Operational planning: Definition, steps & examples

You've created a strategic plan; now what? A strategic plan is a great way to map out your long-term strategy for the next three to five years, but you need additional planning documents to help you get there.

Some planning, such as annual objectives and key results, will evolve each year. However, to ensure you remain on track with your long-term goals, you need an operational plan.

What is operational planning?

Operational planning translates your strategic plan into a detailed roadmap of daily and weekly actions. It specifies tasks, timelines, and responsibilities required for each team to execute your broader strategy.

During operational planning, define each team or individual's responsibilities for the next quarter, six months, or fiscal year. Select the timeline based on your organization's pace.

• Fast-paced teams: Create an operational plan for the next quarter or half-year.

• Long-term focused organizations: Build an operational plan for the entire fiscal year.

Operational planning vs. strategic planning

A strategic plan covers your long-term goals for the next three to five years. An operational plan is smaller in scope and shorter in timeline, focusing on the daily actions needed to achieve those strategic goals.

Unlike a strategic plan, an operational plan should also focus on implementation. What daily and weekly actions does your team need to take in order to accomplish your longer-term strategic plan? What specific key performance indicators (KPIs) do you need to track on a regular basis in order to ensure that your team is progressing towards your objectives?

Who should create an operational plan?

To clearly define responsibilities and timelines, operational plans should be detailed and developed at a smaller scale than strategic plans. Focus on creating operational plans at the department or team level rather than for the entire company.

At a larger company, you could even create an operational plan for a specific initiative, similar to a detailed work plan.

For example, create an operational plan outlining the daily tasks your IT department needs to perform to support the company. Your IT department's operational plan might include how frequently IT team members will check the IT requests project inbox, budgeting details for the program, how the IT team will onboard and equip new employees, and how frequently the team will meet.

There are three levels to determining who should create an operational plan:

• Scope: Your operational plan will capture the who, what, and when of each activity. It should be laser-focused on a team or initiative.

• Timeline: Depending on how fast your organization moves, your operational plan should span a quarter, six months, or a fiscal year.

• Stakeholders: Ensure the people involved in operational planning are close to the work so they can accurately project what should be included in the plan.

Why operational planning matters

Without a clear operational plan, even strong strategies may fail. Teams can become misaligned, resources may be misallocated, and goals can be overlooked.

Operational planning connects your strategic objectives to actionable steps. It translates goals into specific actions, assigns clear ownership, and establishes accountability throughout the organization.

When done well, operational planning helps your team:

• Stay aligned on priorities and avoid duplicated efforts

• Allocate resources effectively based on actual needs

• Respond quickly to changes without losing sight of long-term goals

• Build confidence that daily work contributes to strategic success

The benefits of operational planning

A strategic plan is a great way to align your team around a shared purpose. By defining long-term goals, you can outline exactly where you want to go.

An operational plan helps you hit your strategic goals. According to our research, only 26% of knowledge workers have a very clear understanding of how their individual work relates to company goals.

By creating a detail-oriented operational plan, you can define exactly what short-term goals you need to achieve to stay on track. It also helps you evaluate the actions you're currently taking and identify new work that needs to happen.

In particular, an operational plan:

• Clarifies exactly what your team will be doing on a weekly and daily basis.

• Provides a comprehensive guide of the day-to-day operations your team members need to take in order to accomplish your long-term goals.

• Establishes benchmarks for daily expectations to help your team remain focused.

If you're looking further ahead, try a 5-year plan template to connect your operational goals to long-term growth milestones.

What to include in an operational plan

A comprehensive operational plan should include several key elements that work together to guide your team's daily activities. While the specifics will vary based on your organization and goals, most effective operational plans cover:

• Goals and objectives: Clear, measurable targets that align with your strategic plan

• Key tasks and activities: The specific work required to achieve each objective

• Timeline and milestones: Deadlines and checkpoints to track progress

• Resource allocation: Budget, staffing, tools, and materials needed

• Roles and responsibilities: Who owns each task, and who needs to be involved

• Key performance indicators (KPIs): Metrics to measure success and track progress

• Risk assessment: Potential obstacles and contingency plans

• Communication plan: How updates will be shared and with whom

The required level of detail depends on your team's needs. Smaller teams may need simpler plans, while larger organizations often require more comprehensive documentation.

