The Importance of Bridge Plans - part #3

A Pathway To A New Beginning

“Adaptations are not necessarily improvements or progress,” writes Margaret Wheatley in her book, Who Do We Choose to Be? Facing Reality, Claiming Leadership, Restoring Sanity (Berrett-Koehler, 2017), “they are intelligent responses to what has changed.” A bridge plan is an intelligent response to an unusual and dynamic situation. It also is the pathway to a new beginning. 

Once a bridge plan has been built and once people begin to execute it at the local level, many leaders do not realize some important things about this pathway to new beginnings. First, “new beginnings involve new understandings, new values, new attitudes - and - most of all - new identities,” writes William Bridges. 

Furthermore, many leaders confuse starting something with a new beginning. They do not grasp that in a new beginning, people want it to happen and are relieved that it is happening. At the exact same time, people also fear a new beginning. They are scared, because they will be required to make a commitment to a new way of thinking and doing things. Thus, the normal response to a new beginning is that people resist them. New beginnings also trigger old anxieties, e.g. the ending of work as we knew it back in March 2020. They also include the risk that the new beginning may end again, i.e. we may have to go back to hybrid or all remote work due to another wave of COVID-19. 

Therefore, when executing a bridge plan, leaders are very conscious that in the midst of turbulence, instability, and challenge, they are on the verge of a new beginning. Once the bridge plan is nearly fully executed, and once the market conditions are more stable, then leaders will start a strategic planning process which will result in a new strategic plan. In particular, this new planning process is not a sequel to the last strategic plan, but instead a sequel to the bridge plan. 

As the best leaders know, a strategic plan is an extensively premeditated, carefully built, long term plan designed to achieve a particular goal or goals. Strategy, like a bridge plan, also needs to be adaptable by nature due to unforeseen variables rather than presenting a rigid set of instructions or tactics which has the potential to create organizational vulnerability. However, what most leaders miss is that strategy, and in particular strategic planning, serves an important function within an organization because it promotes ongoing, evolutionary success.

Thus, when entering and then moving through turbulent times, the planning process is the following: “old” strategic plan -> bridge plan -> “new” strategic plan. The experience of creating the bridge plan and the experience of executing the bridge plan impact the “new” strategic plan more than the planning and execution of the “old” strategic plan. Therefore, the new beginning, that I referenced earlier, does not start in the old strategic plan, but, in reality, the new beginning starts in the bridge plan. 

And when a new beginning entails “new understandings, new values, new attitudes - and - most of all - new identities,” referencing Bridges earlier writing, and when a new beginning is something people normally resist because it entails the previously mentioned four new things, i.e. understanding, values, attitudes, and identities, then a leader is very careful in the creation of their bridge plan. In particular, they are mindful that a successful bridge plan must generate local solutions. The goal of these local solutions is to create local short term wins in the spite of the turbulence that caused the bridge plan to be an “intelligent choice,” citing Wheatley’s earlier comments. The best leaders grasp that when a bridge plan generates local short term wins, it will create more local ownership, engagement, and confidence. It is the cumulation of all these local wins that has the potential to generate overall corporate adaptability and resilience. Plus it becomes the framework for the new beginnings that will take place in the “new,” post bridge plan, strategic plan. In short, the pathway to a new beginning always starts in the bridge plan, especially during times of market turbulence. 

Building Clarity During A Bridge Plan

Understanding the importance of new beginnings within a bridge plan, and their powerful impact on the development and execution of a post bridge plan, strategic planning process, leaders need to build clarity and focus during the execution of a bridge plan and during the subsequent strategic planning cycle. The best way to do this is to focus on purpose, picture, plan and part, what William Bridges calls the four P’s.

Now, most leaders explain the purpose of a bridge plan, and then assume that everyone also understands the local, desired outcomes that are to result from the bridge plan. However in the past when I have been called in as a consultant to figure out why the execution of a bridge plan was not working at the local level, I routinely discovered that the “why” behind the plan, i.e. the reason for creating and executing a bridge plan, did not have line of sight to the local performance expectations that people were supposed to generate it. In simple terms, the bridge plan was a concept that could not be translated into sustainable local outcomes. 

