How can you make Operational Planning both efficient and cost-effective?
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Operational planning is the process of defining and executing the short-term goals and activities that support the strategic vision of an organization. It involves aligning the resources, processes, and systems to achieve the desired outcomes and performance indicators. Operational planning can be challenging, especially in dynamic and uncertain environments, but it can also be a powerful tool for improving efficiency and cost-effectiveness. In this article, you will learn some tips and best practices for making your operational planning more effective and economical.
Before you start planning, you need to have a clear understanding of where you are and where you want to go. This means conducting a comprehensive analysis of your internal and external environment, including your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT). You also need to review your mission, vision, values, and objectives, and how they align with your stakeholders' expectations and needs. By assessing your current situation, you can identify the gaps and issues that need to be addressed, and prioritize the most critical and urgent ones.
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Cory Peterson, BA, MA, MSS
Director of Human Resources & Risk Management
One of the most critical things to do is to understand the exact problem you are trying to solve. Without the direct buy-in and guidance from the decision maker and anyone they report to you will spend hours doing analysis on a topic that isn’t the problem. People are the most expensive component of your business…don’t waste their time or you are wasting money.
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Brooks V.
US Navy veteran and organizational training professional! If I can learn it, I can teach it so anyone can learn it!! I’m not here to socialize or debate your politics!
Meetings… allow the people doing the work to share their ideas of what the problem is and what their solution looks like. That’s it, easy!
Once you have a clear picture of your situation, you need to set specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals that will guide your actions and decisions. SMART goals help you focus on what matters most, and avoid wasting time and resources on irrelevant or unrealistic tasks. You also need to define key performance indicators (KPIs) that will help you measure and monitor your progress and results. KPIs should be aligned with your goals, and reflect the quality, quantity, timeliness, and cost-effectiveness of your outputs and outcomes.
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Peter Mahmood
Military Relations Manager, Cox Military & Veteran Programs, Building Partnerships - Cox Talent Acquisition, Cox Brand Advocate
In my experience S.M.A.R.T. goals are invaluable to success in operational planning! Subjective terms like "we will get better", or "we will accomplish the job in good time", need to be replaced with set goals. Goals, should be specific, measurable, relevant, and bound by time values. Goals can also be measured against the standard of near term goals, mid term goals, and long term goals. Near term goals can be accomplished in 6 months or less, therefore are bound by time and are specific. Short term goals are mainly 1-2 year time limits, and should be relevant and achievable. Long term goals usually extend 5 years or beyond. Long term goals build over time, and result in your final achievement of success.
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Brooks V.
US Navy veteran and organizational training professional! If I can learn it, I can teach it so anyone can learn it!! I’m not here to socialize or debate your politics!
I almost didn’t reply to this one because it required a minimum of 125 characters to be submitted… But my answer is refer to my first answer about assessing, it’s pretty automatic if step one is done correctly!
After setting your goals and KPIs, you need to develop detailed action plans and budgets that will outline the steps, resources, and costs involved in achieving them. Action plans should specify the tasks, responsibilities, timelines, and deliverables for each goal, as well as the potential risks and mitigation strategies. Budgets should estimate the income and expenses for each activity, and account for any contingencies and variations. Developing action plans and budgets will help you allocate and optimize your resources, and ensure that you have enough funding and capacity to execute your plans.
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Puneet Singh Singhal
Developing action plans and budgets is a critical step in operational planning, especially in diverse team environments. Here are key components to consider: Task Specification: Clearly define each task required to achieve the goals. Break down larger goals into manageable, specific tasks. Assign Responsibilities: Allocate tasks to team members based on their strengths and expertise. Ensure clarity in who is responsible for what. Timeline Development: Establish realistic deadlines for each task. Include milestones to track progress over time. Deliverable Clarification: Identify expected outcomes for each task, providing a clear vision of what success looks like.
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Bo Todd
Aspiring Gentleman of Leisure
Typically, this is where operational plans disintegrate. Leaders must be at the forefront of turning operational plans into specific task oriented tactical plans for the first/second line leaders. Key to accomplishing this is subordinate leaders understanding the “why” as well as their part of the “how”
Effective communication and coordination are essential for successful operational planning. You need to communicate your plans and expectations to your team members, managers, partners, and customers, and ensure that they understand their roles and responsibilities, and how they contribute to the overall objectives. You also need to coordinate your actions and decisions with other departments, units, or organizations that are involved or affected by your plans, and seek their feedback and input. Communicating and coordinating will help you build trust and collaboration, and avoid conflicts and misunderstandings.
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Bo Todd
Aspiring Gentleman of Leisure
While communication (specifically feedback)is a key component of building trust, integrity and competence rule the day here. Once trust is established, both communication and coordination are much easier simply based on the leader’s example.
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The final step of operational planning is to implement your plans and review your performance. You need to execute your tasks and deliverables according to your timelines and standards, and use your KPIs to track and evaluate your results. You also need to review your plans regularly, and adjust them as needed based on the changing conditions and circumstances. Implementing and reviewing will help you ensure that you are on track and achieving your goals, and identify and address any problems or opportunities for improvement.
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Alper Gunoral
Rafnar Turkiye | VN Maritime
Identify ‘Decision Points’. If that point is reached, know what to do next, instead of trying to plan at that time. Also, consider changes to your plan whenever possible. A good plan is not written down once spesificly followed but developed in time. There is a contrast between the second and fourth sentences. Hey, who told it should be within strict rules and boundaries? Planning should be flexible.
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