Follow Plan, But Make It Flexible

One of the popular maxims making the rounds back in the first century observed that “it is a bad plan that admits of no modification.” It’s still true today.

Q. Our company creates a new long-term plan every five years or so. Problem is, by the end of the first six months a lot of things have already changed and by the end of the first year the plan is virtually useless. So, why plan?

A. Good point. Comprehensive long term plans - the experts call them “strategic” plans - that aren’t flexible, fluid, “living” guides become rapidly obsolete and frequently counterproductive. Too many of us, in our desire for security and predictability in life, tend to see plans as prescriptions for action, dictates that must be followed come hell or high water.

Today, with a rapidly accelerating pace of change in all quarters, we can’t allow ourselves to be trapped into a lock step regimen of a rigid plan. Indeed, in today’s business world, a good alternative to old fashioned planning is “pathfinding,” a process by which an organization can move forward year-by-year, accomplishment-by-accomplishment, taking advantage of unforeseen opportunity and mastering unpredictable challenges as it moves ahead.

To be sure, it’s best to start a journey with a map, a deliberately designed itinerary that looks good at the point of embarkation and has a relatively high probability of getting you to where you want to go. But once you set sail, your speed and direction is going to be determined by the prevailing wind. A lot of unplanned trimming and tacking may be necessary.

As you move along you might even find the opportunity to head for a different, more preferred, destination. This is not to say that planning, in the traditional sense, is not important. Every organization and individual within it should have a vision of the future they desire and some carefully formulated intentions with respect to attaining it.

These aims are typically laid out as prescribed goals and tactics in the organization’s annual Business Plans, a classic “set piece” for action. In this sense, plans provide a necessary framework to guide activity.

But is must be a malleable framework. Planners must see the serendipity of real life. My ol’ uncle Ollie used to say: “Planning is something that’ll keep you busy while life is happening to you.”

It’s important, therefore, to employ plan formats that invite updating and revision as time passes and experience is gathered. Planning is a continuing process, not a once-a-year exercise.

I am inclined to equate it more with pathfinding than with prescribing. A pathfinder will follow the map as long as it makes sense and travel conditions are favorable.

But he will also be sensitive to shortcuts and new opportunities for a more rewarding course. The ability to capitalize on situations as they emerge and to exploit good fortune when it occurs will give the pathfinder’s firm a tremendous competitive edge.

However, as any good infantry leader will attest, “plans are great until the first shot is fired.” Once in the fray, victory, to a great degree, is discovered by accident.

Importantly, these kinds of discoveries can only be made by opportunists who are well prepared, have a keen eye, and are ever-ready to take advantage of exploitable circumstances. Often referred to as “luck,” these actions are a result of “preparedness colliding with opportunity.”

These fortuitous “matchings” are not predictable enough so be scheduled within a plan. At the time a plan is developed, these events may only be “possible,” or at best “probable.”

Indeed, many opportunities aren’t even conceived of prior to their happening. It is important, nonetheless, for a corporate pathfinder to speculate about these “potentialities” and prepare to shift resources to take advantage of them, if and when they materialize.

Trend scanning, brainstorming, the construction of “what if” scenarios, and the use of Delphi exercises can help planners anticipate opportunities that they should be ready to exploit. As Thomas Edison insisted, “chance favors the prepared mind.”

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