And to this Plan, I Thee Wed

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Picture the scene. "I vow to be by your side for as long as life is in me. I promise to travel beside you during all of life's ups and downs. I will forsake all others, and I will always choose you a billion times over, not because I have to, but because I want to. And to this plan, I thee wed." Now imagine that a leader has spoken these words in the witness of their team. It may seem far-fetched to imagine a leader saying these words publicly, but I can promise you that this is how your teams hear it when a vow to follow a particular plan is made.

Making vows in general can be a very paralyzing event for humans. Vows require a promise to abide by the words spoken in the observation of witnesses, without having the ability to foresee the future and events that may impact or challenge the vow. The very concept of leadership has unspoken vows readily designed into the philosophical thought that an identified group of followers will place their trust and futures in the hands of someone else. Again, a scary thought if you take the time to think about it, but what happens when an audible vow made by a leader, in particular a vow that involves a plan, is made with witnesses? Is the leader constrained by his/her own words? Some leaders believe so, and some will follow their vow of plan execution literally to the grave.

My Great Aunt EDNA emphatically teaches that Doing Things the Right Way is an integral construct in the tool chest of creating a great leadership culture. Where Aunt EDNA notices self-imposed challenges with some leaders is that in attempting to do things the right way, some leaders will promote a "right way" within a larger tactical plan, and vow to follow that plan. When the plan is mature in execution to the point of obvious path variation that was not intended nor advantageous, those same leaders can feel trapped by their "right way" advertising and never adapt the plan. The appearance of being a vow breaker, poor planner, or a leader bereft of stability and foresight can be, and unfortunately has been for some, the weight too heavy to permit plan adaptation.

The leadership lesson in this moment is to always allow for adaptation within a plan when establishing a plan of execution within your team, and truly differentiate between doing the right things and Doing Things the Right Way. Doing the right things should always be variable and understood by the full team and adaptive as the landscape of the internal and external environments change. The second lesson, and one that is debatable on multiple levels, is that making vows as a leader looks good on a video, but can be the career-ending moment that a leader will dread for the rest of their existence.

If vows are to be made by a leader to a team, the vows should be directly made in support of team and leadership development. Whenever a plan has to adapt, there is an innate opportunity to develop new leaders on the team. If no one is challenged by the need to change the plan, this means that the new plan will not be adequate enough to accomplish the goal. The new challenges will create the opportunity to assign new role responsibilities to your team, that will inevitably grow your teams' experiences.

A leader that is married to a plan by a vow, is a leader unprepared or unconscious of the variable impacts of existence. There is nothing wrong with plans in the essence of tactical execution, but never convince yourself or your team that only one plan is the right way to accomplish a goal.

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