Furthermore, because of this problem related to lack of line of sight, the bridge plan was helpful for senior leaders, but not for local leaders. This disconnect at the local level happened because daily operational problems, both technical and adaptive, trumped the performance expectations defined within the bridge plan for the local level. While senior leaders had clarity and focus, the local leaders were more focused on local problems and local solutions. They grasped the idea of the bridge plan, but could not relate to how it would be executed at the local level. Therefore, clarity and focus was positional, and not practical. 

The solution to this situation starts when senior leaders do two things. First, they need to better understand the local situation and the local problems, not just the overall market turbulence. Second, they need to connect the overall turbulence with the local perspective. Bridges called this “selling the problems before the solutions.” I think the challenge of this is that the definition of clarity for most senior leaders is focused on external, global market conditions and not enough about local market conditions. 

However, the best leaders grasp that it is not one level of clarity, i.e. global, or the other level of clarity , i.e. local, that is more important. Instead, it is the level of clarity that combines both the global and local that will make a difference. Therefore, the best leaders connect the global and the local conditions into one level of understanding, i.e. the global and the local are inter-dependent and each is impacting the other. By bringing the global and local challenges into one, united purpose, the best leaders are transforming our fear of the unknown into confidence that the bridge plan will help all involved move collectively and successfully through this time of market turbulence. The best leaders also understand that by linking the two they are building a foundation for a new beginning. 

With a united purpose, leaders move to the second P, namely the picture. The classic choice that most leaders make is to paint a picture of how the desired outcomes will look and feel at the local level. Yet, the best leaders I have worked with during the execution of a bridge plan start at a different place. As William Bridges wrote, “The picture in people’s head is the reality they live in…”. Therefore, they spend a significant amount of time trying to understand “the picture in people’s head” before painting a “new” picture.  In particular, they want to comprehend what is the local picture of operational excellence and how well this picture is or is not working. 

With this new information, these leaders can then paint a more nuanced and applicable picture that links desired outcomes at both the corporate and the local levels. The end goal of this understanding is to create a picture that is aligned, owned, and understood by all who have to create it on a day to day basis. As Bridges reminds us, do not “overwhelm people with a picture that is so hard for them to identify with that they become intimidated rather than excited by it.” We can create this exciting and aligned picture, when we recognize that the sharing of the picture is based on a collaborative dialogue more than a single leader lecture. 

Next, we need to focus on building the actual bridge plan. At this point, I am reminded of the insight that Margaret Wheatley and Deborah Frieze wrote in their book, Walk Out Walk On: A Learning Journey Into Communities Daring to Live the Future Now (Berrett-Koehler, 2011). As they noted, “People don’t support things that are forced on them. We don’t act responsibly on behalf of plans and programs created without us. We resist being changed, not change itself.” 

I think this is an important insight. We need to co-create bridge plans with others, helping all involved understand what needs to take place and what is the desired outcomes as the plan is executed. Often, this level of planning may need to involve the sharing of more information, possibly including some training around key concepts and lots of support as people process what is expected of them. As always, we need to start a bridge plan where people are, not just where we want them to be. 

Finally, we come to the last piece, namely part. Here, we need to define the tangible ways individuals can contribute and participate in the bridge plan when it is executed. In particular we need to answer the two most common questions people ask during the execution of a bridge plan, namely “Where do I fit in to the plan? What is my role now?” While the questions may seem simplistic, the answers are, nonetheless, critical to success. For if we seek to be successful in the midst of market turbulence, then all involved need to know how their actions connect to the desired local outcomes within the  bridge plan. 

Building clarity during a bridge plan takes time and energy. It is a commitment to the present course of action, and it is an investment in being better prepared for the future. It is not just one new beginning. It is the creative act of being able to produce many future, new beginnings as the markets and the customers continue to evolve over time. 

