Implementing a solid operational plan can guarantee the success of a project, particularly at the team level. It is a necessary tool for achieving the objectives you have defined in your strategy.
A successful operating plan hinges on adhering to one crucial rule: "focus on the most important objectives." Indeed, you must ensure that every aspect is functioning correctly to stay afloat. Furthermore, an operational plan helps you identify areas that aren't generating enough revenue or are causing losses, and then helps you formulate the necessary changes. In addition, before beginning 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 recruitment, marketing, and finance , contribute to achieving the company's various goals and objectives. It summarizes the daily activities necessary for the smooth running of a business. It describes daily tasks to clearly define how each team contributes to achieving the company's objectives.
Difference between strategic and operational
The strategic plan consists of defining a direction for the organization, designing goals and objectives, and identifying a series of strategies to implement so that the organization can achieve its objectives. The strategic plan is a general guide for managing the organization based on the priorities and objectives of stakeholders. The strategic plan does NOT specify the day-to-day tasks and activities related to managing the organization.
In contrast, the operational plan presents highly detailed information designed to guide individuals in carrying out the daily tasks necessary for managing the organization. The organization's management and staff must frequently refer to the operational plan in the performance of their daily work.
How to develop an operational plan?
Since operational plans are developed with the aim of allocating funds, resources and personnel for each 1- to 3-year period, all the 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 key features of an operational plan include tasks aimed at achieving specific and clearly defined objectives , as well as managing your staff to ensure they are performing optimally. Identify your vision based on these levels, and then you can begin the research phase.
Research and identification of objectives
To begin developing your operational plan, start by examining your objectives. The purpose of an operational plan is to answer five main questions:
What is the budget? Compare last year's budget to this year's budget.
Where does the team stand? 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 we ensure the team succeeds?
What benchmarks should we use to measure our progress? These could include product launch times, the number of products manufactured, the number of cases closed by customer service , the number of 5-star reviews received, the number of customers acquired, the increase in turnover by a certain percentage, etc.
To answer these questions, you'll need to survey your team members and then categorize their responses. Prioritize their answers in a quadrant: easiest to implement -> most difficult to implement, and most important to implement -> least important to implement. This is when your objectives will begin to take shape and become clearer.
Allocate a budget and people
Once you have defined your objectives, it is important to note that the budget for your operational plan comes from your department's annual budget. That said, the budget is the first line item to consider when you begin assigning tasks, resources, and allocating budgets to team members.
Also get feedback at this stage, as someone may be better suited to the role you have assigned them, or you may be able to eliminate unnecessary steps in the process altogether.
Report on the operational plan
Once you have developed your operational plan, you need to establish a process for reporting on it as it progresses. This process should include clear objectives with deliverables, goals, timelines, and the personnel required to execute the plan.
Stakeholders, other department heads, and senior management will want to review the progress of your operational plan at each milestone, whether monthly, quarterly, or project-based; therefore, be sure to report all your findings and ensure that management is always on board. Project dashboards can be an easy way to provide quick and accurate updates.
Adjust the operational plan if necessary
As with any well-planned project, you must always be ready to pivot. Have you reached a benchmark that hasn't delivered the expected results? With an operational plan, the activities are so detailed that you can now know and understand exactly which part of the plan wasn't working optimally. Make adjustments, involve team members if necessary, get stakeholder buy-in, and move on to the benchmark with your newly refined operational plan.
Such adjustments are easy to make if you had the foresight to develop your plan using project planning software. If you have to make adjustments to a static Excel spreadsheet or Word document, updating all the changes can take hours.
Operational plans work best when the entire department buys into them, setting deadlines for tasks, measuring success goals, reporting issues, and collaborating effectively . They work even better when there is communication between departments to ensure the whole system runs smoothly when each team achieves its objective.
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