Are you ready for that punch in the mouth?
“Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.”
Mike Tyson
I cannot tell you how many times I have seen plans fail. People and companies assess a situation, create a plan in a vacuum, and attempt to execute it. The problem happens the first time things don’t go according to plan.
When that happens, people panic, get frustrated, lose faith, and the entire process falls apart.
When written up, the plan was solid. It was based on assumptions and evidence and implemented with the best intentions.
So why did it fail?
It’s because reality rarely acts the same as theory.
What we assume will happen, how people will act or react. Rarely are the consequences as we thought they would be.
But what if we shifted our focus to concentrate on goals instead of plans?
What if we focused on:
- What are we trying to achieve?
- Why are we trying to achieve it?
- What will we be able to do once we reach our goal that we cannot today?
- How will people be better off once this goal is reached?
- And what will happen to us personally and as an organisation if we fail to achieve our goal?
The missed activity that I see over and over is that we need to go beyond understanding this ourselves. We need to make sure everyone involved in the change understands what it means to them personally, as well as the organisation and their personal stake in having the change succeed.
When everyone in our organisation focuses on goals and not plans, plans can fail, but they do not derail us from achieving our objectives.
We can say, “ok, that did not work, but we still need to accomplish X; where do we go from here?”
Conversely, if we focus on the plan, we feel that we have failed if that plan fails, leading ultimately to abandoned goals.
Goals are aspirational and inspirational. They give people hope for something new, better, or both. They enable people to dream of what they can become and rid themselves of the limitations they believe are holding them back.
This motivates them.
It gives them a rallying point and a sense of purpose. This sense of shared purpose enables the milestones, no matter how small, that move you toward the end goal can be celebrated.
It also makes setbacks less onerous. It does not assume ultimate failure like a failed plan, but rather lessons learned along the way that move you closer to the ultimate goal.
I am not negating having a plan at the beginning of the process. It is a place to start and focuses people along the way. A goal without a plan of how to proceed keeps you from taking the first step. We must realise that plans must be fluid and adaptable as required.
A perfect example of this was my client, pre-pandemic, whose goal was $20 million in 2020.
They did not have a plan for achieving this, and the goal was not specific enough in terms of why they wanted to accomplish this beyond it being a financial goal. They believed that putting a monetary number in front of the staff would motivate them to complete it. They were wrong. Because staff had no vision or purpose about how that financial number benefitted them or the company, when the pandemic hit, $20 million in 2020 became nothing more than rhetoric.
It was an internal joke; disengaged staff, created mistrust of leadership, and made the company fairing far worse than their competition.
Goals need to be meaningful, actionable and tangible.
If they are not, there is nothing to aspire towards, nothing for people to grab onto and no story to tell to inspire others to join the crusade.
As leaders, it is our role to explain the why, inspire others and ensure that everyone understands what the goals mean to the company and to them individually.
If you cannot do that and merely rely on a plan created in a vacuum that is not built on purpose, vision and goals, it will fail.
Footnote from the Editor
Ben is one of a select few, who have been chosen to become a Featured Columnist for The Maverick Paradox Magazine. You can read all his articles by clicking below.
