Lessons in Planning and Leadership
Richard Farson writes in his book Paradoxes in Leadership:
Planning is built upon the flawed idea that it is possible to predict the future. Yet the future almost always takes us by surprise. Since there is simply no good way to predict future events, there is no sure way to plan for them. This should not be interpreted to imply that all we can do is shrug our shoulders, or ostrich-like, bury our heads in the sand. We cannot plan, but we must prepare. One element in our preparation is to re-examine our leadership style and decision-making structures….
Leonard Sweet, a Christian philosopher and futurist, provides two contrasting images of leadership. The first, he describes as ‘leading by reading the map’. You get from your starting point to your destination by plotting your course and writing yourself instructions, showing the miles to travel along a predetermined road and when to take each turn. The route is signposted for the entire journey. This describes leadership and planning in the culture of modernity.
But then he goes on to say:
In our present cultural context, we have to learn to lead not by reading a map, but by navigating through uncharted waters. Navigation requires frequent course corrections in response to tides, storms, rocky coastlines and drifting icebergs. Most of these course corrections cannot be predetermined but have to be made in a timely manner in response to prevailing conditions. I am not a yachtsman, but I am told by those who are that a yacht is off course about 90% of the time as it adjusts to the wind and other variable conditions.
In his book AquaChurch, Leonard Sweet cautions us about an over-reliance on maps. He reminds us that no map is accurate as it provides a flat depiction that distorts contours and curvature. No map is current and in an urban environment quickly becomes out of date with the constructions of new roads, housing development and informal settlements. Furthermore, no map is impartial. It reveals the bias of those who draw the maps.
Whose map is right? In one sense they all right, yet they all reveal their bias. The real question is, Will my map get me where I need to go? Our complex world makes a mockery of mental maps. There is an apocryphal story of a Roman General, who was fighting on the frontiers of the Roman Empire. Eventually he sent back an urgent message to the Emperor, ‘Please send new map’!
Don’t PLAN. Rather PREPARE.
And help your people to do the same, instead of relying on your “all-knowing wisdom” as a leader. Make sure they can draw their own maps.
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Dava Sobel in Longitude describes the discovery of meausring longitude in the 18th century – a project that was richly incentivised by the British government. Having known for long how to measure latitude, the scientific community knew that the answer lay in observing the heavens.The solution cam unexpectedly from a furniture maker who made a clock that kept accurate time on shipbaord – time was the solution. Lesson, you needn’t always look to the map (skies) for the answer.
There is a similar story of a tribe who used neither maps, nor the stars to navigate their way on water. They somehow closed their eyes and sensed where they had to go. Again, you may not need a map…