” Calanche said.

Interim Chief Dominic Choi said the Los Angeles Police Protective League, the union for the LAPD’s rank and file, has signaled its support for binding arbitration and allowing the chief the authority to fire officers outright for misconduct.

The Police Protective League has not responded to numerous messages seeking comment about the council action.

A plan backed by City Councilmember Monica Rodriguez, who chairs the powerful public safety committee, was approved in a split vote at a committee meeting a few weeks ago. It would require disciplinary panels to have two civilians and one police official. The police union first pitched that makeup in the late 1990s.

The city attorney’s office is drawing up final language for the reform proposal, which is expected to be up for a full council vote in the next few weeks, clearing a path for putting the matter on the November ballot.

Department officials say all-civilian panels have allowed cops accused of wrongdoing to remain on the force despite the chief calling for their termination.

Los Angeles is one of the only cities in the state where officers accused of serious misconduct are entitled to an administrative hearing before they can be fired, officials have said.

LOS ANGELES, CA-AUGUST 20, 2019: Bryant Mangum, who has been pulled over and searched many times by the Los Angeles Police Department, stands for a portrait by his car which he was driving when he was pulled over on August 20, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. Los Angeles police officers search African Americas and Latinos more often than whites during traffic stops, even though whites are more likely to be found with illegal items, a Times analysis found. (Photo By Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)

Los Angeles council OKs study of removing police from traffic enforcement

Wednesday’s vote was the latest development in a yearslong push to overhaul traffic policing.

June 13, 2024

Proponents say adding a sworn officer to the panels will lend the perspective of someone who has done the job and thus understands the implications of allowing officers who have lied or stolen to continue working.

The reform proposal also allows for the outright firing of officers for serious misconduct — including using excessive force, racial bias and dishonesty — that could result in them being stripped of their license to carry a badge. Officers could appeal their punishment to an arbitrator.

Under the city’s charter, LAPD disciplinary hearings play out like mini-trials, with evidence and witnesses. The proceedings are secret, and critics say the department’s history is littered with cases of problem officers who’ve kept their jobs and continued collecting paychecks despite evidence of misconduct that undermines their credibility and precludes them from doing even basic police work.

LAPD officials estimate that there are nearly 70 such officers currently on the payroll.

Some opponents of the City Council’s proposed measure say they are wary of concentrating too much power in the chief’s hands, which could open the door to abuses of the discipline system to punish officers who’ve fallen out of favor or to settle old scores.

Critics of the reform effort have said the department is bringing cases against officers based on circumstantial evidence, and civilian panels are less likely than officers to fear running afoul of top brass.

A popular vote in 1992 after the Rodney King beating created LAPD disciplinary panels with two officers and one civilian. LAPD watchdogs pitched it as a reform, but years of research have since shown that civilians tend to be more supportive of police, leading to questions about whether the people chosen for the panels adequately represent the public’s interests.

Some panelists, known as hearing examiners, have complained that they haven’t been picked to hear cases based on their perceived views about policing.

Councilmembers Hugo Soto-Martinez and Tim McOsker forged an unlikely alliance last year in calling to scale back the involvement of civilians.

LOS ANGELES, CA - MAY 03: LAPD Capt. Christopher M. Zine, left, and interim Police Chief Dominic Choi meet with recruit class 11-23 during the graduation ceremony at the Los Angeles Police Academy in Los Angeles, CA on Friday, May 3, 2024. (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

Who should be the next LAPD chief? Public shrugs as city asks for input

As the Police Commission continues its citywide listening tour to hear about what residents want to see in the department’s next leader, many of the stops have seen a low turnout.

June 3, 2024

But Soto-Martinez pushed back against a version of the plan that emerged from the public safety committee, saying he disagreed with locking the department into any specific configuration. He worried that there were no data on the effectiveness of panels with two civilians and one officer.

Like Shields of the Police Commission, he questioned the use of binding arbitration for officers who appeal their terminations or suspensions, pointing to studies and testimony from city and police leaders nationwide that show the outcomes usually favor law enforcement.

McOsker acknowledged concerns raised by officers for years that the disciplinary system is skewed in favor of the department, so switching the makeup of panels may not work either.

“The way to avoid a lenient system isn’t to reintroduce a biased system,” McOsker said.

