ACTION PLANNINGAPAMSA Leadership Development Module

Action Planning

Short-term planning involves: what needs to be done how to do it who will do it when it will be done

Consider the following guidelines to effectively organize and coordinate team efforts

Task-Oriented Behaviors

Source: G. Yukl, Leadership In Organizations (New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2006, p. 68-69)

Task-Oriented Behaviors

Action Planning

Consider your team goals, priorities, strategies, organization, responsibilities, schedule, and resources

Identify one team goal for any given project and briefly describe the action steps and schedule planned to accomplish this goal

Leadership Challenge (6)

Action Planning

Identify necessary action steps

Optimal sequence of action steps

Time needed for action steps

Start dates and deadlines

Costs Assignment of

responsibility Monitor progress

Guidelines For Action Planning

Source: G. Yukl, Leadership In Organizations (New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2006, p. 68-69)

Action Planning

Before creating an action plan, review team goals and priorities

Brainstorm different strategies for action steps to accomplish key objectives

Goal: Organize and coordinate work activities, and allow effective use of resources

Identify Necessary Action Steps

Source: G. Yukl, Leadership In Organizations (New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2006, p. 68-69)

Action Planning

Prioritize action steps relative to the importance of each objective/goal being targeted

Schedule action steps well in advance of deadlines for key objectives

Optimal Sequence Of Action Steps

Source: G. Yukl, Leadership In Organizations (New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2006, p. 68-69)

Action Planning

Estimate the time needed to carry out each action step

Ensure enough time is allotted to perform all action steps prior to key objective deadlines

Set up several checkpoints to monitor progress in advance of actual deadlines

Time Needed For Action Steps

Source: G. Yukl, Leadership In Organizations (New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2006, p. 68-69)

Action Planning

Divide a large task into a sequence of several action steps

Schedule a sequence of informal deadlines for each action step before the actual objective deadline

Reanalyze and reformulate action plans each day, week, or month

Start Dates & Deadlines

Source: G. Yukl, Leadership In Organizations (New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2006, p. 68-69)

Action Planning

Estimate costs for each action step

Ensure that tasks are within budget and resources are adequately allocated to accomplish each action step

Inability to perform one action step may jeopardize the entire project

Costs

Source: G. Yukl, Leadership In Organizations (New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2006, p. 68-69)

Action Planning

Someone must be held accountable for the management of each action step

Organize a committee to delegate responsibility and coordinate work activities

Adequate authority should be provided for officers to implement action steps and make important decisions

Assignment Of Responsibility

Source: G. Yukl, Leadership In Organizations (New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2006, p. 68-69)

Action Planning

Monitor progress of work activities and direct officers relative to their level of experience and importance of responsibilities

Organize periodic conference meetings with officers to assess action plans and work performance

Monitor Progress

Source: G. Yukl, Leadership In Organizations (New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2006, p. 68-69)

Task-Oriented Behaviors

Action Planning

Action planning allows effective organization and coordination of team activities

Short-term planning determines what needs to be done, how to do it, who will do it, and when it will be done

Utilize these guidelines to better implement action plans and direct team activities

Summary

Task-Oriented Behaviors

Formulating Strategy

Our next module discusses guidelines to develop an effective plan to accomplish important objectives for the organization

Next Topic…

Task-Oriented Behaviors

G. Yukl, Leadership In Organizations, New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2006, p. 68-69

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