Have a Plan (With Dates)

I’ve written a lot on the importance of having a plan. This week’s Leadership Principle tip doubles-down on that.

Consider a status update:

Bad: “The team will investigate the issue.”

Good: “The team will complete the investigation of the issue by Tuesday afternoon and will share a plan for how to fix it by Thursday.”

The Good version of this does a few things:

• It enables accountability on the next steps.
• It conveys the appropriate sense of urgency.
• It ensures the work to investigate the problem is not open-ended, further enabling accountability.
• It conveys ownership.

My good friend Dwight D. Eisenhower was famous for saying “No battle was ever won according to plan, but no battle was ever won without one.”  I’d like to be famously known for saying “A plan without dates is fantasy.“

By putting in just a *little* more effort & being planful (with dates) you enable the entire organization to have confidence the right things are happening. This leads to better delivery of results and earns trust.