Editorial: LAPD discipline ballot measure offers only minor reforms. City leaders must do more

June 19, 2024

Emada Tingirides: LAPD’s litmus test for true reform

June 9, 2024

LOS ANGELES, CA. Members of the Police Commission (LR) Richard Tefank, Chief William J. Bratton, Andre Birotte Jr., and Shelley Freeman listen to Karla Vargas a 10yearold 5th grader explain what she witnessed when she was at the May Day MacArthur Park rally with her Mother, younger brother and Grandmother. Karla is one of the plaintiffs in a case filed against the LAPD. The Police Commission meeting agenda included the LAPD's report on the department's response to the May Day rally in MacArthur Park. (Photo by Al Seib/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

‘Never happened before’: Key oversight officials leave as LAPD searches for chief

April 16, 2024

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Libor Jany covers the Los Angeles Police Department. Before joining the Los Angeles Times in 2022, he covered public safety for the Star Tribune in Minneapolis. A St. Paul, Minn., native, Jany studied communications at Mississippi State University.

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American Airlines Must Head to Trial Over ESG 401(k) Funds (1)

By Ben Miller

American Airlines Group Inc. must face a pilot’s claims that its 401(k) plan is loaded with investments geared toward “leftist political agendas,” using environmental, social, and corporate governance strategies, a judge ruled Thursday.

The class action covering as many as 100,000 participants in the American Airlines 401(k) plan is among the first lawsuits against a private company arguing that a plan sponsor breached its fiduciary duties by pursuing ESG investments at the expense of workers’ financial interests. The case now proceeds to a June 24 trial at the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas.

The trial will determine if American Airlines has violated its duties under federal benefits law and how much in losses it may have incurred through its plan investment selections, Judge Reed C. O’Connor said in the order denying American Airlines’ bid to toss the suit.

The lawsuit filed in June 2023 is the latest battle in a broader debate over socially conscious investing playing out in courts across the country, as well as among lawmakers. A decision on the validity of these investment strategies in 401(k)s would have ripple effects, particularly within the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, where a case seeking to prevent enforcement of the Labor Department’s ESG-friendly 401(k) rule is pending.

The pilot’s Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit alleges that the American Airlines plan primarily features funds administered by firms like BlackRock Institutional Trust Company Inc., which pursue “pervasive ESG agendas,” O’Connor said in the order. But compared to other plan sponsors administering plans that featured BlackRock funds, American Airlines took “no action whatsoever” to mitigate the alleged losses, according to O’Connor.

American Airlines sought summary judgment on the participant’s claims, arguing that no losses resulted from the conduct in question and that the alleged fiduciary breach stemmed entirely from the plan sponsor’s failure to demand BlackRock change its proxy voting activity.

The airline and its benefits committee may also have allowed corporate ESG goals or stakeholder goals to influence the 401(k) by permitting plan investments to prioritize socially conscious objectives through proxy voting and shareholder activism, revealing potential conflicts of interest, according to the order.

“Furthermore, there are additional fact disputes surrounding Defendants’ incestuous relationship with BlackRock and whether that relationship disloyally influenced administration of the Plan,” O’Connor said in the order. “For instance, the person responsible for monitoring investment managers also managed the corporate financial relationship with BlackRock—an entity that administers the Plan while simultaneously holding a significant equity stake in AA.”

BlackRock’s ESG track record drew scrutiny from lawmakers in Texas and other states, which the judge highlighted as jurisdictions that “took action to stop ESG activism in retirement plans they oversee.”

BlackRock isn’t a party to the suit.

O’Melveny & Myers LLP and Kelly Hart & Hallman LLP represent American Airlines and its benefits committee. Hacker Stephens LLP and Sharp Law LLP represent Spence.

The case is Spence v. American Airlines Inc. , N.D. Tex., No. 4:23-cv-00552, 6/20/24.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ben Miller in New York City at [email protected]

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Genevieve Douglas at [email protected] ; Rebekah Mintzer at [email protected]