Stay Humble

One of the Dalai Lama’s Principles for Ethical Strategies is to “stay humble,” and “know the limits of our knowledge and also to realize we can easily be misguided in a rapidly changing reality.” This is one of the greatest lessons to be learned when deciding to create and execute a bridge plan in the midst of difficult, overwhelming, and frustrating market conditions. While we may not be certain about the exact path forward, we, as leaders, need to realize that our perspective and our knowledge may be limited or skewed by our own ego or lack of desire to change our own minds. Being humble and realizing that we don’t know it all or understand it all can be hard for someone in a leadership position, but it also is one of the defining characteristics of a great leader. These unique group of individuals recognize that collective intelligence is more important than their own intelligence, and thus they stay open to the insights of others. 

Furthermore, this same group of people recognize a truth that Margaret Wheatley shared in her book, Finding Our Way: Leadership for an Uncertain Time. (Berrett-Koehler, 2005). As she wrote, “All organizing efforts begin with an intent, a belief that something more is possible now that the group is together.” It is the combination of humility, clarity of intent, and the focus on creating a working environment where a group can come together and stay together through the turbulence, that will make a profound difference over time. 

But for me, the heavy lifting begins with our clarity of intent. We can create clarity about what is happening in the world around us, and we can share key information and metrics about what is happening within the company. We can even strengthen and maintain a healthy network of relationships at all levels of the company. But without clarity of intent, the work of a bridge plan is only somewhat effective. 

However, when we have clarity of intent, and when we are clear about why we are committed to building and executing a bridge plan, then the plan itself changes everything. W.H. Murray, Scottish mountaineer and writer, understood this when he wrote: “The moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision which no one could have dreamed would have come their way.” With clarity of intent, we then activate a larger circle of resources and relationships that will generate new and even better options and possibilities. 

In the end, I agree with President Teddy Roosevelt: “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” A bridge plan is a an intelligent response. It also is the pathway to a new beginning. For when our known knowns, our known unknowns, and our unknown unknowns all accelerate and converge, a bridge plan is the right choice when confronted with an unusual and dynamic environment.

© Geery Howe 2024

Geery Howe, M.A. Executive Coach in Leadership, Strategic Planning, and Organizational Change

The Importance of Bridge Plans - part #2

Why Do We Need A Bridge Plan Right Now?

All of us know that we are experiencing a storm right now, referencing the previously mentioned Collins and Hansen metaphor. We also know that one or more storms are coming. With this understanding, we have a choice on how to respond to the current instability, and feelings of chaos. We also have a choice on how to prepare for the next couple of storms. It may not be easy to do this, but as leaders, we all understand that this comes with the position and the responsibilities of being a leader. 

First, this current storm is the result of an accelerated convergence of multiple factors. While many leaders point to the pandemic in March of 2020 as a turning point, I often have to remind them that the 2016 - 2019 time period before the global pandemic happened was also a time period of market turbulence and uncertainty. Many adaptive problems surfaced during this four year period, and many leaders entered January of 2020 feeling worn and frustrated. 

And then the pandemic arrived and caused massive operational issues. The initial goal during the first 90 days was survival. As we gathered more information about COVID-19, we then transitioned out of crisis operations and into a difficult and extended period of operational adaption. And, as result of this on-going turbulence, many leaders went from being tired and worn to chronic exhaustion. 

As the pandemic began to wane, we witnessed three factors coming into play in the workforce. The first was post pandemic-grief, i.e. people on teams started experiencing and expressing a wide range of feelings including helplessness, depression, fear, fatalism, and resignation. The outcome was that people were more focused on their losses than on their gains. There were few, if any, short term wins to celebrate. Survival came at a high cost, including loss of family, friends, and jobs. 

Second, we saw the rise of post pandemic-anxiety. This included an escalating feeling of loosing control, and people engaging in endless worst-case-scenario thinking. There also was a general struggle with the on-going uncertainty and not knowing what to do about it all. This resulted in disjointed incrementalism “on steroids,” i.e. knowing where you wanted to go but not knowing how to get there. 

Third, as post pandemic grief and anxiety surfaced, we also saw various degrees of Zoom fatigue. While video conferencing platforms worked to one degree or another, they also were tremendously draining on so many levels. In short, the aforementioned three factors moved people from chronic exhaustion and into chronic burnout. Some have even called this Post Pandemic Stress Disorder, similar in some many ways to PTSD. 

