• Return to our Main Site

    • Action plan

    Applying external learnings to part of your business

    Medium effort

    Medium impact

    Learning from peers and external resources can help leaders to improve their own capabilities and make better-informed decisions. However, there isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach to subjects like business development. What worked for one business isn’t guaranteed to work for yours. It’s vital to scrutinise the advice you receive and decide what’s suitable before you make any changes.

    • We’ve designed our action plans to be completed in the order of steps laid out and explained why each step is important
    • Customising your action plan lets you set your own completion dates, assign tasks to others and get notifications
    • Helpful tools are provided for certain steps while a tracking metric at the end will help you determine the long-term success of your effort
    • A downloadable PDF version of each action plan is available if you’d like to compete it offline
    What's involved? Ways to use this action plan Measuring impact
    1

    Compile a summary of the most interesting and relevant external learnings you and your team have had in the last 12 months

    Impact: medium

    Why will this help?

    Staff will have valuable input. Asking for their feedback also encourages them to keep developing. Team members, whether you involve the whole company or a core group, can sense-check ideas, so you can start prioritising.

    2

    Revisit your vision statement – or create one if it doesn’t exist already – and remind yourself what success looks like for your business

    Impact: low

    Why will this help?

    Checking that changes or developments will contribute to your vision for success is a good way to gauge what’s right for your business – and what might be leading you in the wrong direction.

    Writing a statement that defines your vision for success

    Defining your vision for success gives you a clear destination to work towards when you’re making decisions and setting goals.
    3

    Work through a scenario planning exercise to test the impact of any larger changes you plan to make based on external learnings

    Impact: medium

    Why will this help?

    While small scale changes can usually be tested easily and with minimal risk, scenario planning is a useful tool to examine the probable results of larger changes.

    Using scenario planning to inform your decisions

    Scenario planning is a great way to visualise and assess the potential impact of decisions. Use our useful template to get started.
    4

    Set a short-term target for when you’re going to apply learnings to keep yourself accountable

    Impact: medium

    Why will this help?

    Setting a short-term target (“As a result of these learnings, I will do X by Y date.”) increases the likelihood that you’ll take action.

    Holding yourself accountable to goals as a leader

    Your goals are crucial to moving the business forward, but it can be hard to stay focused. Our checklist will help you build a structure.
    5

    Apply external learnings to part of your business, then book in time to follow up at a later date and check what impact they've had

    Impact: high

    Why will this help?

    Checking how external learnings affected your business will help you judge whether you’re seeking advice in the right places and give you ideas for other improvements.

    What can I do with this Action Plan?

    Start this Action Plan

    Add some extra information to this plan and we’ll help you get it done.

    • We’ve designed our action plans to be completed in the order of steps laid out and explained why each step is important
    • Customising your action plan lets you set your own completion dates, assign tasks to others and get notifications
    • Helpful tools are provided for certain steps while a tracking metric at the end will help you determine the long-term success of your effort
    • A downloadable PDF version of each action plan is available if you’d like to compete it offline

    Download and print

    Get a printable template for this Action Plan, fill it in with some target dates, and share it with your team. Pin it on the wall where everyone can see it.

    Get the printable Action Plan

    Learning Groups

    We also run Learning Groups on these topics where you can join other leaders tackling the same challenges.

    Find a Learning Group

    How will I know if my action plan is working?

    Feedback from stakeholders

    Check-in on the impact of the changes you’ve made

    Why this metric?

    Feedback from stakeholders is a great way to assess whether new changes have had a positive impact.

    How do I start tracking?

    Meet with stakeholders three months after you applied external learnings to get their feedback: did the changes make a difference? Did they make something better, faster or easier? How could you improve further?