Create an Action Plan for Your Goals

Assignment 2: Create an Action Plan for Your Goals

In Module 1, Assignment 3, you identified your goals and assessed their reality. Now it’s

time to create an action plan to help you successfully achieve your goals. Think of a minimum

of three intermediate goals to serve as milestones on the way to reaching each of your goals.

Then, for each intermediate goal, identify at least two action items (changes that you can

make) to help you achieve them.

Example:

Tom just received his yearly performance review. His manager mentioned that he consistently

seems put off in meetings, and others feel that he has a bad attitude—he is not a team player.

Tom is completely surprised because he enjoys his job, but he is more of an introvert than his

coworkers are and does not express his emotions outwardly. As he reflects, he can recall

many personal situations in which people have misunderstood his intentions or motives. He

realizes that he needs to work on his nonverbal communication so that others will better

understand him and stop seeing him as a person with a bad attitude or who is not a team

player.

Tom develops his professional goal, identifies intermediate goals that will bring him closer to

achieving his main goal, and includes the actions he must take to make it happen:

Professional Goal: Work on nonverbal communication so my words match my

nonverbal cues.

o Intermediate Goal 1: Take a course on interpersonal effectiveness.

Action Item 1: Review the course catalog to learn about the available

courses about interpersonal effectiveness.

Action Item 2: Speak to an academic advisor about when I can enroll.

o Intermediate Goal 2: Practice conversations with myself—either talking to

myself in the mirror or video recording conversations so I can see what

others are seeing.

Learn to use the video record function my smartphone by asking a

tech-savvy friend.

Action Item 2: Set aside ten minutes three times a week to practice

using a positive tone of voice and facial expression when I speak.

o Intermediate Goal 3: In each team meeting, remember to smile and offer

positive feedback.

Action Item 1: At the very next team meeting, draw a smiley face on

the top of my notebook to remind me to smile and make eye contact

during the meeting.

Action Item 2: Plan to say one brief supportive statement to each co-

workers as they present their weekly reports.

Each of these intermediate goals, along with their action items, will help Tom get one step

closer to his overall professional goal—to improve his nonverbal communication.

You will create a similar action plan for your personal, academic, and professional goals. For

each of your goals, come up with a minimum of three intermediate goals, Then, describe at

least two action items for each intermediate goal. Each step should lead you toward achieving

your goal. You can use this worksheet as a template for the assignment. This is your action

plan.