For me as an executive coach, there was one factor that few people saw, but many experienced. As the pandemic started and moved through the initial years, I witnessed numerous individuals and teams tending to get lost in the darkness of the pandemic, and the darkness of the recovery time period. In particular, they lost touch with the awe, joy and light-ness of working as a team. They lost perspective and were not grateful for just being alive while so many other people, families, and teams lost dear friends and family. While I do not believe we need to hide from the pandemic darkness, I also believe we should we get lost in it. We all need to learn new ways to deal with our post pandemic grief,  anxiety, exhaustion, and burn out. 

At the same time, during the pandemic and afterwards, some teams functioned very well, and this reflected all the work they did before the storm arrived, referencing the earlier Collins and Hansen quote. However, many teams did not. They just imploded from the never-ending adaptive, operational problems surfacing and the never-ending adaptive decision-making. The outcome of this extended experience was that some teams lost the cellular memory of what it felt like to work as a good team. 

Furthermore, during the pandemic and then during the two years of recovery post the pandemic, many leaders talked about good teams and teamwork. However, from my vantage point, all they were doing was advocating for and describing a single leader work group. This can be effective in an emergency situation, but single leader work groups can also cause their own problems over time. 

One of the biggest problems that accelerated and converged with the aforementioned problems was the arrival of The Great Resignation and subsequently The Great Renegotiation. After working from home and handling crisis after crisis, adaptive problem after adaptive problem, many employees just quit. They left their jobs, their teams, their supervisor and the company. They no longer wanted to work and experience the ongoing chronic burnout that came with the work. Those who were left behind, then stepped up and ask to renegotiate their employment contract. 

As a result, many senior executives and numerous companies freaked out. That is not an “official” consulting term, but it is an accurate description if you were sitting in one those meetings like I was. During the pre-pandemic years, many senior executives assumed that they could hire their way out of their people and performance problems. During the post pandemic time period,, they realized that this was an incorrect assumption. A healthy company culture, which encouraged recruitment and retention of key people, moved to the top of many meeting agendas. It was an extremely important operational and strategic choice during the initial post pandemic recovery. 

In the spring of 2021, while the vast number of senior executives were focused on recruitment and particularly on retention, I shared that there was an underlying problem that few were noticing within The Great Resignation. While some leaders focused on the loss of talent and knowledge within the company, and this was a huge loss and had a significant impact, I tried to explain that it was the loss of the social networks within the company that was going to have a greater impact over time. 

As I have observed, every successful company has a healthy social network that helps people manage current internal operational responsibilities, and the numerous, and normal technical and adaptive problems that surface each day. This operational, social network gives the company, and the people within it a connective advantage, i.e. the ability to marshal information, support and other resources from other people in the network to define and solve a problem. These interdependencies within the operational social network gives the company the capacity to balance maintaining the core, i.e. the mission, vision and core values, and creating progress at the strategic level. 

In particular, within The Great Resignation, we lost many good people, but more importantly we lost their internal social networks, which helped the company to get information, support and resources to the right people at the right time in order that all involved could solve problems in a timely and accurate manner. As a result, I strongly advocated in 2021 that those who were retained and those who were newly recruited to proactively engage in building more and healthier social networks. Standing here in 2024, it is very clear to me that those who did this have a competitive advantage for the upcoming storms. Given current events, we need more people connected to more people rather than to a singular individual who may or may not leave.

While The Great Resignation and The Great Renegotiation were taking place, another factor showed up that converged with all of the above, namely quiet quitting. This was a mid 2022 term that went viral from a TikTok video. It was a choice not to abruptly leave a job, but instead to do exactly what the job required, no more no less. Quiet quitting resulted in people limiting their work to their contract hours. 

As this was taking place, Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace report in June 2022 showed job dissatisfaction at an all-time high with 60% reporting emotional detachment from work. I was not surprised by this data. It reflected the accelerated convergence of many factors. It confirmed that worker burnout was real and chronic, and that employees were not connecting with their work or their manager. 

