TACTICAL EXECUTION & MANAGEMENT– is Part-2 in our 3-Part series for creating an effective and successful Master Action Plan. In our Part-1 post, we addressed the essential starting point and purpose of Strategic Planning. Today’s post addresses the need for Tactical Execution & Management to reach your goals and objectives that were established in your Strategic Planning. As mentioned in our previous post, the three stages of an effective Master Action Plan include:
- PART-1 – Strategic Planning
- PART-2 – Tactical Execution & Management
- PART-3 – Effective Monitoring & Evaluation
PART-2 – TACTICAL EXECUTION & MANAGEMENT:
Tactical Execution & Management is the critical component to achieving the goals and objectives in your Master Action Plan. Without Tactical Execution & Management , your strategic planning becomes just wishful thoughts and dreams. Also, bear in mind, that if Strategic Planning is where successful results begin, then Tactical Execution & Management determines how your results will end…either in success or failure.
So, once you have completed the Strategic Planning phase within your Master Action Plan, and have identified your key goals and objectives, then you need to apply Tactical Execution & Management by:
- Establishing Action Steps for each Goal
- Prioritizing the Action Steps for each Goal
- Assigning responsibility for each Action Step to the person/ team or group to complete.
ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS:
We’ve established that Tactical Execution & Management is essential, and this needs to be approached and implemented in a systematic, disciplined, and practical manner. Below are a few “Essential Elements” to Tactical Execution & Management based on our Best Practices approach:
- ACTION STEPS – These need to be identified, documented and prioritized in a sequential order as they need to enable the person/ team/ group to progress from one Action Step to another. If this is not done, then your progress for completion may become delayed, disjointed, and may ultimately result in a failed goal or objective. A most simple yet illustrative example is; that each Action Step must be prioritized in a specific order…just as it would be essential in teaching a child to tie his/her shoe. One mis-aligned step in the process, and the results are clear. Yet when Action Steps are properly identified, documented, prioritized and completed, these result in a progressive process towards achieving your goals and objectives.
- DEADLINE/BENCHMARK DATES – All Action Steps must have established deadlines or benchmark dates. Without deadline dates, there is no sense of urgency, commitment, need of completion nor the ability to move forward in a progressive manner to the next Action Step. By establishing and adhering to deadline dates, progress is made, and the next step can be engaged in a logical and methodical manner.
- ASSIGNMENT OF RESPONSIBILITY – All Action Steps must be assigned to someone responsible for completing the task. The assignment of an Action Step to an individual places the responsibility for completing a specific task by a certain date. Assigning personal responsibility establishes participation, responsibility and accountability. Assignment of responsibility also provides the evidence of performance in how we gauge and measure an individual’s contribution and value to a group or organization, and is linked to the overall success or failure in achieving the stated goals and objectives.
- PRIORITIZATION OF IMPORTANCE – Each Action Step must be prioritized in terms of importance to achieving the stated goal. Prioritization also aids the individual responsible for completing the task by providing scheduling guidance, whether it should be high or low on their list of other tasks they may be accountable for. Given that there could be many Goals and related Action Steps in a Master Action Plan, both must be prioritized in terms of their importance and timeliness of completion in order to achieve the organization’s goals and objectives.
- STATUS OF COMPLETION – Each Action Step must be monitored with a status of completion. Designating whether an Action Step is completed (with either a “Yes/No/IP” (In process) status), allows management evaluate and measure their progress. This status benchmark must be used to monitor the progress of the designated individual, team or group as to whether they have been successful in completing the specified and assigned Action Step in a timely manner.
CONCLUSION:
As stated earlier, without Tactical Execution & Management, your Strategic Planning becomes nothing more than an exercise in listing dormant and unfulfilled dreams. We would never want that to happen to you or to any of our clients. That’s why we developed the M.A.P. solution.
The M.A.P. solution that GMS Business Consulting, Inc provides, delivers all you need for Strategic Planning and Tactical Execution & Management for you and your organization, each and every year. M.A.P. is a strategic and tactical Master Action Plan that sits above all your business operating platforms, time and billing platforms, sales & marketing platforms, inventory control platforms, communications platforms, and data storage and recovery platforms. Those are all “COMPONENTS” within your M.A.P. All of those platforms may change, merge, be substituted or disappear each year. Your M.A.P. solution will provide the strategic evaluation and planning along with the tactical execution and management for all facets of our organization, year after year. Our M.A.P. solution helps you to define your vision, how to establish a strategic plan to achieve your vision, and then how to successfully implement and manage the action steps necessary to meet your goals and objectives for your organization. This is your road M.A.P. to your success.
All businesses should have a M.A.P. to guide, direct, execute and monitor its vision and progress. Contact Us if you have any questions or if we can help you to Strategically Plan and Tactically Execute & Manage your business with success and piece of mind.
Our next Post (Part-3), will focus on Effective Monitoring and Evaluation. See you in a couple weeks. Have a successful and blessed week.
GMS BUSINESS CONSULTING, INC. – Provides lawyers/law firms, for-profit & non-profit organizations, and other business professionals with Accounting Services, Business Development Services (M.A.P.), Business Optimization Services, and Digital Marketing Services. We help business professionals strategically manage and tactically grow their businesses more effectively and efficiently. We do NOT provide investment advice. Contact Us if you are interested in learning more about our services, and in particular about M.A.P. (our 3-phase business development & management solution), designed to help you strategically manage and tactically grow your business. We would welcome the opportunity to speak with you.
info@gmsbusinessconsulting.com
707-218-3135