Page 41 - Develop your leadership skills- John Adair. -- 2nd ed

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32 ■ Develop your leadership skills

But, on the other hand, you will notice that when you work on
the far right of the continuum you have lost control over the
outcome. The team may make a plan that, although meeting
the requirements you have identified, is not the way you would
have done it yourself. Can you live with that?

Just where you should act on the planning continuum depends
on several key factors, notably the time available to plan and
the competence level of the team members. There is no one
right ‘style’. The best leaders are consistent – you know where
you stand with them and they are in many respects predictable.
But when it comes to decision making they are infinitely flex-
ible. So a good leader, working with individuals or teams, will
operate at different points on the scale during a day.

Once work has started on the plan, it may be necessary to
revise or adapt the plan as circumstances or conditions dictate.
Again, you must steer a middle course between the perennial
need for flexibility as change unfolds and a certain persistence
or tenacity in sticking to the agreed plan. Certainly, allowing
too many unnecessary changes in the plan can in itself breed
confusion. As the military proverb says, ‘Order – counter-order
– disorder.’

In summary, planning is a key activity for any team or organi-
sation. It requires a search for alternatives, and that is best
done with others in an open-minded, encouraging and creative
way. Foreseeable contingencies should always be planned for.

Planning requires that the what, why, when, how, where and
who questions are answered. Plans should be tested…