Ready. Set. Action plan. More and more, businesses are discovering that employee action plans are an efficient, uniform way to keep employee and potential employee ducks in a row. It makes sense. Before a business becomes a business it is typically birthed through the breeding grounds of a business plan. To transfer that organizational philosophy to the individuals who comprise the business, expecting that they create their own evolving, declarative plans of action, is an obvious next step.

Action plans are to its employees what a business plan is to the entire organization’s operations: it’s essentially a document of finite goals proposed by an individual as to what she will do while on the company clock. (Note: Best not to incorporate those secret afternoon nosh breaks or interspersed excursions slopping pigs on Farmville.) Action plans typically follow a 30, 60, or 90 day timeline and provide a delineation of specific, achievable steps and outcomes to those steps. Action plans may seem like just one more way for The Man to keep tabs on you, and (watch out behind you!) that may be true in some cases. But an action, or accountability, plan can be successfully used to your advantage. When seen as a gauge for all that you end up contributing (so long as you actually end up contributing), an action plan is a specific, precise exhibit of your merit.

In some industries and businesses, higher-ups have begun to require or at least expect that interviewees will submit an action plan along with the usual resume and cover letter. However, it has not yet become standard fare. This means that she who shows up to an interview with a well thought out, job-specific plan of action may prove to be the stand-out candidate. But shining star status is the least of the reasons to take the time to map out what one hopes to contribute and achieve on the job.

Aristotle suggested that humans are only brought to action due to some compelling cause. In the case of workplace mechanics, sometimes it can feel like the only compelling reason for completing the day’s tasks is to ultimately punch the clock at the end of the day and get the heck out of Dodge. You want me to finish this report by four p.m.? Inspire me with a happy hour mojito joined by half-priced bison sliders. But who really wants to be motivated to act by the sheer desire to be done with one’s day? Organizational theory abounds with the simple idea that getting things done, as in the case of following a plan of action, is superb at inspiring humans to act.

Don’t fret if it feels like writing out what you plan to contribute to the job 30, 60, 90 days in marries you to a litany of objectives you describe. Just as in all goal-setting, things can change and what, on one day, seemed achievable on the timeline you set, three days down the road, may need to be adjusted. Simply rework those goals or save them for the next go-round. Higher-ups may question a seeming lack of accomplishment, the unchecked box on your list of workplace to-do’s. But they know as well as you that goals can change, so just be ready to explain deviations.

The old adage forever applies: she who fails to plan, plans to fail. It may seem superfluous to take the time to write it all out and especially so if the job is not yet procured, but clearly laying out what you are bringing to the table is good for business and good for you.