Leaders at all levels, these days, are dealing with rapid change and uncertain times. This has brought a new reality to our planning and the execution of our plans.
More than ever, we need to be able to ask, “Why are we still doing this?” – and act on the answer.
In the past, we would typically fall into a medium or long-term planning mode and, as best as possible, set the plan to action. There wasn’t a lot out there that would challenge the plan. Not so today.
These days, we have challenges to our plans targeting us almost daily: new economic realities, new competition, new people, new governments and even a world-wide pandemic that could alter all of our plans.
Today, more than ever, we need to ask the tough questions and find answers to them. Planning and sound execution are critical to our organizational success (and our careers and lives!), but now we need to be more agile than ever and respond to these challenges quickly and efficiently.
Leadership needs to be strong enough to realize that the plan is no longer viable, and we need to stop or pivot quickly. This takes courage, strength and great leadership.
If you are currently leading an enterprise, a department or a project, I encourage you to ask, “Why are we still doing this?”. It might lead to a very interesting discussion.
