Why do we run headfirst at things? (Or) Pause, Prioritise, Plan… And 2 other Ps that I haven’t thought of yet
So many times do I see people and teams just getting on with it. If you’re already busy, it feels like just getting cracking is the best approach. But on nearly every…No. Wait. On EVERY occasion in my experience, that creates many more problems down the line.
Now, I’m not suggesting if you make a cup of tea for your team that you should hold a meeting and create a Gantt chart. But if you’re new to a team you do a bit of that.
“Who wants a brew?”
“Ok, 6 of you.”
“How do you take it?”
“Ok. 4 cows milk, one soya, one without milk.”
“Sugar?”
“OK. 1 with 1, 3 with 2.”
“And you want peppermint.”
So you fill the kettle. Boil it. Get the mugs out. Pop in the teabags. Fill the mugs with boiling water. Go to the fridge to get the…
Uh oh.
No milk.
Probably should’ve checked that first.
Now you need to pop to the shop, and do it all again because the tea will have gone cold.
(Except mine, I’ll have it without milk please. Poor cows. And calves.)
And that’s just making tea.
What about your recruitment drive, company website, or business planning (that ones ironic, when you think about).
Yes, these things are all super important. But why oh why do we think it makes sense to ‘just get on with it? That sounds pretty open-ended and ripe for confusion.
Are these things not important enough to deserve some respect?
What does success look like?
What are the deliverables?
Who owns it overall?
How much time are we putting to it.
And where does it fit into our already busy workflow?
Just do it? Fuck off Nike.
Especially when it’s internal stuff. Which is bizarre, because you would very rarely take that approach with a client or funder project or campaign.
So I’ve thought of the five Ps of not running at it head first.
Pause — this is probably the most important thing. But some people hate it. Often CEOs and the visionaries. They just want to get going. Don’t let them. Slow it down, take the time.
Prioritise — is this more important than the other really important things? If it’s urgent you’ve already fucked it. Urgent sucks. Urgent means that you haven’t planned it and you or your business is reactive. Yuck. You won’t last because your tam will hate it and leave. If it really is, spend time on it. If it isn’t, park it. Agree a review date. And get on with what’s actually really important.
Plan — this is crucial too, cos it’s pretty much everything else. What is success? What are the deliverables? Who is the owner? What is the team? When are the milestones. What is the budget? (that’s money to me, not time) What is the hoped for deadline. And how does it fit around all of the other stuff?
Pow Wow (getting desperate for Ps now) — this is the communication bit. Which is oh so important as well. With communication, if you think you are communicating enough. You’re not. If you think you are communicating too much, you might be getting close to enough. It’s really important to keep people informed, and doesn’t take that long to do if it becomes a habit and a rhythm.
Okay, now I’m screwed.
Production?
The 5th P is about the actually getting on with it bit.
But doing it sensibly, with milestones and all of the other useful things in place to help it go as smoothly and efficiently as possible.
And then a wash-up / review at the end. Another thing that so often slips because it feels as though we are too busy to do it. But the reality is that we feel too busy because we’re probably not doing everything in the smartest way possible, learning from our mistakes and doing it better next time.
(Part of my 15 minute blog challenge series)