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COMMENTS

Business transformation guide: Strategy, process, and examples
Business transformation refers to the process of fundamentally changing the way a company operates to achieve a new level of growth, efficiency, and competitiveness. ... The communication plan should also include a feedback mechanism to gather input and address any concerns or issues. 5. Identify and manage risks. Business transformation ...
What is an Action Plan & How to Write One [With Examples]
An action plan is a detailed outline that breaks down the steps necessary to achieve a specific goal. Here are the typical components of an action plan. 1. Objective or Goal. The cornerstone of your action plan is the objective or goal. This should be a clear and concise statement outlining the desired outcome or result.
Create an Effective Action Plan in 6 Steps [2024] • Asana
Read: 8 steps to create a contingency plan to prevent business risks Action plan vs. project plan. A project plan is a bit more complicated than an action plan. Project plans are blueprints of the key elements your team needs to accomplish to successfully achieve your project goals.
How to Write and Develop an Action Plan for Your Small Business
Build a strategy. 1. Define your scope. It is essential to define your scope, create a roadmap, and align it with your strategic planning. Make sure your actions guide you toward company goals. Start by gauging how your team members can contribute and help you achieve your objectives.
7 steps to create an action plan for your business strategy
1. Involve your team early on. Your team's participation will make or break the action plan. They should be involved from the beginning as you develop the action plan and other elements of the strategic plan. "The owner can't do it alone," Drepaul says. "Delegation and accountability are key.
What is business transformation?
For years now, transformation has been a catchall term for how organizations make the right moves to achieve their full potential. Companies usually aim to deliver healthy financial performance and organizational effectiveness before focusing on higher growth, new strategies, and tech-enabled solutions. But the pace of change means that waiting ...
Creating Action Plans for Your Business Plan
The action plan explains how you will operate and manage your business. It also addresses the back office activities that don't relate directly to providing goods or services to customers. These include activities such as: Employee hiring and management. Obtaining and working with vendors for needed materials and supplies.
Strategic Planning: 5 Planning Steps, Process Guide [2024] • Asana
Step 1: Assess your current business strategy and business environment. Before you can define where you're going, you first need to define where you are. Understanding the external environment, including market trends and competitive landscape, is crucial in the initial assessment phase of strategic planning.
5 Ways to Turn Your Strategic Plan Into Action
1. Assess where your business is now. If you don't know where every facet of your business is today, it will be difficult to make successful improvements. You can't fix it if you don't know ...
How To Create An Action Plan (FREE Templates & Examples)
This action plan begins by detailing the primary goal, with the first column dedicated to a breakdown of each action required. For example, if your business goal was to design and launch a new website, your activities might include: Gathering design assets. Choosing a color scheme. Copywriting for new website pages.
How to Turn Strategy Into Action
There are a couple of simple templates or frameworks that can be used to help identify and plan key initiatives. An example "Action Plan" appears below. As you will see, it links a set of initiatives to an overarching priority in a simple planning template that everyone can use. Step 4: Engage and Align the Organization.
Business Transformation Plan Template
A business transformation plan outlines a company's plan for change and improvement. It is designed to help an organization evolve and adapt to changing market conditions, technological advances, and internal or external shifts in structure. The plan outlines the desired outcomes and goals of the transformation, as well as the steps needed to ...
The "all in" approach to business transformation
Business transformation programs have long focused on productivity improvement—taking a "better, faster, cheaper" approach to how the company works. And for good reason: disciplined efforts can boost productivity as well as accountability, transparency, execution, and the pace of decision making. When it comes to delivering fast results ...
How to Write an Action Plan (Example Included)
The fundamentals to getting an action plan together for any project follow these four project planning basic steps: 1. Define Your Project Goals. There's a difference between project goals and project objectives. Project goals refer to the high-level goals that the project will achieve.
Grow Your Business with the Action Plan
The 11 Step Business Action Plan. I came across this article on the American Express Open Forum and had to share it with our followers and clients. Murray Smith gives a quick 11-step list for creating a business action plan in this article.. In our system, OnStrategy, we use Action Plan Reports to show a person or department's goals and action items, due dates, and status.
Free Action Plan Templates for Every Goal [2023] • Asana
These goals will act as a north star for your action plan template. Once they're set, you can refer to your goals to make sure your tasks align with long-term initiatives. This helps ensure your action steps are purposeful and connected, eliminating unnecessary and duplicate " work about work .". 2. Create task lists.
The Power Of The PLAN: Transforming Ideas Into Action For Business Success
