| Do you dread planning? If you dread it, you are unlikely | | | | into the camera, chew on his cigar, and say "I love it |
| to do it. Here's the problem - those who fail to plan, | | | | when a plan comes together." |
| plan to fail. What to do? Start by changing your | | | | There are several keys to the Hannibal Smith planning |
| mindset. | | | | mindset: |
| For many of us, we never learned how to plan. Our | | | | 1. He approached planning as a huge opportunity for |
| experiences of planning came on the job, often in a | | | | creativity to meet a challenge. He recognized planning |
| stifling corporate planning process. Every year, it is the | | | | as a big puzzle. When you think about planning this |
| same drill. Fill out your budget worksheet. Submit your | | | | way, it is an incredibly fun and rewarding activity. |
| action items. Or we were drowned in the | | | | 2. He approached planning as a way to engage his |
| gobbledygook of mission statements that were vague | | | | team in solving problems. Every person on his team |
| and meaningless. We grew to hate planning. So we | | | | had a special skill. He always looked to the team for |
| naturally avoid it - we would prefer the pain of | | | | solutions rather than coming up with them himself. He |
| disorganization and chaos to the pain of planning. | | | | always made sure each person on the team knew |
| We must start by shifting our mindset. To what? | | | | their specific role in executing the plan. |
| I suggest Colonel John "Hannibal" Smith from the | | | | 3. A good plan is a good story. The plans of the |
| A-Team as our model. | | | | A-Team were never boring. Note that boring means |
| One of my favorite shows from the 1980's was "The | | | | you know exactly what is going to happen - there is |
| A-Team". This show starred Mr. T - the big guy with | | | | no risk or adventure. If your plan is boring, how likely |
| the Mohawk haircut who also appeared in Rocky III. | | | | are you to get fired up about executing it? In many |
| The A-Team was about a team of special forces | | | | planning exercises, we try to overcome this problem |
| operators from the US military. When they were | | | | by creating "stretch" goals. But I stretch when I yawn. |
| accused of crimes they did not commit, they went into | | | | I'm still bored. Instead, let's pick something with some |
| hiding and became soldiers of fortune. Every episode | | | | edge to it, where we don't know exactly how we will |
| presented a unique challenge for them to take on a | | | | do it. |
| group of bad guys - drug dealers, arms smugglers, | | | | Learn to be like Hannibal Smith. Learn to love it when a |
| kidnappers. About midway through each episode, the | | | | plan comes together. A great plan gives you the |
| team would come up with a scheme to defeat the | | | | opportunity to discover what you are really made of. If |
| bad guys. At that point, Col. Hannibal Smith would grin | | | | that doesn't put a smile on your face, what will? |