Monday, February 26, 2007

Plans and Planning

Sometimes you can’t win http://weeklyramble.wunderman.com/index.php/weblog/more/walking_on_water/.  When, at times, “all else” seems to fail, what the heck are we supposed to do?

Clearly, we can’t lie down and declare defeat! No way can we just give up and walk away! Nor can we lose focus and motivation because then, we will never win.

So what is one to do?

Obviously, there is no single answer (I hope to hear many from you).  But, here is some food for thought:

“In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.”
- (Ike) Dwight D. Eisenhower

Ike’s answer?

Flexibility, depth of understanding and knowledge, ability to move on, learn on the fly and most important, no holding on to one way of doing anything.

Plan like hell.  But, be ready to move “on a dime.” I once heard an Army General lecturing to a business audience say “all plans are merely the platform for change.” What was his point?  The best change management—the most successful change environments—were created by planning and not just random acts of revolution; adjustment or modification.

What’s your view?

Posted by David on 02/26 at 10:53 AM
(2) CommentsPermalink
  1. Well I think it is a very fine balance between planning (deliberate),instinct (in-the-moment) and experience (the past). Malcolm Caldwell the author of "Blink" discusses this very point and highlights that "less can be more". I think that deliberate planning is to put us all at ease with facts/figures of any given situation, however situations are constantly changing on a by-second basis - they may be minute shifts but over time and added up they become quite major shifts. This is why it is also important to be courageous enough to use your gut instinct into the planning mix - and of course your past experience... So my conclusion is - PLANNING (THE FRUIT PIE) is helpful and important - even if it is just the process of going through it - what adds the cherry and cream on the top are INSTINCT and EXPERIENCE...

    Posted by Lisa Cook  on  2007-02-27 17:25:04

  2. The thing about plans is that we draft a plan with whatever information we have at the time for the purpose of enabling completion of a project. If enough cicumstances change between initiation and completion, we have to adapt the plan, or it could potentially ruin the project. Sometimes we get so caught up with our plans, that we miss the forest for the trees. Kind of like technology - it's supposed to enable us to do our work more efficiently, but we grow so dependent on our devices that when they're down, we're at a stand still. many people feel lost when a wrench is thrown in the spokes of their plan - talk about self-defeating. I guess my slightly convoluted point is that we must all learn to be flexible or risk fracture.

    Posted by dawn moser  on  2007-02-28 00:53:15

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