Planning & Problem Solving in difficult times

Do not plan with your head in chaos - plan with your head in the end state.

I am asked quite regularly to help teams and businesses plan more effectively during difficult times.? Many of these teams are at the front line of public services and really feel the pressure.

Using a mixture of military and business thinking I walk teams through the mission planning cycle.? My ideas were born out of my military experience where critical mission planning was crucial to success.? I make it less military and more business-like by changing most of the wording but, it is based on the military method of rapid crisis mission planning.

During critical times when quick planning and concise language are vital many teams make the mistake of trying to ‘win the entire war’ and become less effective at the smaller missions (battles) within the war.? In business this equates to the smaller situational tasks that feed into the bigger picture of BAU.

This article isn’t meant as a complete guide that will work in every situation and for every team, but it should give you some handy pointers to help you to plan quickly and cut through the crap.

Here are the steps:

1.????? CLARIFY WHAT THE MISSION ACTUALLY IS.

Establish clarity within the whole team as to what the top challenge/priority is.? Then turn this into a mission statement.? Our mission is…in order to… (this covers the WHAT and the WHY).? It is vital that all team members fully understand the mission and that there is no ambiguity.

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2.????? CONTROLLABLES.

Look at all aspects within this mission that are within your control.? You cannot control some things (like the weather) but you can plan accordingly for different scenarios.? Sometimes Controllables are missed or mis-understood.? It is easy during an after-action review (more on this later) to say ‘that was outside of our control’.? In reality some of the uncontrollables could have been spotted during the planning phase.? A very useful tool to help with this is Red Team Thinking.? This is where you look at your own plan from the enemies’ (competition) perspective.? How would they attack it?? Look at the mission statement and then look at every conceivable aspect that could go wrong – all of the potential weak points of the plan and then concentrate on making those bits stronger and factoring in some contingency plans.

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3.????? CAPTURE IDEAS.

This is the start of the problem-solving part of the planning.? Looking at individual weak points capture ideas to reduce or negate them.? A great tool to help with this is Satellite Solutioning (see below).? It is important to capture all ideas and not to analyse at this stage.? If time is on your side, then take one individual challenge within the bigger challenge/mission at a time.

4.????? CONDENSE IDEAS.

This is the first time that you analyse ideas.? As a team, look at all the captured ideas from the previous stage and then clump together those that are the same or similar, so you end up with clear banks of ideas under different headings.

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5.????? CLARIFY.

Take the time at this stage to ensure that every team member understands each bank of ideas.? Don’t forget to always link back to the main intent of the mission.? Do not have any ambiguity as this will lead to plans potentially failing due to misunderstandings of the basics.? Use a common language in the team.? A useful tool to use is the 6P’s.? During time-critical planning you can condense the framework to be more tactical.

6.????? COUNTER PLAN.

This is where you start to add meat to the bones and the ideas become more detailed.? You now start to link ideas together to form a strategic plan.? You can start to use tools like Critical Timeline Right to Left, Left to Right planning, Ease Impact Grid and Sticky Steps Planning to help you funnel down the plan to specifics.? Ensure that you have clearly defined and simple processes that can be conducted without the need for in-depth over-thinking when the proverbial hits the fan.? Make sure that you allocate roles and responsibilities so that it is clear to one and all what each person/team/sub team is going to do.? This includes having a rota system of at least one person who keeps an eye on the ‘war’ – BAU bigger picture, as this may affect your mission.

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7.????? DO

Put into action your plan(s) and carry out the mission.? Actions not just words.? Follow the plan but get used to dislocated expectations (no plan survives contact with the enemy) – as soon as the boots hit the ground, things will change.? Be agile, learn as you go and adapt as needed to succeed in the mission.

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8.????? AFTER ACTION REVIEW (AAR)

Learn – Connect – Act.? Use helpful frameworks like Action Replay and Action Learning Tools. What did you plan that worked well?? What was planned but didn’t work?? Why?? What could have been done differently?? Mistakes can be healthy – strive to learn.

Remember that planning and doing is a continual cycle – it is not linear.? Adapt as necessary.

‘A plan that is 80% complete but delivered on time is preferable to one that is 100% complete but late’.?

9.????? SUPPORT EACH OTHER AND KEEP GOING!

Always be ready to keep going and don’t lose the focus on your people (crisis can lead us to be blinded to the task alone).? ?It is so vital that the team supports each other and factor in enough down time so that people don’t burn out.? You can only stay at peak performance for so long. ?Allow your body and mind to rest when possible.

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Don’t try and win the war in one go – it will overwhelm you and the team.? Concentrate on the success of each individual mission and overall success is much more likely.

Keep going folks – you are doing amazing things!

Dave

Extracted and adapted from the book Team Foundations? - Success Publishing – Copyright 2020

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