Planning With Purpose

As 2022 begins, we live in a chaotic world. And we make our worlds even more chaotic by trying to impose order. I resolve to do this. I will achieve that. “This will be my year.” Can we really do this with willpower alone?

Foundations and Value

That disorder, or lack of definition, exists on several fronts for me. So I need to plan.

• I’m moving into a new house next week which requires, er, a bit of forethought.
• I’m working with a coachee on defining her aspirations, and how to work toward achieving them.
• I’m supporting my team at work on how we can best prepare ourselves for the challenges of the upcoming year

Historically, I haven’t always planned well. I’ve dedicated very little time to think about action and consequence, in favour of letting things happen, reacting to them, and rationalising after the event that that was my intention all the time. Reflecting further on that, I haven’t planned well because I didn’t know what planning well meant, and what I was trying to achieve. As I spend more time with the concept, I realise that a plan cannot exist on its own — it needs a foundation to stand on, and to determine its value. If I attempt to structure that as a framework:

• A plan is how you enact a strategy.
• A strategy is how you realise a vision.
• A vision is how you serve your purpose.
• Your purpose is why you do what you do.

A plan that doesn’t link back to a purpose can’t succeed. Similarly, It can’t fail. Having a plan that can’t fail is a comfort zone, and a plan that can’t succeed is a waste of time and energy. If there isn’t a driving motivator to help us define and judge our actions, we can’t learn. And when we stop learning, we’re stuck.

The feeling of being stuck has been a common theme for many of us over the last two years of pandemic. Certainty, or the feeling of certainty we had before, has been in short supply. We are forced to develop tactics to manage the fact that much of our life has been outside of our control. At best, we’ve learned to abandon our ego, respond to changing circumstances and optimise for outcomes. At worst, we create false certainties and become angry and frustrated when they hit the cold light of day.

Orienting To Purpose

We have to be realistic about what our plans are, and what we use them for. The output of a good plan is not a prediction of the future, a fixed position that we stick to regardless of context or environment. The output of a good plan is a structure that allows us to respond to change, while still orienting to our purpose.

The value for us here is in the journey as well as the destination. The value of planning is the act itself — the discipline, the communication, the collaboration, and the thought. The output of this work might be the first draft of a plan, but the outcomes are so much more than that — more experience, stronger relationships, clearer thinking, more tools in the toolbox.

• For my new house, the outputs are bricks and mortar, but the outcomes are safety, security, and happiness for my family.
• For my coachee the outputs may be a promotion or a delivered project, but the outcomes are enhanced reputation and a sense of professional achievement.
• For my team, the outputs are completed work, but the outcomes are the positive change that work makes to the world around us.

If our purpose and outcomes match, our plans come to life. If we focus on the process of planning rather than the final plan, the notion of emergence suggests itself. More and more, things come together: separate conversations find common themes; links appear between discrete tasks; visions and purposes start to align.

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These notes are taken from my weekly newsletter The Week In Pieces -thoughts and links on ways of working, personal and team coaching, balancing work with life and more. Subscribers get a set of curated links and resources straight into their inbox every week — you can take a look and subscribe here.