An action plan is a detailed plan outlining actions needed to reach one or more goals. Alternatively, it can be defined as a "sequence of steps that must be taken, or activities that must be performed well, for a strategy to succeed". Process Origin An action plan is a tool in social planning. It is an organizational strategy to identify necessary steps towards a goal. It considers details, may help limit setting for an organization, and is efficient in that it saves resources over trial and error. A written action plan also serves as a token for an organization's accountability. Setting goals A goal is the primary objective of an action plan. Setting goals gives the possibility of your dreams and prospects being brought to life. It creates motivation and provides you with a certainty that the final outcome will be worthwhile, preventing any wasted time and effort. This is achieved by being fully dedicated to the process and using the structured guide to accomplishing it. Although hard work may be produced, without a successful end goal the ideal result you set to achieve, will not prevail. Creation When creating action plans there are guided steps that need to be followed to ensure success, however the structure can be altered in the process. Firstly, you will need to outline what you want to achieve from the project, by doing this you set yourself targets. After this the specific roles will need to be allocated ensuring sufficient amount of training, resources and issues have been considered to ensure solving any problems that may occur. The next stage allows members of the group to analyse the progress by outlining milestones, solving any issues and making any necessary changes. Lastly once the project has come to an end the final stage can be examined to ensure future success. Execution Mike Desjardins has suggested the following Ownership: one person must be responsible and accountable for tracing the progress, keeping team informed, ensuring timely action steps are occurring and adjusting the actions. Action steps should be clear and actionable versus vague ideas or thoughts. Responsibility: each action step needs to have one person responsible. Support: For each action step, determine who will support the person responsible. This can be multiple people. The key is that they're not responsible for the action or outcome. Informed: keeping the right people in the communication loop for each action