5 steps to making an operational plan

Operational planning does not involve creating new plans or goals. Instead, assess your team's current activities and determine the daily or weekly actions needed to achieve your strategic objectives.

1. Start with a strategic plan

If you have not already done so, begin by creating a strategic plan. Establish a long-term vision and goals before addressing daily details. The four steps to creating a strategic plan are:

1. Determine your position

2. Develop your strategy

3. Build your strategic plan

4. Share, monitor, and manage your strategic plan

To learn more, read our article on strategic planning.

2. Narrow down your scope

To create a detail-oriented operational plan, you need to narrow the scope to a team, department, or focus area. The scope of your operational plan will depend on your company's size.

For example, imagine you're breaking down your strategic plan into action plans for various company departments. Your marketing team spans multiple functions, for example, design, product marketing, social media, content creation, and web promotion. To capture specific, daily functions within each team, you should create an operational action plan for each smaller team.

3. Identify key stakeholders

Before developing an operational plan, identify who will participate in the planning process. Those involved should be closely connected to the activities described in the plan.

Continuing the example, the design team's operational plan should be developed by the head of design and team leads, then submitted to the head of marketing for final approval.

4. Create the plan

Your operational plan explains the actions your team will take to achieve your goals within a set time frame. To create an operational plan, outline:

• Your team's objectives

• The deliverables that will be achieved by the operational plan

• Any desired outcomes or quality standards

• Staffing and resource requirements, including your operating budget

• How you will monitor and report on progress

If you are unsure what to include in your operational plan, consider the following questions:

1. What do we need to accomplish? This information should come from your strategic plan or yearly goals.

2. What daily tasks do we need to complete in order to hit our goals? These can be daily tasks you're currently doing or new work that needs to be kicked off.

3. Who is responsible for each task? Assign a single owner to each task to avoid confusion regarding accountability and communication.

4. What are our metrics for success? If you haven't already, make sure your goals follow the SMART framework.

To continue our example, here's the approach the design team might use to create their operational plan:

Part of the strategic plan for the marketing team is to increase share of voice in the market, which means more eyes on marketing materials and increased engagement with potential customers. To support these goals, the design team will:

• Create additional promotional materials for the social team

• Revamp the website home page to attract more potential customers

To accomplish these two goals in the next year, the design team will:

• Hire two new team members to focus on social media engagement

• Partner with the web development team within the marketing department to create an interactive homepage

To track and report on their progress, the design team will use Asana as their central source of truth for key performance metrics, including:

• What designs are they creating?

• The level of engagement they're getting on social media

• The progress of the website update

This approach gives the design team a clear operational plan. Bring it to life in a work management tool like Asana, where every task can be tracked in real-time from start to finish.

5. Share and update your operational plan

After creating the plan, share it with key stakeholders to ensure they understand your team's primary goals and daily tasks. Manage the plan and updates in a shared tool that tracks real-time progress, such as Asana.

Like any element of project planning, things will inevitably change. Actively monitor your operational plan and report on progress so key stakeholders and team members stay updated on your progress against your goals. Report on progress monthly through written status updates.

Operational planning examples

Reviewing operational planning examples can help you apply these concepts to your team. Below are examples from different functions:

Marketing team operational plan

A marketing team's operational plan may focus on launching a new product campaign. It would outline tasks such as creating landing pages, developing email sequences, and coordinating social media posts. Each task should have a clear owner, deadline, and success metric.

IT department operational plan

An IT department may develop an operational plan for system maintenance and support. This plan would include daily monitoring schedules, response time targets for support tickets, planned software updates, and security audit timelines. It ensures all tasks are addressed and systems remain operational.

Sales team operational plan

A sales operational plan could detail quarterly targets broken down by region or product line. It would include prospecting activities, follow-up schedules, training sessions for new features, and pipeline review meetings. This helps sales representatives understand exactly what they need to do each week to hit their numbers.

Get started with operational planning

An operational plan enables consistent progress toward long-term goals. For effectiveness, track your work in a centrally accessible tool, as siloed information hinders collaboration.

Ready to bring your operational plan to life? Get started with Asana and keep your team aligned from strategy to execution.

Frequently asked questions about operational planning