The Secret of Executing a Great Plan
When you set out to plan something, whether it’s a strategic initiative for your organization or a weekend trip with the family, when do you stop planning and start executing? Believe it or not, the answer to that single question can be the difference between success and total failure. Understanding when it’s appropriate to execute or continue planning is a critical decision that even seasoned leaders struggle with.
You’ll Never Know Everything
A plan is a predetermined set of actions in response to external events (my definition). When we create a plan, we are predetermining that we will do X in response to, or in anticipation of, Y. For example, I plan to provide additional training to my organization because it needs to become more skilled in response to pressures in the market place. I anticipate this needing a dedicated resource, so I plan to hire a full-time trainer. So on and so forth. What you are doing is trying to predict events, and then determine what you’ll do when those events occur.
A good plan violently executed today is better than a perfect plan executed next week.
-General George S. Patton
The problem most people have when planning is that they lock in their plans when the least possible amount of information is available. You can’t know every detail, so you have to take steps, learn new information, then modify your plan. This is the method that military strategists use, called OODA Loops, to plan for battlefield scenarios.
5 Steps for Executing a Great Plan
- Roadmap to Your Goal: What are the major steps to get to your destination? Think like you do when you plan a vacation. Will you drive or fly (not what airline and dates yet; keep it high-level)? Where will you go? How much will you budget? What do you want to do while you’re there?
- Identify the Major Risks: Find the variables that are likely to cause the most impact if they go sideways. Look for things that have high cost, long delays, or could damage relationships and reputations. Develop contingency plans for these items.
- Take the First Step: Whoah! “But, my plan isn’t complete,” you say? The point here is to gather more intelligence. In my training example, I might open a job requisition for a trainer and start asking for feedback from my managers. This gives me more information to make my plan for the next steps even more detailed
- Analyze the Information: Take a look at what you’ve learned. Perhaps you found out that people really like your plan and you should speed up the execution. Alternatively, you met opposition and need to change your message. Maybe you can’t find the resources you need and you need to save up money or adjust your budget and wait until next year.
- Modify Your Plan: Armed with new information, take a look at your roadmap and your major risks. Anything need to be modified based on new information? Are there steps that no longer apply? Steps that need to be added?
What plans do you have right now that you’re stuck in the planning phase? Could you gain new insight and information by taking the first step and building a better plan iteratively?
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