When Strategy trumps Planning
2020 has been a terrible year for anyone with plans. Whether a plan for your business, vacation or life. Its likely that those plans have been disrupted temporarily or in some cases permanently. This can be extremely frustrating and for some, very disheartening. This “kick the can” mentality has led many of us to improvise and adapt our plans often this year. Given the uncertainty, I’m working to shift from a “Planning” mindset to a more “Strategic” one. This helps in two ways; 1. I tend to be less stressed when timelines change and 2. My goal stays in focus.
Looking back on my blogs for the past few months, there has been an underlying theme of strategy versus planning. Several referenced disrupted or obsolete plans while highlighting innovation or improvisation. In truth, I think the blogs were written with a hope that we were going to “return to our regularly scheduled programming” relatively soon. However, the idea of “regular” or “schedule” continues to elude us.
Recent conversations with HR Executives have indicated a new shift in their planning. For months a majority regarded the timeline for the return to work with August as a goal. Now that August is just around the corner, many are deferring to January 2021. Some even well into mid-2021 just to be safe. It appears the uncertainty of the pandemic along with the ad hoc “planning,” in what has become an asterisk year, continues to move the goal posts of “normal” further out each month.
All this got me thinking about how our collective plans continue to change, at times lately without notice. For the obvious reasons of uncertainty, I believe many are abandoning annual planning sessions in lieu of strategy sessions. Plan for what you can control, otherwise focus on a set of goals then execute based on the environmental variables. While the plan may have changed, you may only need to “recalculate” to stay focused on the goal.
When it comes to shifting from a planning mentality to a strategic one, there are some key attributes that can help. People and Organizations must learn to Adapt, be Agile and overall be Resilient. Without these attributes you will be stuck in place staring at a plan.
Adaptation and Agility are two of the most necessary tools of survival in today’s COVID world. Decisions that come from out of thin air can suddenly change the course of one’s day, week or month(s). Organizations already operating on Business Contingency Plans are finding that this mode may feel more permanent than temporary. The ability to sustain both Adaptation and be Agile require one to be Resilient in the long term.
“Resiliency” was rarely a discussion topic in the pre-COVID days, but more so now. People have grown weary of the upheaval in their lives and schedules. Confusion and disruption to our schedules wear us down. Our resiliency to persevere and even thrive through the ups and downs are what will help achieve those goals.
The calendar is quite literally out the window at this point. It takes more to surprise us today than just a few months ago. It will be important for us to focus on goal based initiatives that can adapt quickly to changing conditions. While many have shifted their focus to 2021, my hope for those waiting to get “back in the game” is that conditions improve quickly. Keeping one’s goal in mind, those who learn to adapt quickly will likely have a greater chance in achieving it. It is clear that businesses, organizations and yes, families, now need to shift to strategies versus plans.