Leadership that Transforms & Delivers - Planning

This month we segue to a different leadership skill, planning. The Merriam Webster Dictionary defines plan as “…a drawing or diagram showing the parts of details of something, a method for accomplishing an objective.”

That sounds really dry to me. I see planning as a much more exciting venture. (See the article on Strategic Planning from the October newsletter.) Merriam Webster also lists goal, aim and intend as related words. When done well, planning can transform one’s confidence level in achieving the end goal by making it seem more ‘doable’ and realistic. It supports the realization of the goal by anticipating potential obstacles and identifying necessary resources. By including others in the planning process, one can capture critical alignment from people who are important in the fulfillment of the goal.

It’s not enough to know and say to the troops, ‘let’s take that hill!’. As a leader, you have to be able to outline how you’re going to do that. Which route you’ll take. What dangers might exist and how you’ll deal with them if they arise.

People avoid planning for a number of reasons. They very often think there just isn’t time. There are fires to be put out. Urgent demands to be satisfied. This brings to mind Stephen Covey’s Time Management Matrix outlined in his 3rd Habit – Put First Things First in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Restoring the Character Ethic. In that model, he distinguishes what’s urgent (requires immediate attention) and not and what’s important (contributes to your mission, vision or high priority goals) and not.

Many people spend the bulk of their time in the urgent and important category, and this is helpful, but this leads to burnout, stress and constant fire-fighting, all justified by a sense of accomplishment expressed as “I get a lot done in a day”.

Planning falls into the important and not urgent quadrant. I would hazard a guess that rarely (with perhaps the exception of budget time) is anyone breathing down your neck asking “Where’s that plan?!”

This however is where the real payoff in life and in business occurs. By also focusing on the longer-term mission and vision, you’ll make sure you’re working on the right things, not just the urgent things.

One of my clients recently lamented that there just wasn’t time for planning until she realized that she could choose to make planning one of her ‘to-dos’ for the day and schedule time on her calendar for it! That seemed like a great idea, but alas, two weeks later, she admitted that she had not invested the time she had allocated to it because she still gave into the urgent needs of the day. It wasn’t until we spoke about her vision and the consequences of not fulfilling it did the emotional commitment to plan take hold.

The actual act of planning can start from the present or the future. From the present, the following steps are involved:
1. Analyze your current position
2. Identify the end goal
3. Explore options
4. Choose the appropriate actions, steps and milestones to reach the goal
5. Evaluate the plan: assess potential flaws, obstacles, missed opportunities
6. Implement the plan
7. Acknowledge the end of implementation (success/abandonment)
8. Assess and share lessons learned

Deepak Chopra suggests another view in The Way of the Wizard, “living backward in time…letting the future create the present.” He suggests that the more traditional view of planning keeps us weighed down by our memory of past successes and ‘failures’.

To try this approach for planning from the future:
1. Envision the end goal
2. Ask yourself, ‘What helpful thing happened or came about just before the goal was realized?”
3. Then ask, “What needed to happen in order for that to occur?”
4. Keep asking yourself those questions until you arrive back at the present moment.

By beginning with the end in mind (another point from Covey), one is less bound by sequential logic and preconceived notions of what’s possible. Chopra goes into a quantum physics discussion of time which I won’t repeat here, but suggests that ‘this' (present) moment is pivotal for any possible future you can envision. Recognize that the choices you make today (or any day) will make the occurrence of your desired future more likely. So, make a habit of keeping the end in mind and choosing wisely, day by day and moment by moment.