Time management part II: the action plan

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to continue the discussion of planning as an essential part of the leadership quality of good time management by presenting a step‐by‐step procedure for working out an action plan based on work goals. Design/methodology/approach – The paper discusses the importance of having an action plan to guide staff members in accomplishing work goals, sets forth the 5 key elements in an action plan, and then shows how to develop each of those elements. Findings – The paper finds that an action plan is a helpful tool to ensure continuing progress toward work goals and that there are five key elements to be developed for every action plan in pursuit of a goal. Originality/value – The value of developing an action plan is that it helps avoid many problems with projects and provides the mechanism for solving many others, so that projects designed to pursue work goals do not stall out indefinitely.