‘It is a bad
plan that admits of no modification.’ - Publilius Syris
Planning is a
strange thing: everyone does it to some extent, some people are more diligent
and formal about it; but very few people do it well.
There are some
simple reasons for this, but the two key reasons are this: a well constructed
and complete plan is usually a good deal of hard work, and such a plan requires
hard choices and that means good leadership. But the thing of it is, a well-constructed plan is actually
worth a great deal more than simply the plan itself.
This is because
of a couple of things that are intrinsic elements of the process of making a
good plan.
1) The boss
(irrespective of what kind of organization) views the plan as his. Good plans begin with the ‘goal’ of the
organization, and that goal comes from one person: the boss.
2) The first
details – the ‘guidance and intentions’ that spell out what the Boss really
wants and how he, in general terms, he wants to get it – are also creations of
the boss.
3) As the
planning process advances and the plan is developed, the Boss stays involved,
works with the planning team, and approves the plan at each major step. Good plans thus become completely
infused with ‘the Boss.’ And that
means he has completely ‘bought in.’
4) Good bosses
know that the plan IS the future, and they put their best people on the
planning team. These people will
first plan the team and then assist in its implementation. No one knows the plan better then the
planning team, and no one will know better how to implement it then the
planning team.
5) Good
planning means that the planning team has spent considerable amounts of time
understanding the environment in which they function: the economy, the
technology, the law, the competition, the local and regional business climates,
etc., etc. They understand the
organization itself: its strengths and its weaknesses. They understand the trends, and they
also understand - at least as well as anyone else in the organization - various
indicators that something has changed.
They will know when to execute the basic plan, and will also know when
the situation has changed and the plan no longer ‘fits.’
6) Good
planning also means that a wide range of options – courses of action – have
been considered before a final recommendation was made to the boss from which
to develop the strategy and implementation plan. Those options form the basis for variations on the plan,
what are called ‘branches and sequels.’
Branch plans are variations of the plan that are designed to respond to
changes in the organization, the environments – particularly the competition –
or both. Sequels are follow-on
plans, plans for what happens if the first plan succeeds – based on the new
conditions, and plans for what happens if things don’t go quite as per the
plan, again with variations based on those new conditions.
The result is
that the value of a plan is as much – or more – in the process that produces
the plan as in the central plan itself.
When done right the process produces not simply the plan but a small
core of people who are fully informed as to the goals and motives of the boss,
his boundaries – what he will and won’t do, what he will and won’t consider for
further action, a detailed knowledge of the organization and its capabilities
and limitations, a detailed knowledge of the ‘world’ in which they are
operating – competition, laws, technology, etc., and a ready ‘playbook’ of
actions that have been looked at, in some cases studied in great detail,
perhaps even ‘gamed,’ and a knowledge of what might and might not work in given
situations.
Plans come and
go; every good leader and every good organization not only has decent plans,
they know when to modify the plan, and when to flex to a branch plan, and when
to move to a sequel, and when to move into a new plan development cycle. Good plans and good leaders don’t fall
in love with their plans; they stick to their goals and use the plans and the
planning process to achieve them.
The lesson here
is summed up best by President Eisenhower, who had helped to craft a wide range
of US military plans throughout the 1930s and throughout World War II: ‘the
Plan is nothing, but the Planning is everything.’
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