Action Plan
WHAT IS AN ACTION PLAN?
An action plan is an operational tool used to establish action priority after a strategic process is complete (strategic plan, commercial positioning plan, development plan, etc.). Its purposes include establishing a schedule, designating budgetary resources for each action and identifying the individuals responsible for its implementation. Concrete objectives and performance indicators should also be included.
Annual plans involving long-term strategies should be reviewed annually to effectively track projects and refine the initial strategy as necessary. Espace Stratégies can provide an external independent perspective to help prioritise actions and maximise the chances of strategy success.
WHAT IS THE TIMELINE FOR ACTION PLAN IMPLEMENTATION?
Action plans are typically implemented in two to four weeks and are ideally updated annually.
HOW IS AN ACTION PLAN DEVELOPED?
An action plan typically takes the form of a dashboard. This essential reference tool can be used throughout the year and revised in subsequent years. The process may include prioritisation workshops to clarify the courses of action and opportunities that emerged during previous reflections. This involves internal consultation activities, usually at the management level.
Short-term opportunities must be prioritised and first steps for medium or long-term opportunities must be identified. This involves a number of considerations, including:
- How do we prioritise and schedule different actions over time?
- What are our decision-making criteria?
- What human and budgetary resources are required to successfully implement each action?
- What are our goals?
- What are our outcome or impact indicators?
Additionally, Espace Stratégies can help organisations with the annual review of their action plan. This often requires strategy workshops to determine whether the different courses of action and opportunities are relevant:
- What actions have been completed to date?
- Which actions have not yet been completed? Why?
- Was there a lack of time or resources?
- Is a new approach required due to a change in context?
- Did the organisation experience anything transformative over the last year?
- What is the status of strategy implementation? Does it need prioritisation?
WHO CAN BENEFIT FROM AN ACTION PLAN?
Action plans apply to any type of organisation and can be developed following any strategic reflection process—a strategic plan, a research strategy, a communication or marketing strategy, a financing strategy and much more.
HOW CAN ESPACE STRATÉGIES ASSIST YOU?
As an independent firm, Espace Stratégies offers an outside perspective and a fresh outlook on your organisation’s challenges. We use our outsider role to offer new ideas and challenge problematic situations. Our clients include public and municipal organisations, as well as businesses, non-profits, investors and government entities. We leverage this understanding of different stakeholders and their needs to create relevant connections.
OTHER SERVICES
portfolio
Quartier chinois de Montréal
The Ville-Marie borough wanted to establish an action plan following an initial community consultation that identified development axes and needs for the Quartier chinois de Montréal. Espace Stratégies provided the borough with methodological and tactical support during community consultation workshops by ensuring the workshops ran smoothly and used quality content and facilitators. Espace Stratégies then helped to develop the action plan in direct collaboration with the borough and the Centre d’Écologie Urbaine de Montréal.
Monk CDC
Founded in 1981, the Monk Commercial Development Corporation (CDC) is one of the oldest in Montreal. The Monk CDC asked Espace Stratégies to leverage its extensive CDC experience to develop an action plan adapted to the pandemic and health restrictions.
Axia Services
Axia Services is a social economy enterprise dedicated to supporting the development of individuals with physical, intellectual and/or psychological limitations. As a social economy enterprise, it faces the challenge of remaining competitive while dealing with the demands of its mission. To succeed on both fronts, Axia Services enlisted Espace Stratégies to help develop an action plan that facilitates its strategic decisions without diluting ideas and projects.
