Degrees, just about any, can add value to the planning process. Planning itself simply requires a good process, not degrees.
The power of imagination
We do a better job of creating new possible directions, approaches and questions when we engage and develop our imaginations. When people struggle with imagination they struggle with planning. Imagination is that necessary and pivotal.
Is there an ideal update huddle format?
In good update huddles, people ask each other questions to get updates they're interested in. Nothing is repeated that's been posted between huddles. People talk about what's next and what help they need.
How do we keep planning aligned?
In the most simple method, we create ways for people in different planning streams to share on a regular basis what they're up to. This keeps everything aligned. In some cases, every new “we” can be clarified.
Are certain personalities better at planning?
Good planning is not a function of personality. It's a function of process. When there isn't a good process, people try to leverage their personalities to move things forward. This can sometimes work, with great velocity costs.
Planning mistake #3: Misreading the learning
Sometimes the questions we pursue lead us to new generalizations and assumptions. It's important we drill down on these instead of moving forward on them.
Planning mistake #2: Working with the wrong people
The right people always kick off planning but depending on directions and questions we might need a slightly to significantly distinct mix of talent and perspectives as we move forward. Each iteration might require a different configuration.
Planning mistake #1: Trying to prove an assumption
Planning is about exploring our questions, not trying to prove our assumptions. Proving is a costly mistake in time, resources and opportunities. We avoid this mistake by turning assumptions into questions.
When to bring others into planning
In planning, we need new questions and inputs, new talent for actions, new champions for what we’re attempting. Each is a prime opportunity for new just in time invitations.
What do leaders do in planning
Of you're a leader at the planning table, you have the same opportunities everyone else does. Be transparent, listen simply, help grow new ideas, share anything relevant you know, express all questions that emerge for you, do whatever plays to your strengths, help the group make wise and well timed decisions.
Who we are together
Whenever people come together in planning, it's a configuration of people that has never exactly existed before in human history. We share a unique fabric of stories, beliefs and values. To know these is to know who we are. Knowing who we are accelerates and deepens the process because it optimally engages us.
Approaches and directions
A direction is something we’re interested in. Our priority directions are those we are engaged in working on in the immediate term. An approach is how we go about the questions raised by a direction.
Unknown unknowns
There are two ways to know what we don't know we don't know. We talk to people with exprience. We pursue our known questions and see what new questions they reveal.
Engaging the anxious
Some people get anxious in deciding on an approach to a direction. They fear failure, which looms large in the field of unknowns and unknown unknowns at play.
What we need to remind them is that all we need to do is know our questions well, work from them, learn from them, notice the next iteration of questions, make any adjustments in directions and approaches that make sense, and repeat the algorithm.
The power of micro-actions
One way to think about a micro-action is something we do for about 20 minutes. It's a reasonable approach on days when we don't actually have more time to make progress on what's in our cue.
20 minutes can be scheduled or simply happen as found time. If we’re used to taking as much as we want or think we need, working in micro-actions gets us thinking more crisply about all the parts of tasks. It boosts efficiency and the spaces between micro-actions allows for more creativity, learning and agility.
Success critiques
When a team has had a good day, week, month or quarter, they can extract lessons learned in service of conscious group competency.
What did everyone do individually they thought contributed to success?
What did people give attention to?
What questions supported us?
What did people share in the process?
What was clear about what we shared interest in?
What problems did we solve and how did we solve them?
Treating employees as volunteers
The management guru Peter Drucker once suggested that if leaders treated people as volunteers, the would lead more mindfully. This is has several implications.
The primacy of distinctions
Team leaders who want high engagement and creative teams work from the notion that people have all the skills they need. They just need to put them together differently. Leaders do this by teaching teams new distinctions, like opted in feedback and team agreements. Everything happens from there. People don't need new skills, they need new distinctions.
Being in sync with partners
Partners stay in sync with us when we decide together how ongoing and real time communication best works for them and us. It includes creating shared clarity on whose decisions and responsibilities are whose.
Adult conversations with the ready to retire
An adult conversation is first one that actually happens. Leaders invite conversations with people before retirement age kicks in. It's a caring and focused conversation about their desired legacy and how their team can support what they want to grow that could support their next purposes. It doesn't need to be complicated or difficult.