The PLAN framework—Purpose, Levers, Accountability and Numbers—is a simple yet powerful tool for CEOs and business owners to transform ideas into successful realities. In my experience, this ...
How to structure an effective digital transformation plan
A solid digital transformation plan has: Clear, realistic goals which you can be confident of hitting. The best strategy to achieve these goals against your competition. Sufficient details of the tactics and actions needed to translate the strategy into action. A method to check you are on track with your plans.
Transform a business plan into an action plan
the planning stage to the 'action' stage. This will involve the plans for what needs to be done, who has to. do it and when th. job needs to be completed. How is this done?• Action plan - state objectives and set goals, choose plan o. action, plan the detail, action and review. Al.
CAPS BS 11 TERM 2 WEEK 2
Transformation of a business plan into an action plan (including. Gantt charts and timelines) - collaboratively or independently. • Transformation of a business plan into an action plan (e.g. planning tools: Gantt charts or Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) with timelines and responsibilities, project planning)
Creating a Digital Transformation plan
Step 1. Gain evidence before you get started with digital transformation. Before starting on a new journey, it's essential to gain some evidence. It's unlikely you'd plan a holiday without first checking weather reports, currency details, travel times, and hotel reviews. Yet in business, we frequently start on a project without evidence.
BV Transforming A Business Plan Into An Action Plan
BV Transforming a business plan into an action plan - Free download as PDF File (.pdf), Text File (.txt) or read online for free. Timelines, Gantt charts, work breakdown structures (WBS), and project planning can help entrepreneurs transform business plans into action plans. Timelines indicate tasks and their deadlines, Gantt charts show project schedules and resource allocation, WBS break ...
Change Management Plan: What they are and how to build one
That is why managers must develop an action plan that leads to a smooth transition from one environment to another. The managers should design a change management action plan that helps the employees trust and love the new system or way of doing things, clearly showing them what should change, why it needs to happen, and how it will take place ...
TOPIC 10: Transforming a business plan into an action plan
elzannegeld07. Study with Quizlet and memorize flashcards containing terms like business plan has the following aspects?, Action plan?, Steps to follow when drawing up an action plan? and more.
FTC Takes Action Against Adobe and Executives for Hiding Fees
The Federal Trade Commission is taking action against software maker Adobe and two of its executives, Maninder Sawhney and David Wadhwani, for deceiving consumers by hiding the early termination fee for its most popular subscription plan and making it difficult for consumers to cancel their subscriptions.
Which is needed more, Economic Transformation Bill or Economic
The Economic Transformation Bill (ETB) presented to Parliament, makes one wonder why it was brought about, with new institutions that overlap each other and statistical figures that set limits and targets, when the most obvious choice, would have been an Economic Development Plan (EDP), at least an indicative one. The ETB seems more political than an economic necessity. ..
Will LAPD watchdog have a role in push to make firing bad cops easier
The Police Protective League has not responded to numerous messages seeking comment about the council action. A plan backed by City Councilmember Monica Rodriguez, who chairs the powerful public ...
American Airlines Must Head to Trial Over ESG 401(k) Funds (1)
American Airlines Group Inc. must face a pilot's claims that its 401(k) plan is loaded with investments geared toward "leftist political agendas," using environmental, social, and corporate governance strategies, a judge ruled Thursday. The class action covering as many as 100,000 participants in the American Airlines 401(k) plan is among the first lawsuits against a private company ...

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What is an Action Plan & How to Write One [With Examples]

What is the purpose of an action plan?

Final thoughts

1. Objective or Goal

2. Tasks or Actions

3. Set deadline

4. Resources needed to complete the project

5. Person responsible

6. Potential barriers or challenges

7. Measurement of key performance indicators (KPIs)

Business action plan example

Company action plan example

Sales action plan example

Corrective action plan example

Simple action plan example

How to write an action plan?

How to Write and Develop an Action Plan for Your Small Business

How to create an effective action plan

Create a professional business plan

1. Define your scope

2. Set S.M.A.R.T. goals

3. Visualize your plan

4. Prioritize your tasks

5. Set milestones

6. Identify your resources

7. Monitor, gauge, and update

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How to create an action plan (with free templates and examples)

What is an action plan?

What is an action plan template?

Free action plan templates

Why is an action plan template important?

Action plan templates ensure consistency

Action plan templates help you plan more effectively

What are the essential features of an effective action plan template?

What is the difference between an action plan and a project plan?

What are the key elements of a well-written action plan?

What are some examples of action plan templates?

Business action plan template

Personal development action plan template

Corrective action plan template

monday.com’s Action Plan Template

How to write an action plan step-by-step

1. Determine your goals