Three Critical Choices
Next, we need to grasp the following statement: In order to lead the change, we must participate in the change. This is much easier said then done, because most leaders want everyone else to change. They believe they are just fine as they are and that their leadership style works perfectly, if not elegantly. However, in reality, if one seeks to chart a path, then one must commit to the path. And this level of commitment always involves personal and professional change. For in the beginning, there are three critical choices that need to be made, and they will significantly impact planning and executing a plan.
The first choice is to understand the difference between the following two concepts: individual competences and organizational capabilities. Individual competencies refer to a specific person’s knowledge and skills required to fulfill specific role requirements. Organizational capabilities are collective abilities of the firm required to execute the business strategy. During planning, we sometimes work at the competency level and other times we work at the capabilities level. Given current events, I suspect we will work at both levels.
During the preparing to plan stage, we need to reflect on our own individual competences and on our own organizational capabilities. I remember one day sitting with a hospital CEO, discussing this very idea, when he said to me: “I cant get there from here. I don’t have the capacity to plan and the capacity to execute the plan we create. My team is dysfunctional. Our middle managers can not take on any more change, and I don’t have the stamina to keep pushing myself. I’m afraid I will break.”
I sat quietly with him as he paused and reflected. I think he surprised himself. He just sat there and let it all sink in. Then, he looked at me and said, “I think I need to do my own work before I am ready to engage the whole group process.” I nodded in agreement and then we discussed what he needed to do in order to chart his own path.
The second choice relates to the planning process. Many leaders want a well defined and well-structured planning process. They want everything to be preset before engaging in the work of planning. Other leaders want a process that is not all planned out. Instead, they are seeking a process that is more emergent, i.e. one that is unfolding and evolving through dynamic and less structured processes. These leaders are typically guided by their firsthand, day-to-day experiences, and their gut for lack of a better term. The former focuses on structure and the later focuses on dynamic interactions and the feeling of flow.
During the time of reflection when one prepares to plan, understanding our own level of comfort with the choice between structure and more unstructured planning is critical. I have sat with many leaders of all different ages who are not clear about this element. And when this happens, I know that once planning starts they will quickly move in one direction or another, causing massive trust and communication issues amongst all the participants. By reflecting and clarifying this in advance, particularly if they grasp that leading a planning process means they have to participate in it rather than oversee it, and if they recognize that they will need to change, not just that others and the organization needs to change, then the process will be more effective. And then people will own the plan not just execute the plan.
The third choice relates to execution and a leader’s style of leading. Many leaders, upon experiencing the normal chaos that comes with executing a new plan, will default to a a top-down and unidirectional style of leadership. This is best summarized by the “I lead/You follow” mentality. Others will choose a more participatory form of leadership which involves a wide diversity of people and a process that is multidirectional in nature. Rather than focus on control and order, these leaders choose to focus on alignment, ownership and empowerment, which by the way can appear, at first glance, to be very chaotic. While each path has it’s pros and cons, the key is to choose which way you are going to lead before you engage in formal planning. And that is why preparing to plan is mission critical to planning.
How Do I Begin?
Ryan Holiday in the aforementioned book on Monday’s blog post states that we need to do the following things: “be fully present, empty our mind of preconceptions, take our time, sit quietly and reflect, reject distractions, weigh advice against the counsel of our convictions, [and] deliberate without being paralyzed.” I like these key points as a starting place for creating time and space as one prepares to plan for change.
At the same time, I’ve had many leaders ask me privately, “But what do I actually do when I sit quietly and reflect? I am not someone who is just going to sit there and do nothing.”
“I agree,” I respond. “In the beginning, I want you to write or type out the answers to the following two sets of questions. Here is the first set: What do you do at work? I want you to define your role. Next, what are the priorities in your life and work? This will help define your focus over time. Finally, what do you do that matters most at work and at home? This will clarify your sense of purpose or mission.
Here is the second set of questions: Why is this important work to do? Is this work meaningful? Is it worth doing? All three of these questions are designed to make you think deeply and broadly about your life, your role, and your work.
Once you have written out these answers, it is time to share them with an ally, confidant, mentor, or executive coach who you trust and know will offer insights and perspective. The subsequent dialogue will be very helpful.”
Creating time for reflection is important. When doing this, I am reminded of something that Kevin Cashman wrote: “As you believe, so shall you lead.” What we are doing during this stage of pre-planning is clarifying what we believe.
At the exact same time, we need to remember one other point, namely as they believe, so they shall follow. Doing your prep work first helps you lead the team and the organization. It also helps you role model and communicate better too.
And when people take time to sit quietly and reflect, and when they make time to answer the above questions, they generate insights into how to move forward as a person, and a leader. In short, they feel better prepared for the work and journey of strategic planning.
The Curious Paradox
Carl Rogers, one of the founders of humanistic psychology and one of the most influential psychologists of the 20th century, once wrote: “The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I change.” And this is why preparing to plan is so critical to short and long term success. It helps us to accept ourselves when we seek to chart a new path.
At the same time, meditation instructor and journalist, Jeff Warren notes: “The reality of where you are, is always more important than the ideal of where you imagine you should be.” When we choose to prepare for planning through in-depth reflection, we sort out the difference between the should-be expectations, typically placed on us by others, and the could-be potential that is generated from our own, internal clarity and alignment. Then, with this level of clarity, alignment, and acceptance, we have already started to change, and we have already started to chart a new path.
As Brene’Brown so clearly stated, “You either walk into your story and own your truth, or you live outside your story, hustling for your worthiness.” When we prepare to plan in a thoughtful manner, we not only walk into our own story and own it, we also create and role model a process that others can follow. For the curious paradox of charting your path is that when you do this and you change, then others can do this and they can change, too.
© Geery Howe 2025
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