“In preparing for battle, I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.”
– Dwight David Eisenhower, US General in World War II and the 34th President of these here United States
Ever work in a company where all the “planning” was done by people with fancy titles far away from the folks who’d have to execute it? Where THEIR plan was expected to become YOUR plan, whether or not you had input?
So who should be in the planning conversation?
Here’s a partial list:
People who have to lead the implementation the plan.
People with a perspective that might be valuable to the plan — who have either been there / tried that, or who otherwise have a voice worth hearing.
People who lead teams that will be impacted by the plan.
People who care deeply whether or not the plan succeeds or fails.
Note a couple qualifiers; too many cooks spoil the stew, so I’m not suggesting everyone and their brother participate, and I’m also not suggesting that there be any ambiguity around who drives the planning process.
The suggestion is this: When a plan succeeds, you’ll rarely say, “Gee, we could have done this with a lot fewer people.” When a plan fails, you’ll rarely say, “Wow, we just had too much input…”
If it touches their daily lives, if they’re responsible for helping you make it work and if they’re someone who wants you to win — err on the side of including them. The quality of the plan will often correlate to who’s engaged in helping you craft — and execute — it.
James Yarger says
Excellent.
Natalie Quinnies says
I came across this article a while back and I think you would appreciate the input the writer gives about small group meetings over large groups. He was an employee at Apple and discusses Steve Job’s mission to create small groups of effective creatives and how it influenced the companies decision making and direction over the years. He also discusses how large groups can often lead to mass confusion, miss direction and loss of focus on the initial topic or project. The one part in particular I found more intriguing is when he talks about what life was like before he was introduced to this particular meeting style and how it influenced his creative process along with how his life was dramatically changed once put back into the big business large group meeting styles.
I think that you will find the article overall very interesting and enlightening. I know I enjoyed it.
http://www.fastcodesign.com/1669936/meetings-are-a-skill-you-can-master-and-steve-jobs-taught-me-how
Steve Heston says
Natalie, good stuff and I appreciate the thoughtful insight!