20+ SAMPLE Engagement Plan

What Is an Engagement Plan?

An engagement plan contains all the ideas you need to know about doing a certain job, project, or event. But what makes it different from any project plan is how an engagement plan focuses more on how to keep every stakeholder or member engaged in doing the suggested tasks and even when to do them. Engagement plans do more than just persuading people to be driven in achieving goals because these documents thoroughly analyze ways in a series of feasible steps.

Why Are Engagement Plans Needed?

An engagement plan is quite extensive. Although it concerns people on how to be engaged to achieve something, what the engagement plan is for is where it often varies. There are all sorts of engagement plans such as stakeholder engagement plans, customer engagement plans, strategic engagement plans, communication engagement plans, community engagement plans, and more. But the question is, why are these plans needed? Here is an introduction to the importance of engagement plans:

Engages Different People with Extensive Goals

Engagement plans benefit many people whether they are employees, customers, students, or stakeholders. How to keep them engaged with whatever they do will help them accomplish their goals. That is if they follow according to the engagement plan. More so, engagement plans may have varying goals such as boosting employee engagement, improving customer satisfaction, and other concerns. And you will surely find an engagement plan important if you want to see the difference between people who just work and people who are engaged with their work.

Detailed Strategic Plan

Bear in mind that an engagement plan is a thorough strategic plan too. It shows you the clear visual and steps on what processes to take before even working out your engagement plan’s purpose. So the moment you forget or question certain aspects of the plan, simply refer to the document and you will be updated about the engagement plan anytime. And it is much better to put the plan into writing than to simply put it inside your head. Otherwise, some tiny details may be overlooked and would drive the plan to fail.

Gives Reasons Why a New Project Should Be Embraced

An engagement plan is not a mere instruction book. Like an explanation letter, there is also some room to give out reasons why a certain project must be carried out in the first place. And those reasons are not for naught because they increase the likelihood of the people embracing the engagement plan and its purpose. Hence, take this opportunity to explain and compel people to follow the objectives, just as how engagement plans must be.

Effective Business Communication

Expect a thorough communication plan in the engagement plan. Often used for business communication, the engagement plan tries to connect everyone involved in a project so everyone is in the loop. Moreover, it is through communication that project team members know about how to achieve the plan successfully. So be sure that a systematic plan is organized and delivered to the rest of the team from the project expectations, risks, down to the key business decisions.

Convenient Way of Ensuring a Productive Progress

One thing you can appreciate about engagement plans is their ability to help you take control of a project’s progress. Engagement plans aim to make stakeholders productive. And you can expect a productive outcome in your project’s progress report when engaged individuals are working on the plan. So be sure the engagement plan has its way to manage expectations until everyone gets motivated to complete the project and gets a taste of success in the end.

General Engagement Plan Inclusions

Now that you have enough coverage about what an engagement plan means and why it is important, it is time to familiarize what makes an engagement plan. Although engagement plans differ in function and components, there is a common format for what they contain. And the standard inclusions of an engagement plan are the following:

