What is an operational plan?
An operational plan is a specific, detailed work plan that identifies how you’ll reach a specific goal or outcome. Usually, operational plans are part of a larger strategic or business plan. The operational plan provides the steps for how the company will reach the goals outlined in the strategic or business plan. Most operational plans identify:
- Who:Who in the company will manage each stage or step of the operational plan.
- What:What specifically the company needs to do to reach the outlined goals.
- When:When each specific task needs to be completed in order to achieve a favorable outcome.
- How:How to reach the set goals, including how the company will use resources like time, money and labor.
Most companies use operational plans as a sort of action plan to reach set strategic goals. Think of strategic or business plans as the end goal and the operational plan as the specific steps to get there.
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What are the benefits of an operational plan?
Operational plans provide a number of benefits for companies that use them in addition to broader business or strategic plans. Consider the primary advantages of creating and implementing an operational plan for your company:
- Identifying needs:An operational plan helps you pinpoint business needs and create a plan to resolve them.
- Aligning internal stakeholders:Your operational plan should help to align all the actions and endeavors of your various departments and internal stakeholders.
- Offering structure:The operational plan provides structure and a clear progression of steps to reach your specified goals.
- Maintaining accountability:With an operational plan, everyone involved has a clear description of what they need to do to contribute to the project.
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Examples of operational plans
Operational plans, depending on the scope of the project, can be lengthy documents. Many companies choose to create a summary table graph that outlines the basics of the operational plan for a quick overview. Consider these few examples of operational plan summaries to help you establish your own:
Operational plan summary: Increase sales
This operational plan summary represents the basic steps needed to reach a strategic sales goal:
| Goal: Increase sales by 5% | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Area | Action | Goal | Owner | Date |
| Sales | Identify new leads and increase territory boundaries | Sales up by 5% | Sales team (Marty as lead) | End of Q3 |
| Marketing | Find new areas for promotion and increase marketing on current channels | At least 1% of increased sales from marketing | Tonya | Q2 |
| Leadership | Improve brand reputation in comparison to competitors | Positive target market surveys | Roberta | Q3 |
Operational plan summary: Launch new product
This operational plan summary explains the basics of a step-by-step operations plan for launching a new product:
| Goal: Launch new product | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Area | Action | Goal | Owner | Date |
| Research and development | Design a new product | Bring the new product to market | R&D | Q4 2022 |
| Marketing | Create effective promotions at least one year prior to launch | Ensure the interest and attention of the target market | Martha | Q3 |
| Manufacturing | Establish manufacturing and distribution channels | Plan to manufacture and distribute in-house or find suitable partners | Tom | Q4 |
Elements of a successful operational plan
Operational plans can vary depending on the needs of the company and the specifics of the goal. However, most operational plans include the same key elements:
- Title:Even if your operational plan is a sub-section of a larger strategic plan or business plan, you’ll likely want to indicate what the section is with a title, your company name and the point of contact for any questions about the plan.
- Executive summary:The executive summary briefly describes the plan in a sentence or two. This is also where you’ll include your operational summary graph if you’ve created one.
- Strategic content:Describe how the operational plan contributes directly to the strategic plan or business plan.
- Company objective:List how the operational plan contributes to the company’s long-term goals and objectives.
- Evidence:Describe the evidence, often in the form of key performance indicators or KPIs, you’ll use to assess the success of the plan.
- Financial summary:Provide information about how you’ll fund the operational plan.
- Staffing:Explain which departments or individuals are participating in the plan overall. Describe any new hires you may need to make in order to ensure the completion of the project.
- Risks:Acknowledge any risks the company might be taking as a result of embarking on this operational plan.
- Goals:List the specific goals the operational plan seeks to achieve.