Department plans fail when they are a list of activities with no link to company goals, no measures and no budget. This three-year template connects the two levels: company goals and the department's role come first, then priorities with owners, the measures that show progress and the governance that keeps the plan under review. It suits a charity, a school or a service team that needs its board to see what gets resourced.

The sample is for Dunlinn Services, a community care provider with a £6.4M annual budget, planning from 2027 to 2030. Every name, figure and date is fictional. Replace the mission, goals, baselines and resourcing with your own agreed figures, and delete any goal you could not defend in front of staff.