Just over ten years ago I was fortunate enough to have been appointed to be in command of one of the Royal Australian Navy’s fleet of Fremantle Class Patrol Boats, HMAS Bendigo. At the time, the Fremantles were the workhorses of Northern Australia, responsible for patrolling the country’s Exclusive Economic Zone and apprehending any foreign fishing vessels fishing illegally in our waters. To achieve this I was responsible for leading a crew of 20-25 of the Navy’s best men and women.
During my time in command, the team and I came across many complex and difficult situations. At our disposal were a number of planning methods we could use to assess the situation and then take action. These methodologies were taught in a variety of leadership schools and staff colleges around the country and had their pros and cons.
There was one process, however, that I kept coming back to time and again, purely because of its simplicity. The irony was, it was not a formally taught process and, as far as I know, you won’t find it in any manual. It was a process imparted to me by a mentor at the time. I have no idea to this day where he got it from; perhaps from his mentor in days past or perhaps he developed it himself from his own experience.
I would like to share this process with you in the hope that you find it useful in those times when you have difficulty in taking the next step or feel you don’t have the information you need to make decisions. It is a process I sometimes use with my coaching clients when they say, “I don’t know.”
What do you know? Plan for that.
Whether you realise it or not you will have certain information about your situation already.
It may be that you need a range of resources. Well, you know what you have and what you don’t have, don’t you? So your initial plan may be to gather the resources you have and go out and find the ones you don’t.
It may be that you know who you need on your team and your first step is to approach those people and recruit them or at least brainstorm more ideas to get more information.
The important thing here is to take some time to understand what you do know right now and generate that plan for the first step or steps. This should help you generate that initial momentum which is important at this phase of the plan.
Oh, and here’s beauty of this part of the plan; it may be that at this time you start to understand what you don’t know and that leads us on to step 2.
What don’t you know? Ask questions.
So you have built some momentum by starting with your plan. With the information that you have, you have started to develop your plan and may even take some initial steps. But there will in all likelihood be information gaps. How much capital will I need? Is this person or that available? What are the market conditions? It’s time to start asking those questions. It may take some time to get the answers but, as my kids would say, “If you don’t ask, you don’t get.”
Soon enough, new information will start to come in. That’s when we move on to the next step.
As new information comes in, adjust the plan.
You’ve asked all the questions that come to mind and soon the answers come rolling in. This person is available. I need this much capital. This person does not have the information you need but knows someone who might. It’s now time to start plugging that information into your plan. How does the new information change your plan? What is your next step? What new information do you now need? Do you need to go back to step 2 and ask further questions you hadn’t asked before?
At this point, you may find that you will be moving back and forward between steps 2 and 3 – asking questions, getting new information, adjusting your plan, taking action…repeat. There is one final step to this simple planning process.
Consider the ‘What ifs.’
This is the step where you can let your imagination and experience run for a little. What if this person does not come on board? What if we don’t get all the investment that we need? What if growth in the first year isn’t as predicted? What has happened before that I didn’t plan for last time? This is a brainstorming phase where you can consider some likely and unlikely scenarios. The benefit of stretching yourself here is that if something unexpected does occur you have at least given it some thought, it won’t come as a total surprise and you will have some inkling of what you need to do. It’s simple contingency planning.
It is important here to not go too far. Don’t scare yourself so much that you paralyze yourself through fear of failure. What we are trying to do here is to just anticipate some pitfalls and be ready for them.
Oh, and one last question in this step: “What if I succeed in this plan? What then?” Too often we don’t plan for this contingency.
There are a number of very useful planning tools taught in military colleges and business schools around the world. They all have their place and will, with time and effort, yield the results you are after.
This simple four-step process, however, I have found useful when I was stuck with a problem and didn’t know what steps to take. I know several of my coaching clients have found it useful. The good thing about this process is that it is easy to remember, can be applied quickly and to any aspect of your work or life.
Remember:
- What do I know? Plan for that.
- What don’t I know? Ask questions.
- As new information comes in, adjust the plan.
- Consider the ‘What ifs.”
What issue are you currently wrestling with that you could apply this process to? Feel free to leave me some feedback about how you have used this and what your thoughts on the process are.