“Why do I need to have a plan?” Leaders ask us this question more often than you would think. How are these for three good reasons why we should plan? The pandemic, the march on Capitol Hill, and the deep freeze in Texas. There were many contributing factors that produced these three crises, but first and foremost was the LACK OF PLANNING. In the most recent example, the crisis in Texas impacted millions of people, cost over $19 billion dollars, and has already resulted in over 20 deaths. In an article from the Associated Press, weather experts state that “lack of planning” caused the catastrophe. According to the National Center for Biotechnology Information, the lack of planning for a pandemic in the U.S. will cost more than $16 trillion dollars (that’s $16,000,000,000,000!) even though experts have been warning us to prepare for many years. And, the march on Capitol Hill? Just another example of poor planning.
Why is there resistance to planning, especially to planning that factors in the potential for worst case scenarios? Perhaps expediency. After all, it takes time and discipline to plan, and some leaders are too preoccupied or busy to make it a priority. Or how about faith? We sometimes hear this from Christian leaders in particular: “Isn’t planning a sign of a lack of faith?” Or how about this one: “Everything has worked out just fine all these years without a plan, so why start now?” Yet, the Bible reminds us that only a fool would go to war or start a building without any planning. So, what can we, as leaders, do to capture the power of planning? Here are six simple steps.
1. Commit the time, but don’t make it unnecessarily complicated.
It is interesting how many leaders claim to not have the time to plan but then have unlimited time and resources to spend when a crisis hits due to not planning! Some planning processes are overly complicated using ridiculous amounts of time and convoluted processes. Instead, consider the rule of 1.5%. If, as a leader, you spent only 40 hours in planning each year (only 1.5% of your typical year), you would be far ahead of many of your peers.
2. Create the right environment.
A good planning environment is one that is safe for idea generation as well as idea evaluation. One of the most important jobs of the leader, besides ensuring that planning takes place, is to set the tone for the planning process. If you want threats to be identified, weaknesses to be surfaced, and ideas to be generated, you need to set the tone and guard the environment of the planning meeting.
3. Involve the right people, but keep the group small.
We have found that a good group size for planning is 5-7 people, but they need to be the right people. This means that each person brings something unique to the meeting – expertise, innovative thinking, and knowledge of your context and industry, to name a few. There are times when focus groups or larger groups of participants can be helpful, but they also create additional complexity and seldom generate a better plan.
4. Consider all scenarios, including the bad ones.
A good plan will consider, “What happens if…” For example, experts knew that Texas utilities were not equipped for a major freeze event. So why wasn’t that factored into the plans of those companies? It will likely prove to be that they did not believe it could happen or they did not want to spend the money to prepare for a “what if” event. But “what if” events can and do happen, and they can be both costly and deadly.
5. Codify the plan, but keep it simple.
Every time I see a plan that is a large file or binder, my cynicism radar gets triggered. I am convinced that there is a correlation between the more pages in the plan, the less likely that it is being implemented. If you use a consultant to help you with your planning process, consider trying this: for every page in the plan they develop that is over two pages, you will reduce their fee by 10%! A useful plan takes complicated amounts of information and simplifies it on as little as 1-2 pages, single-sided!
6. Make it happen with good execution.
A few years ago, Harvard Business Review published an article by a team of researchers that found only 8% of leaders are good at both planning and executing. There is little benefit in going through a planning process if you do not have the discipline to make it happen. So, if you are good at the planning but not the executing (or vice versa), make sure you have other team members who possess the missing half of the successful combination.
No one plans perfectly. Unexpected crises do happen. But a good plan – one that is well thought out, focuses on only a few strategic areas, has defined steps for execution, and has someone responsible for it – is a gift to your mission, your employees, your constituents, and even yourself.
Contact us to learn how our experienced consultants can assist you in assessing where your organization is at and making a plan for the future.
Jay Desko is the CEO of The Center Consulting Group and brings experience in the areas of organizational assessment, leadership coaching, decision-making, and strategic questioning. Jay’s degrees include an M.Ed. in Instructional Systems Design from Pennsylvania State University and a Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior and Leadership from The Union Institute.
