Free Action Plan Templates in Word (Printable & Editable)

Download these Free Action Plan Templates in MS Word format to assist you in the process of planning and executing a perfect Action Plan. You can also explore our collection of Weekly Budget Templates if you need them.

Everyone has some kind of goal in life. Whether you have a small business and want to take it to the next level or if you have a big organization and now your goal is to tackle 10% more of the market, everyone wants to achieve something. Even if you don’t have a company to run and you do your job, you still have goals of getting a better job, earning more money, providing a better lifestyle to your family, and increasing sources of income. These goals play the role of lifeblood in our professional life and this is what keeps us motivated.

The problem starts when we analyze that only 10-15% of people achieve what they aim for. This means up to 80% of people clearly understand that they didn’t achieve their goals. So what’s the magic that some people have that helps them to get to their desired position while others wait for their part to happen? It turns out there is no rocket science behind achieving your personal or professional goals because you just need to have an action plan in motion. An action plan is strategic planning that helps you understand your goals, and objectives and set the steps that it will take to reach your desired position. For instance, if you aim to cover more of the market, you need to increase your sales. When the goal is to increase sales, the action plan would be to add more products to the list, develop new territories to have new customers or implement an advanced marketing strategy for a better reputation in the market.

Action Plan Templates

Check out this useful Action Plan Template that allows you to list down your Goals, Objectives, Action Details, and Planned Completion Date. It also enables you to track and review potential outcomes along with a way to document all evidence. Here is a preview of this unique but comprehensive Action Plan Template in MS Word format.

Market Practices and Uses of Action Plans:

There is a popular saying in the business community that goes something like this; people don’t always plan to fail but instead, they fail to plan. This in simple words is the fact that when businesses make plans, they are right to think they will achieve those goals but later when no significant results are achieved, objectives are set aside and considered failed. An action plan helps companies achieve what they desire and it serves more purposes than that. When an action plan is implemented in a company, it helps get everyone on board with the planning. Executives, higher management, and ground-level workers understand easily that the company has set new goals and now there is an action plan to work on to achieve those goals. This way everyone works as a team to play their part and contribute to the overall success of the company.

A successful action plan always results in achieving the desired objectives which helps build a better reputation for your company in the market. When you have new investors, they always look at the history of the company and try to find flaws like goals and objectives that were never achieved. With the action plan in motion, you will be able to build better goodwill for your company and the investors. Implementing an action plan will ensure that the goals you set are achievable. It might surprise you but one of the reasons that companies fail to achieve goals is that their goals were never realistic. They aimed for too much which resulted in not achieving anything at all. With the action plan, you will be able to quickly judge if you will be able to achieve the objectives at all or if you need to work with new goals that match the company’s available resources.

There might be dozens of useful aspects of an action plan from the point of view of achieving goals but the biggest advantage is to make sure you pour the resources of your company into the right place. It’s not uncommon that companies spend money on unnecessary areas but with the action plan, you get to see your company’s weaknesses and the areas that need improvements. This way you can make sure to spend the resources in the right places for getting better results and to get closer to achieving the desired goals.