It’s not uncommon with so many priorities and daily tasks to complete that we fall into the trap of acting before really understanding the problem or desired outcome.
“An hour of planning can save you 10 hours of doing”
Dale Carnegie, author of bestselling book: How to Win Friends and Influence People
As a leader, manager or People and Culture professional, we are expected to be proactive, decisive and action oriented however in hast we are prone to act before completing a thorough analysis of the current issues, exploring multiple options and defined the desired outcomes.
I’m the first to acknowledge that I used to have a strong preference towards action, simply because asking questions and analysing data would slow me and the process down. I relied on my gut instinct and moved quickly to action. I didn’t die wondering (that’s for sure), but I didn’t always solve the right problem or consider the complete picture.
Of course, I’m not implying leaders don’t plan and analyse data when it comes to large projects, high stake initiatives or significant business decisions. However, as leaders we make dozens of decisions each day and I’m suggestion that the decisions that impact or involve other employees, even at a small scale, should be planned and considered more carefully. Asking, consulting and / or collaborating with your employees to help unpack the issues and create the optimal solution set will not only make your employees feel a sense of value (because you asked) but also increase their engagement towards the leader and business.
“Companies with Highly Engaged Workforce Are 21% More Profitable”
Gallup, 2024
Here’s a live scenario I encountered which illustrates my point:
You’ve been empowered to design a leadership program to focus on upskilling your Frontline Leaders and your executive team are fully onboard. You have a good amount of knowledge of the topics associate with a leadership program, but if you’re honest with yourself, you’ve never actually done this before, and your thinking is still a bit scattered.
Your action-oriented style kicks in and you quickly scribble down a rough draft of the leadership program. You organise a call with a reputable training consultant to assist in delivering one component of the program and during that call it becomes evident that you don’t really have a full understand of the problem you’re trying to solve.
Your best educated guess has brought you this far however the specific problem or training gaps haven’t been thoroughly diagnosed.
A simple solution
To avoid wasting time and resources by solving undefined problems, managing multiple iterations, and moving towards an unknown outcome; the following simple approach is guaranteed to bring structure to your thinking and action planning. This model will not only demonstrate your strategic acumen to problem solving but will also enable you to design practical value-adding solutions to address the issue.
Step 1 – understand issue:
In the planning stage you will be focusing on two parts:
1. Define what the ‘current state’ looks like (aka: Where are we now? What’s the problem we’re trying to solve, Why is the change needed? Describe the pain or issue that exists).
2. Define what the ‘future state’ or desired state looks like. What are we aspiring to achieve? What will the end look like and how is that better? What is the final objective? How will we know we achieved the objective?
Step 2 – define solution / options:
Once you have explored and understood these two states in the planning stage, your focus will move to defining the options or possible solutions to the issue. The data collected will help inform the option set and consultation again is extremely valuable.
As leaders and People & Culture professionals, we fall into the trap of thinking we must have all the answers, when in fact the sign of great leadership is to pose the problem or question to the team and encourage them to solve the problem.
This is where the age old expression: “Two heads are better than one” comes from. This well-known phrase the was first recorded in John Heywood's Book of Proverbs (1546).
Research shows that employees who are involved or empowered to solve the problem or propose solutions will have greater buy-in and commitment to the outcome.
Step 3 – move to action:
The final step is to agree on the actions that will take you from ‘current state’ to ‘future state’. After considering the feasibility (pros and cons) of your several options, it’s time to make the best choice best for the business and execute the plan.
“Successful people don’t proceed blindly, but they know that, once they have the critical details, they can make a decision and act accordingly”
Mike Michalowicz, a keynote speaker, author for American Express and business author of multiple books including Profit First
Key Takeaways
While action without a plan can sometimes yield positive results, it often leads to inefficiency, time wasted and higher risk.
Having a basic plan helps align actions with goals, ensures that we’re solving the right problems and delivering tangible outcomes that are more predictable and effective.
Utilising this simple model will increase your leadership credibility, demonstrate your business acumen and ability to apply a structured process to defining the problem, desired outcome and the strategic actions to reach your goals.
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