Nevertheless, smart and healthy companies, referencing the definition and work of Patrick Lencioni in his numerous books, were not surprised by this dissatisfaction. They understood, and still understand, that we have been through four grueling years. The pandemic changed us, and it is still changing us. 

These same smart and healthy companies also know that the next four years are not going to get easier. Challenges abound. For example, compassion fatigue has transformed into general indifference for others, or a general dislike of anyone who does not agree with us on all issues. Polarization is the new normal. This indifference also impacts how we deal with problems and come up with solutions for such problems as what to do with everyone who is unhoused, numerous mass shootings, war, poverty, and climate change. The list is endless and growing. 

Thus, for many leaders, the choice to create a bridge plan is seen as a wise and viable solution. Until certain elements and problems within society, and the world at large, are known knowns rather than unknown unknowns, a bridge plan creates maximum, adaptive flexibility and the capacity for organizational resilience within continual turbulence. 

To be continued on Wednesday. 

Geery Howe, M.A. Executive Coach in Leadership, Strategic Planning, and Organizational Change

The Importance of Bridge Plans - part #1

Introduction

Given current events, looking into the future and figuring out what to do next has become difficult, overwhelming, and frustrating. There is so much we don’t know and so much we want to know before making certain strategic, and even operational decisions. As I visit with people about all of this, I am reminded of the words of former Secretary of the Defense, Donald Rumsfeld: “There are known knowns. These are things we known that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don’t know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don’t know we don’t know.”

Unpacking his comments is important. First, known knowns are things we are aware of and understand. Second, known unknowns are things we are aware of but do not understand. Third, known unknowns are things we may understand but are not aware of at this time period until they show up. Finally, unknown unknowns are things we are neither aware of nor understand. We can not see them, and we do not know they even exist. 

When we fully grasp Rumsfeld’s comments, we may feel stuck and comforted by his insights. We feel stuck, because we grasp how blind we are as leaders and how little we understand. At the same time, we may feel comforted by the fact that we are not the first ones to experience this place, and that we now have a set of terms to explain the complexity before us. 

When coaching people at this time period, I encourage them to engage in “whole-seeing” and “whole-thinking,” two terms defined by Marsha Sinetar Ph.D., pioneering educator, organizational psychologist, corporate advisor, and prolific author. For me, whole-seeing is to to be present to all that is happening around us and within us. It is not to judge current events or current feelings. Instead, it is to acknowledge them and to feel them. 

Whole-thinking, on the other hand, is to recognize the strengths and limitations we have and to seek pathways to adapt to the knowables and unknowables, be that in our thinking, decision-making, and subsequent execution of those decisions. For what I have learned over time is that during certain situations, and as a result of engaging in whole-seeing and whole-thinking, we need to create a bridge plan more than a strategic plan.

What Is A Bridge Plan?

In a world where there are layers and layers of complexity, some of which are unnecessary, and nearly all of are uncontrollable, we struggle as leaders to make decisions. We want to get it “right” and the difficulty is that there are too many known and unknown variables. And thus we go into hyper-vigilance mode, thinking we can pay attention to every thing and every one. However, our awareness depends on the availability of our attention, which often in these situations is limited. In simple terms, we have too many inputs and not enough time or energy to process them. And as result of this limited capacity, we often choose a course of action that requires the smallest amount of effort or expenditure of energy with the hopes that it will create the greatest outcome with the least amount of work. 

When I encounter situations of this nature where the knowns and unknowns are in a constant state of flux and the overall external market conditions are dynamic, I remind leaders that an extensively premeditated, carefully built, long strategic term plan designed to achieve a particular goal has a built in problem. This kind of strategic plan is not adaptable by nature. It is not prepared for unforeseen variables that will surface during its execution. So, rather than presenting a rigid set of instructions or tactics which has the potential to create organizational vulnerability, I recommend leaders and organizations create a bridge plan. 

The purpose of a bridge plan is to span the turbulent times until more complete information can be gleaned about what is happening, or until the more dynamic variables become stable, i.e. known knowns. While a grand strategic plan would be fantastic, a bridge plan, in the interim, can generate local solutions and local short term wins, all resulting in local ownership, engagement, and confidence. The cumulation of all these local wins has the potential to generate overall corporate adaptability in the midst of complexity. 