Background Information: Before you open the engagement plan, set the background information of your project’s context or abstract. To do that, start with an introductory statement that gives readers an idea of what the main project is. You can attach news clippings, alarming engagement research, and other striking engagement learnings from similar projects.Engagement Objectives: Define the engagement objectives next. This part is where you note your engagement plan’s statement of purpose. That way, readers understand what the goals are and why they are needed. Then, proceed to expound on the engagement methods worth adding to the plan, including the engagement principles. The same goes for how to measure success or evaluate every engagement activity in the long run.Risks and Challenges: Any type of plan has its own challenges and risks. So be sure to determine what those are in your engagement plan. Through careful data analysis, what are the chances of each risk from happening in your project? Explain in detail how those risks will bring impact to the project too. And most importantly, figure out ways to mitigate these risks because risk identification is not enough.Engagement Level: It is necessary for an engagement plan to have its own metric system, such as how to track the different levels of engagement in the workforce. Figure out what the different levels of engagement are and which levels are considered desirable and undesirable. Then, check the engagement plan’s aftermath as to what levels were achieved through an evaluation report.Scope: A scope statement is another key element, particularly in stating the negotiables and non-negotiables of your project and overall engagement plan. So what is considered in or out of scope in a project? Answering this section is crucial so the people’s expectations would be settled.Key Messages: Every company has its own lexicon. So what are the key messages when a team leader communicates with the rest of the team during the project? Clarify what specific words to be used are and what they mean in this segment of your engagement plan.Engagement Analysis: How to come up with a full analysis report on the project and the engagement must be written in the engagement plan. It will be useful as your reference whenever the project is done and you need to analyze the outcome of the engagement.Engagement Steps: The engagement methods or steps would be the main meat of your engagement plan. Be sure to write clear, direct to the point, and comprehensive instructions in the plan so as not to confuse whoever reads the document. Make sure this part answers when and how to engage with everyone involved in the project.Closing Statement: After the project, the job isn’t done yet. You are to report on the engagement findings and check how they impacted the project. What were the striking results found in the process? The conclusion would be mentioned in a formal closing statement. Be sure to write it properly because this part is useful for upcoming projects.Assessment Report: Last but not least, leave room to write about the project and engagement plan’s assessment report. This part is more detailed than the closing statement because not only conclusions and results are covered. You also talk about recommendations, struggles, and feedback that would matter to who reads the plan. Although the assessment is only after the plan is conducted, the engagement plan should still provide instructions on how to do the assessment itself.

How to Write an Engagement Plan

Creating the engagement plan would run seamlessly when you are guided every step of the way. In this segment, learn about the basic steps that will guarantee you an effective engagement plan for your next project:

Step 1: Jumpstart the Pre-Planning Stage

Probably the most crucial stage of formulating an engagement plan is the pre-planning process. Be sure to highlight the need to involve people because by keeping people involved, having them follow the engagement plan will run seamlessly. So in the initial part of strategic planning, recognize the stakeholders and meet with them ahead. That way, they would be aware that an upcoming engagement plan is in the works. Also, you can already have ideas on how to configure the necessary aspects of an engagement plan through analysis.

Step 2: Use a Sample Engagement Plan

Don’t take the free sample engagement plan templates enlisted above this article for granted. Choose and edit your preferred template whether you aim to create a stakeholder engagement plan, strategic engagement plan, public engagement plan, external engagement plan, internal engagement plan, employee engagement plan, volunteer engagement plan, and lots more. Be sure to fit your engagement plan’s purpose with the sample as well.

Step 3: Label the Engagement Plan’s Inclusions

Remember the background information down to the assessment report? Make sure to add the basic inclusions of an engagement plan in your document. Remember that you are allowed to configure the elements of the plan however you want. You can even add more elements to the plan as long as they are still relevant to the project.

Step 4: Keep It Detailed but Straightforward

Writing the complete details of an engagement plan is highly recommended. But not to the point where you are almost writing a long detailed letter already. The key is to get rid of flowery words and unnecessary statements that only make your message less effective. Instead, be more direct to the point. Short yet specific instructions in a plan are much more appreciated rather than making it complicated.

Step 5: Mind Your Audience

Don’t forget to mind your tone in writing, especially when considering your audience is critical in the engagement plan writing process. If you are to connect with people to keep them engaged, then you have to watch your tone or your audience may refuse to follow. Conduct audience analysis and you will eventually know what level of writing works for your engagement plan. Once you are confident with the results, submit your work.


FAQs

Why do strategic engagement plans fail?

According to Cascade, strategic engagement plans often fail due to lacking team buy-in, setting vague objectives, failing to account for business, losing momentum, being unwilling to iterate, lacking alignment, and failing to celebrate milestones or successes.

What makes a public engagement plan?

Public engagement plans usually have the following inclusions: the scope of the project, limitations, key stakeholders, objectives, targets or metrics, timeline chart with milestones, channels, promotional strategy, alternative plans, and a post-engagement plan.

What are the three Cs of an employee engagement plan?

The three Cs of an employee engagement plan are career, care, and competence.

Always keep in mind that if you want to drive engagement into your next business, project, or any event, you need to involve the stakeholders and people in the process to make it successful. And that is where there is a need to formulate a smart business document mainly for keeping people driven to make a project happen. Download and optimize a sample engagement plan template for your next creation now!