Are we playing to expectations or to reality in the moment? What is our relationship to plans?
As an avid England rugby fan much of the last few years watching the men’s team has been infuriating. For all the potential and quality of the players on the pitch they seem not to be the sum of their parts and stuck to a system or plan that on the day simply does not work.
Watching them feels like a stark reminder of the famous quote attributed to Eisenhower that ‘planning is essential, but plans are worthless.’
So how do plans work for us and what is the impact of letting go of the plan in the moment vs trying to force it to fit?
What is the value of planning?
Returning to the England men’s team or to any performance environment, planning is useful as a means of preparing for and working towards a goal, whether it is a pitch, a performance or a project.
Planning pre-empts, in sport you have a game plan, often developed with the opposition in mind, to play to your strengths and to nullify theirs.
Planning is like making a map. It helps us decide in the moment, reduces hesitation, enables direction and when we’re part of a team we have a common framework to work towards (assuming everyone is clear on the plan).
Yet, in their nature all planning processes are hypothetical, our best guess at how things could unfold.
While following a map is useful the map doesn’t always know about diversions.
If we were to commit to only following the plan in the map example, it would mean that unless every aspect of the plan is 100% correct, which is unlikely, then when we get to a diversion we would still try to go down a blocked route.
Playing to the moment not to our expectations
Continuing the map idea, if faced by a diversion or blocked way that was not on your map, what would you do?
A range of options come to mind: using any knowledge we have of the local area, seeking input from others who may know the way, trusting our sense of direction and trying a different route, to suggest a few.
The point is when we hit the moment where the plan stops working we face a choice, continue to implement the plan despite the reality of the situation, or choose to adapt.
Which begs the question: what helps us recognise when the plans are not working, not fulfilling our expectations?
What helps us recognise when our expectations, which have shaped the plan, are not right.
What helps us to respond to what is the case rather than trying to get things to realign with our expectations?
If..then… plans
While it feels hypocritical to suggest the answer is more planning it certainly can help. Research shows the value of ‘if…then…’ plans in contrast to only being clear on the end goal or destination. ‘If…then…’ plans consider what you may do when faced by potential barriers to achieving that goal.
In this case, it could be as simple as considering, if these situations arise then my plan needs to go out the window.
Plans without action are just ideas
If you consider the things that you’ve achieved, what contributed to those achievements?
How, if at all, did planning or plans contribute?
It feels safe to suggest that achievement is not ever solely because of the plan, and plans will never create anything if we don’t act on them.
And as soon as we act we create ripple effects we may never have been able to predict, so what happens to plans then?
In this way plans, built on expectations, are stabilisers or scaffolding, they get us to the moment of action but there comes a point where we have to hold the plan loosely to be able to respond to what arises or else we risk perpetuating a plan that does not fit reality.
And when we stick to the plan for the sake of expectation at the expense of what is actually the case what is lost?
If we only ever allowed ourselves to follow the plan it feels like we would deny ourselves the credit of the creativity and resourcefulness that we all have and can grow in the moments where plans go out of the window.
It comes back to the England men’s team feeling less than the sum of their parts.
Not worthless but not everything
If you never had a plan for anything ever again how would it feel?
It may feel liberating for some, for me there is something scary about no plans. For me, a plan and the process of planning offer the impetus to act with a sense of assuredness: as I step out, I may not know what comes, but I have prepared the best I can.
By that logic, planning may then be an essential part of preparation, plans, rather than worthless, become a useful key in the ignition but both can never be everything. If they are to make them everything then we risk disregarding the reality that we cannot control everything and our own potential as creative and resourceful human beings.
(If you doubt the creative and resourceful part, look around and consider that a large amount of what is likely in your field of view was created by someone and started as an idea (and probably didn’t come to being as initially planned)).
So where do plans and planning fit into how you work towards what you want?
How do you know when you are holding on to plans that may no longer fit the current situation?
What do you need to balance planning and plans with presence in the moment to get to where you want to be?
What if we all trusted our potential to navigate what arises more, to adapt more, to trust our creativity and resourcefulness more?