At the same time, when I think about those who have created successful bridge plans during challenging times, I am reminded of something that Jim Collins and Morten T. Hansen in their book, Great By Choice: Uncertainty, Chaos, and Luck - Why Some Thrive Despite Them All (HarperCollins, 2011). As they explained, “The ability to deal with a crisis situation is largely dependent on the structures that have been developed before the chaos arrives... it’s what you do before the storm comes that most determines how well you’ll do when the storm comes. Those who fail to plan and prepare for instability, disruption, and chaos in advance tend to suffer more when their environments shift from stability to turbulence.” In short, when we build a bridge plan, we are building a structure that creates the capacity to handle instability, disruption, or chaos as market environments shift back and forth from stability to turbulence. 

To be continued on Tuesday. 

Geery Howe, M.A. Executive Coach in Leadership, Strategic Planning, and Organizational Change

Dealing With Chronic Burn-Out - part #2

Restructure Your Day-to-Day Living

Third, as we travel the road to recovery, we are seeking practical, day-to-day routines that can restructure our lives so we can have time for what matters most. The first step in this process is to pay attention to our inner life. As the late Irish poet, John O’Donohue, wrote: “We should not force ourselves to change by hammering our lives into any predetermined shape. We do not need to operate according to the idea of a predetermined program or plan for our lives. Rather, we need to practice a new art of attention to the inner rhythm of our days and lives.” 

To better attend to the “inner rhythm of our days and lives,” we need a daily life pattern that has more open time and space. Greg McKeown in his book, Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less (Crown Business, 2014), writes “once you give yourself permission to stop trying to do it all, to stop saying yes to everyone, you can make your highest contribution towards the things that really matter.” For McKeown, “Essentialism is not about how to get more things done; it’s about how to get the right things done.” It is “living by design, not by default.” 

When recovering from chronic burn-out, we need clear personal and professional goals, and well defined priorities at home and at work. We also need time and space in our daily lives to accomplish these goals and to stay true to our priorities. This means giving our self permission to create open time for action and for reflection, i.e. time to work and time to recover from working. 

As we do this level of restructuring, we discover that the intention and commitment to recover from chronic burn-out is as important as our actions. Furthermore, when we pay attention to our inner rhythm and are clear about our intentions and commitments, then we discover a new way of working and living that does not generate routine cycles of being overwhelmed and over committed. The sum of all these choices creates an outcome that yields continual recovery and continual new and better opportunities for living and working. 

Explore The Wilderness  

When we seek hospitality, prepare for the journey, and restructure our day-to-day living, plus pay more “attention to the inner rhythm of our days and lives.” we will discover, something that Thomas Merton calls the “wilderness” of our own interior journey. Or as John O-Donohue writes, “the infinity of one’s own interiority.”

As we explore this infinite, inner wilderness, we will remember the importance of connections. “Connection is why we’re here,” writes Brene’ Brown in her book, Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent and Lead ( Avery, 2012). “ We are hardwired to connect with others, it’s what gives purpose and meaning to our lives, and without it there is suffering.” When we experience chronic burnout, our connections have become tangled, lost, or forgotten. We need to recover these inner and outer connections as we walk the reconvey pathway. 

For in the end of our exploring this inner wilderness, we will learn something very important about recovery and connections. As Brene Brown writes in her book, Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience (Random House, 2021), “So often, when we feel lost, adrift in our lives, our first instinct is to look out into the distance to find the nearest shore. But that shore, that solid ground, is within us. The anchor we are searching for is connection, and it is internal. To form meaningful connections with others, we must first connect with ourselves, but to do either, we must first establish a common understanding of the language of emotion and human experience.” This common understanding takes time to build, but it is worth the effort. For when we have that inner anchor, that inner clarity, that inner connection, we can not only rediscover a healthier life, we also can find a better, integrated and more truthful way of living and working. And this will not only be good for us at work, but also good for our families and our community. 

© Geery Howe 2024

Geery Howe, M.A. Executive Coach in Leadership, Strategic Planning, and Organizational Change