Having a solid operational plan in place can ensure the success of a project, especially at the team level. It is a necessary tool to achieve the goals you have defined in a strategy.
A successful operating plan relies on following one crucial rule: “focus on the most important objectives.” Indeed, you need to make sure that every aspect is working in the right direction to stay afloat. Additionally, an operational plan helps you identify areas that are not generating enough revenue or causing losses, and then helps you formulate necessary changes. Additionally, before you begin your operational planning, you must first ensure that the strategic plan is in place.
What is the operational plan?
An operational plan is a strategic document that defines how different teams or departments, such as recruiting, marketing and finance , contribute to achieving the company's different goals and objectives. It summarizes the daily activities necessary for the proper functioning of a business. It describes daily tasks to clearly define how a team contributes to achieving company goals.
Difference between strategic and operational planning
The strategic plan involves setting a direction for the organization, designing goals and objectives, and identifying a series of strategies to be implemented so that the organization can achieve its objectives. The strategic plan is a general guide for managing the organization based on stakeholder priorities and objectives. The strategic plan does NOT stipulate the daily tasks and activities related to managing the organization.
In contrast, the operational plan presents very detailed information intended to guide people in carrying out the daily tasks necessary to manage the organization. The organization's management and staff must frequently refer to the operational plan in carrying out their daily work.
How to develop an operational plan?
Since operational plans are developed with the goal of allocating funds, resources and personnel for each 1-3 year period, all steps that an operational plan must include must serve this effort.
View the operational plan
As with any project plan, it's best to start with the vision. The main features of an operational plan include tasks aimed at achieving particular, clearly defined objectives , as well as managing your staff to ensure they are performing optimally. Identify your vision based on these levels, then you can begin the research phase.
Research and identification of objectives
To begin developing your operational plan, start by reviewing your goals. The goal of an operational plan is to answer five main questions:
What is the budget? Compare last year's budget to this year's.
Where is the team? Approach this question from the perspective of budget, resources and team members.
Where does the team want to be? Think about this time next year, in two years, in three years, etc.
How can the team achieve this?
What benchmarks should we use to measure our progress? This could include product launch times, number of products produced, number of cases closed by customer service, number of 5-star reviews received, number of customers acquired, increase in turnover business of a certain percentage, etc.
To answer these questions, you will need to survey your team members by asking them these questions, then categorize their answers. Prioritize their responses in a quadrant: easiest to execute -> hardest to execute, and most important to execute -> least important to execute. This is when your goals will begin to take shape and become clearer.
Allocate a budget and people
Once you have defined your goals, it is important to note that the budget for your operational plan comes from your department's annual budget. That said, budget is the first line to consider when you start assigning tasks, resources, and allocating budget to team members.
Also get feedback at this stage, as there may be someone who is better suited to the role you have given them, or you may be able to remove unnecessary steps from the process altogether.
Operational plan report
Once you have developed your operational plan, you need to have a process in place to report all of this as the plan progresses. It should include clear objectives with deliverables, goals, timelines and the personnel needed to carry out the plan.
Stakeholders, other department heads, and management will want to review the progress of your operational plan at each benchmark, whether monthly, quarterly, or on a project basis; so be sure to report all your findings and make sure management is always on board. Project dashboards can be an easy solution for quick and accurate updates.
Adjust the operational plan if necessary
As with any well-planned project, you must always be ready to pivot. Did you reach a benchmark that didn't deliver the expected results? With an operational plan, the activities are so detailed that you can now know and understand exactly what part of the plan was not working optimally. Make adjustments, involve team members as necessary, get stakeholder buy-in, and move on to the next benchmark with your newly refined operational plan.
Such adjustments are easy to make if you have had the foresight to develop your plan using project planning software. If you need to make adjustments to a static Excel sheet or Word document, it can take hours to update all the changes.
Operational plans work best when the entire department buys into them, setting due dates for tasks, measuring success goals, reporting on issues, and collaborating effectively. They work even better when there is communication between departments to ensure that the whole machine runs smoothly when each team achieves its goal.
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